Regular readers of these reviews will know that I am not a big fan of superhero movies, especially when these “heroes” are pitted against one another for no good reason.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good movie when superheroes happen to be the focus.  I still adore Superman: The Movie (1978) despite its absurd finale; it better encapsulates the Superman / Clark Kent mythos than anything before or since.  And now, in an utterly different tone, we have Wolverine’s swan song in Logan, a gritty, violent, bitter, sad and yet inspiring finish to an incredibly popular and profitable character.

James Mangold’s film eschews the familiar X-Men mythology in favor of a bleak, semi-apocalyptic future vision of the world without its mutants.  Logan, the Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and aged, infirm Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) are all that is left of the X-Men and they are nearing extinction themselves.  The discovery of a young girl, Laura (Dafne Keen), with traits similar to Logan, simply accelerates the inevitable.  Militant mutant-hunters follow and attack the trio from the Mexican border all the way up to the Canadian border, not only encompassing compelling action sequences but providing a timely political allegory depicting how forces are determined to rid America of its talented outsiders (mutants = immigrants).

Logan is very serious in tone, much more so than the usual X-Men adventures, because it has much more to say.  Despite the blood and gore and profanity it’s about compassion, respect, individual freedom and standing up to persecution.  It’s about the loss anyone feels when losing someone close to them, and doing something valuable before facing one’s mortality.  But it’s also about revenge and vengeance, and abuse and evil.  It’s a beautifully filmed saga of warriors with no future hoping to die with some dignity remaining.  The film actively references Shane, and emulates it in some of its plotting, but it also reminded me of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in terms of some of its elements.

While Logan is quite a bit different than its X-Men predecessors, this third stand-alone Wolverine movie completes Hugh Jackman’s trilogy and hold upon the character with aplomb.  I would argue that it is the best film of the bunch, consistently compelling not just because of its tragic tale but due to its overlapping and intertwining layers.  Everything works.  Mangold’s vision for the final chapter of the Wolverine saga is singular and startling; it certainly surprised me.  ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2.  30 April 2017.