5 Out of 5 Stars
Logan, hitting theaters March 3, once again reunites James Mangold and Hugh Jackman for the third and what promises to be the final Wolverine solo film. Inspired in part by Wolverine: Old Man Logan, the film feels like the culmination of almost 20 years living with the character for Jackman and the film he’s probably always wanted to make. Taking a break from what is now the norm in the genre, Logan ignores the cartoonish trappings of superhero films to tell a stripped down and introspective story that feels more indie than we are accustomed to for these kinds of films.

Taking place in 2029, Logan is now a Uber limo driver, after what we can gather was the ultimate cleansing of the mutant population. 25 years has passed since a new mutant was born and Logan is now an alcoholic whose healing factor isn’t what it use to be as he shuffles around with a limp and cough. When we catch up him he is trying to earn enough money to escape on a boat with Charles Xavier, who after losing control of his power is kept heavily medicated and hidden across the border in Mexico. In one of the few good things to come out of Apocalypse we have Stephen Merchantas a much older Caliban rounding out this trio of survivors who are just trying to stay off the grid and survive.


This, of course, all goes to hell when a woman comes to Logan begging him to take her daughter to Canada. Weary and beaten Logan wants nothing to do this the child and Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) only hardens his resolve to keep his head down and not get involved when he lets Logan in on the fact they know he’s got Xavier hidden. Things change, however, when it’s revealed a young girl named Laura is in fact X23, another weapon X just like Wolverine, with similar powers. This all happens as the Reavers show up on Logan’s doorstep and their journey to deliver the girl evolves into a somber road trip full of reflection for Charles and Logan as they see the possibility of a new future in this young mutant girl while also lamenting on their pasts.

Logan’s world is a strangely a very meta one. Laura’s obsession with Logan is in part thanks to her love of the X-Men comics, which an interesting way to allow Logan to comment on the adventures and the properties many iterations and legacy. This world is also a very violent one. The hardest part of the film version of Wolverine for me to digest is before this you have this man haunted by this violence that we have almost never see. There is a brutality to Logan and the violence of his world the gives the character the weight he’s always needed, you understand he’s got blood on his hands because you’ve finally seen his actions and the repercussions on him. It’s a piece of the character that always for me felt oddly missing and Logan completes.


Logan also solves my other issue with these films, which is not everyone is a mutant, there are only 3 mutants and this film primarily focuses their story. We aren’t slammed with exposition to set up this post mutant world and we aren’t sidetracked waiting for a stinger to tease the next film. (There is a rumor they sadly attached one after I caught this film at an early screening, which I HIGHLY DISAGREE WITH.) Logan instead tells one simple intimate story and concentrates on rounding out those characters to tell it in the best way possible and it does so flawlessly. While keeping the story small the film has more time for character development and reflection as the weary mutants weigh heavily on what brought them to this point.

Mangold gives the fans the film they always wanted while building upon the world he started in the Wolverine also incorporating bits and pieces of the X-franchise. That being said, Logan doesn’t rely too much on timelines or what film this is supposed to come after or connect to, instead focusing on telling a self-contained story with fleshed out characters. If you’ve seen an X-Men movie in the last 20 years, it’s easy to sit down and enjoy the narrative presented with a script that’s a mix of western and road film with a bit of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome thrown in for good measure. Jackman is at his peak here finally showing us a side to a superhero we’ve never before seen on film and I wish we would have seen before.


Logan is a fitting sendoff to the character for Jackman, who soldiered through some of the worst films in the X-Men canon. It’s painfully bleak, brilliant and beautiful in how it delivers the final chapter in this iconic heroes journey. The film rejects the genre’s gratuitous franchising up and world building to instead tell a very singular story of a hero who has lost his way and all hope in the process. While I personally think Jackman should leave his claws behind after Logan, I have a sneaking suspicion after Logan; Fox may have finally realized what Jackman was capable of in the role. It may only be February, but I think with Logan we may already have the best superhero film of the year and the best thing Fox has turned out under the Marvel brand.