The Last of Us.

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2017)

Since seeing X-Men on the last family holiday I had in 2000,the franchise has always been one that has meant more to me than the other comic-book movies. With the son of my best friend being a comic- books fan and also having the name Logan,it felt like the perfect time to see Wolverine for the last time.
The plot-
2029:
Being one of the few mutants to still be alive,Logan/Wolverine makes money as a limo driver which he uses to get drugs for Professor Charles Xavier seizures. Returning one day to the isolated location that him,Xavier and helper Caliban are hiding in,Logan is told by Xavier that he has made contact with a mutant on the "outside" world. Dismissing Xavier,Logan gets caught up in a deal to take Alkali-Transigen and 11 year old Laura to a place called "Eden." Going to pick them up,Logan finds Transigen dead and soldiers surrounding Laura. As he reveals his claws to protect Laura,Logan discovers a brand new mutant.
View on the film:
Not saying a single line of dialogue for the first hour of her (film) debut, Dafne Keen gives a remarkable performance as Laura,with Keen clawing at Laura's frustrations and volatile mood swings with an abrasive body language that keeps all on edge. Raising her voice,Keen gives the difficult relationship with Logan a melancholy,which brings out a father/daughter tenderness. Losing 21 pounds for his return to the series,Patrick Stewart gives a great performance as Xavier,whose fragile,dying state Stewart does not allow to rest on pity,by showing that Xavier still has some sparks which opened the school for the X-Men.
Playing a role he has done for almost 20 years for the final time, Hugh Jackman gives a superb performance as Logan. Visibly carrying the history of Logan on his shoulders,Jackman gives him a raw fragility, as meeting Laura causes Logan to face his own morality.Working with Jackman for the third time,co-writer/(with Michael Green and a returning to X-Men Scott Frank) director James Mangold & cinematographer John Mathieson continue expand on the action style of The Wolverine with a thrilling,bare-knuckle fury,unleashed with blood darting across the screen and each fight move being delivered with a real thump. Setting it in the future,Mangold and Mathieson draw a Post-Apocalypse,Road Movie landscape,as the dry,dusty colour of the road and a burning red sun cast an end of days atmosphere over the journey.
Putting their focus on the trio,the screenplay by Mangold/Frank and Green does keep the "baddies" at a boo-hiss level,but does give them enough snarling menace so that they pose an aggressive threat to Logan. Using the wear and tear of Logan to take the "superhero" sheen off, the writers explore a wonderfully earthy character study,with the dialogue having a grittiness and an unshakeable air of death keeping everything grounded,as the ultimate X-Men reveal themselves.