Logan

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2017)

It was massive news when it was announced that the leading actor was stepping down from the role of Wolverine, after seventeen years, this was his final outing, it was just a question of what would happen to the character, directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, The Wolverine). Basically it is the year 2029, mutants are on the brink of extinction, James "Logan" Howlett, formerly Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), is ageing and weakened, the adamantium fused to his body is poisoning him, meaning his healing capabilities are dwindling, he has turned to alcohol, and he works as a chauffeur. Logan is living in an abandoned smelting plant across the border in Mexico, along with albino mutant Caliban (Stephen Merchant), there they are caring for Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) who is suffering from a neurodegenerative disease, causing devastating effects to his telepathic abilities. Logan is approached by Gabriela (Elizabeth Rodriguez), a nurse for biotechnology corporation Transigen, she wants him to escort her and an eleven-year-old girl, Laura (Dafne Keen), to a place called "Eden", in North Dakota. Logan is also approached by Transigen's cybernetically-enhanced chief of security, Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), he turns down his offer of a job to find Gabriela and Laura for him. Logan reluctantly accepts the job for Gabriela, but he discovers she has been murdered, Pierce and his cybernetically- enhanced enforcers, the Reavers, try to kill Logan and Laura, they and Charles narrowly escape the killers, but Caliban is captured and tortured into using his capabilities to track them. Logan and Charles watch a video on Gabriela's phone, they learn that Transigen was breeding mutant children with DNA samples from several mutants for the "X-23" project, but as they grew up they became difficult to control, upon completion the children were deemed unnecessary and were to be killed, Gabriela helped several children escape and smuggled Laura across the border, furthermore, Laura is Logan's daughter, bred from his DNA. Laura has brought a X-Men comic, Logan finds this while they stay in Oklahoma City, in it Eden is referenced, he comes to believe Eden does not exist, the Reavers locate them, but Charles has another seizure and freezes everyone in the hotel with a psychic blast, this allows Logan to kill the enemy, but hundreds have been left injured and dozens dead, Logan injects Charles with a suppressant before they leave. A local family, the Munsons, give the trio shelter, after they help round up their horses on the highway, during the evening Charles expresses his guilt about the past, where he has a seizure that injured and kills an unknown number of people, including some X-Men. Charles thinks he is talking to Logan, it is in fact a feral Wolverine clone, X-24, that has no healing abilities and a weaker adamantium skeleton, the clone stabs Charles and slaughters the Munson family wife Kathryn (Scream 2's Elise Neal) and son Nate (Quincy Fouse), then captures Laura, Logan returns after the devastation, the injured Charles dies shortly after. Caliban sacrifices himself, destroying the van he is in with two grenades, allowing Logan and Laura to escape, Logan and X-24 clash, until the clone is impaled and shot in the head by Munson father Will (One Hour Photo's Eriq La Salle), before he dies, allowing Logan and Laura to escape. After burying Charles, Logan is rescued from a clinic by Laura, after a doctor attempts to convince him he can help his condition, Laura convinces him to let her drive them Eden, meanwhile X-24 is given a serum to regenerate by his creator Dr. Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant), the head of Transigen. Logan and Laura find Eden, a safe haven for the escaped Transigen test subjects, run by mutant Rictor (Jason Genao), the children are planning to journey across the forest to the Canadian border, where there people who can help them, Logan wants to leave Laura with them, he worries his presence will endanger them. However the Reavers ambush the children in the forest, Logan uses a serum Rictor gave him to restore his healing factor, he slaughters many Reavers before the serum effects wear off. Rice confronts Logan, he reveals the destruction of mutantkind was is due to a virus created by Transigen, made to control the mutant population and weaponise them, he also mentions that Logan killed his father, Logan shoots Rice dead, and Pierce release X-24 on him. The children wipe out the remaining Reavers and kill Pierce, Logan and Laura fight X-24, Rictor uses his seismic powers in attempt to aid Logan, but caught off-guard he is impaled on a tree stump, Laura is able to kill X-24 with an adamantium bullet to the head. Fatally wounded, Logan acknowledges Laura as his daughter, he tells her not to be the weapon she was made to be, before he dies in her arms, the children mourn his death, and bury him in the woods, Laura tearfully adjusts the cross on his grave, to create an "X", she and the children continue their journey to cross the border and find a new beginning. Jackman has played Wolverine since the first X-Men in 2000, in a total of nine movies, including cameos and three solo movies, so speculation was obviously rife as to whether he was being killed off or replaced, the now dishevelled and more vulnerable Jackman really creates pathos, Stewart as the weakened Professor X also does fantastic in what is his final X-Men movie as well. This is a most interesting entry in the series, for its raw quality, stripping away massive set piece sequences and going down a slow-burner road movie style, and it is much more adult, more swearing and much more gory violence, you question why it is not an 18 certificate at times, it has a good script and gets you excited when it needs to, it is definitely a suitable end for the clawed superhero we loved, a great superhero action thriller. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Very good!