What's in a name/title?

Rating: Null/10 (6 March 2017)

Huge Jackman has appeared on the screen 9 times (reportedly) as "Logan/Wolverine". While these are primarily in the X-Men franchise, two of the spin-offs have "Wolverine" as their title. "Logan", the last of the so-called "Wolverine Trilogy", is only one thus titled. Intentional or not, this means something. Finally, more emphasis is given to the protagonist as a human being than as a mutant. The opening scene tells all.
The year is 2029, as we see Logan dozing off in a luxury car, to which he is the driver, earning a menial living. Four goons try to steal the wheels, and the usual drill ensues, but with something we have never seen before: Logan/Wolverine" biting the dust under four common goons. Yes, the old ferocity eventually comes back culminating in a display of decapitated heads and disemboweled entrails (earning "R" rating for this movie). But the scenario is all too clear: even Logan cannot fight mortality. He is growing old(er) and weak(er).
We soon find that the case is even worse for Charles, Professor X (same old Patrick Stewart) who is pushing 90, an invalid under the care of Logan and another mutant, an albino named Caliban (Stephen). Here, I can't help wondering if the Shakespearean reference is perhaps a suggestion that Charles is an alternate version of Prospero, not powerful in old age, but a faint shadow of his former self. Furthermore, without proper medication, he gets occasional psychic seizures that has devastating effect on a radius of maybe a hundred yards: a small earthquake and people frozen in whatever they are doing (visually not unlike when Quicksilver, the speedy X-men mutant, is in action).
We then learn that these three are the very last mutants still in existence, the final targets for extermination to make the Earth mutant-free again. But wait, one more appears on the scene, a pre-teen girl called Laura (Dafne Keen) who turns out to be Logan's "daughter" under some unusual circumstances: genetically engineered mutant killer utilizing an ordinary woman's womb and Logan's DNA. This is some mad scientist's project on similarly engineered children with various genes from different mutants. However, when these children were subsequently found to be difficult to control, they were written off as a failed experiment. Laura, together with a group of children, managed to escape.
This sets the stage of a fugitive road movie, with the what looks like a three-generation family (Charles, Logan, Laura) constantly on the run from the villains who have captured Caliban, forcing him to serve as their tracker. Laura believes in a safe haven called "Eden", a theme that you may remember from a few sci-fi movies including "I am legend", "28 days later" and one of the "Resident Evil" franchise. The trajectory becomes somewhat predictable but that does not take anything away from the appeal of this movie that is currently ranked #36 in IMDb's top 250.
I'll leave the best for last and start with the usual stuff. The action sequences are pleasing to watch (gore notwithstanding), leaning towards choreography rather than CGI. Making you sit straight and try hard not to blink is Laura, four-feet dynamite of a ripper, fiercest of the X-Men ever to grace the silver screen. And then, to give the time-worn Wolverine fight scene a shot in the arm is an old trick, old but still effective: give him an evil doppelganger. Those looking for the usual X-Men action should be more than satisfied.
As I mentioned in the outset, Logan is humanized in the movie more than ever before. Very much like what we have in "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" (2006), a touch of domesticity, apparent or real, works magic. When the fugitive trio is welcomed into one night's shelter by a humble, role model of a family, one can almost feel the warmth radiate into the entire cinema. Around the dinner table the host family talk about their prosaic daily life, as well as hopes, fears and aspiration. The protagonists recuperate, with Logan talking about his "father's" (Charles) school from which he has run away a few times. Even in the dark of the cinema, I could "hear" gleeful smiles spreading over the audience's faces. This is also the time when Laura starts to thaw and soften.
Spoiler or not, the end is very much predictable, a tale of sacrifice, redemption and reconciliation. In a way, it is also very much a father-daughter story, the easiest example coming to mind being the "Taken" series (Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace as father and daughter). Jackman, Stewart and young up-and-coming Keen all give superb performances.
The last words of the movie come from the conclusion of "Shane" (1953), Alan Ladd as the protagonist speaking to little boy Joel: "There is no living with a killing. There is no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There is no going back". Cleverly crafted, this is spoken by Laura who has memorized the lines from the movie she saw on TV in a motel room.