A Fitting Farewell

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2017)

I wasn't sure what to make of this film, particularly since of late when a film hits the screens, while I may really enjoy it, once I have finished watching it it becomes a case of 'well, that was that, lets get on to the next one'. It is sort of like the concept of the chase where the anticipation of the movie is actually much better than the movie itself, especially when the teaser trailers give you enough to make you really want to see it, but not too much to the point where you basically have worked out the plot and only end up seeing the film because you have seen all the others in the franchise (as is the case with the latest Fast and Furious movie).
However, it turned out that this film wasn't going to be following along the same lines as the previous X-men, or even Wolverine films. Okay, after the third film it looked as if the franchise was dead, but it was given a huge shot in the arm with the first origins movie, and also cemented Hugh Jackman as the character of Wolverine. In fact it will be difficult to even envisage anybody else being able to take up the mantle in the way that James McAvoy and Michael Fassenbender has done with Professor X and Magneto. However, after seventeen years, it looks as if it is time for Wolverine to hang up his claws, and what better way than a movie focused around both him and Professor X.
The year is 2029 and pretty much all of the mutants have died, all except for Wolverine, the professor, and Caliban. The problem is that the operation that Wolverine had all those years ago where adamantium was fused to his skeleton is starting to have a side effect, namely it is hindering his ability to regenerate, and as such he is also growing old. Professor X on the other hand seems to be drifting in and out of dementia while having spasms that result in psychokinetic outbursts. In an attempt to control these outbursts Wolverine finds himself driving a limo and hustling for drugs outside a hospital. However, into his twilight years comes one final mission, a girl who needs to be smuggled out of the country.
It is quite interesting teaming Wolverine and Professor X in a final movie as the characters cannot be any different from each other. Wolverine has always been portrayed as the loner who tries not to become too attached to people because whenever people are around him they end up dying. This was the image painted in the first origin movie. However Professor X has always been the communal one, being the founder of the X-men and the guy who went out of his way to track down mutants to bring them into a special school. This contrast is seen especially in the scene in the middle of the movie where they end up rescuing the horses from a farming family that have an unfortunate accident.
In some ways people might suggest that this is a movie where the baton is being passed on to a younger generation, but this is not necessarily the case. Sure, it has painted a vastly different future than the one envisaged at the end of Days of Future Past, but it seems that no matter what they do there is always going to be a reaction against the mutants. In fact what happened to result in there being 'no mutants being born in the past twenty-five years' is left hanging in the air. Mind you, this is not necessarily going to be the last movie in the franchise, especially since a new Deadpool movie is now being advertised, though it is certainly a great way to retire a character that has made an appearance in every X-men movie (with the exception of the first Deadpool movie) that has been made to date.