Sad slasher-porn ending to a good franchise

Rating: 5/10 (22 March 2017)

Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart alone are responsible for the few good moments in this sadistically bloody slasher epic, which details the death of the X-man Wolverine in some alternate future in 2029. At a recent screening at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, director James Mangold rambled on and on about his love of cowboy films and the classic SHANE in particular. Sir Patrick Stewart, who was also there, and who was treated rather shabbily by said director, revealed that the amusing dialogue between his character and Jackman's Logan was entirely ad-libbed. Thus we can credit Scott Frank and Mangold only with one tedious slashing/shooting death after another, all bereft of explanation, logic, or a coherent plot. Cyborg killers in Mad Max-style vehicles? No explanation. Mutant Caliban who can't go in the sun? No explanation or back story at all. Lack of all law enforcement? no explanation. The writers don't care. Other tallies include— Claw slashings: at least 200. Bullets: in the millions. F-bombs: about twenty-five.
The Wolverine character deserves so much more than this. Whatever praise comes should be given to Jackman and Stewart alone, and to oddly violent little newcomer Dafne Keen; the rest of the film is a jumbled mess of disjointed scenes mimicking some of the good bits in SHANE. To make sure you get the connection, Mangold has his characters actually watch SHANE on a TV in some hotel. How boring.