Logan Review - Appropriately downbeat, supremely well-acted

The 1953  classic Shane is played on a TV, a grizzled man is a desert environment tries to escape his past (Unforgiven), morals are questioned and said grizzled man reluctantly escorts a precocious young girl (True Grit). Zero blue lights are shot into the sky by a pompous villain. You can see how director James Mangold drew on westerns to give this superhero film the mature, poignant feeling that the blockbuster genre usually can't offer. You know they mean business when they use a simple font and push for a hard R. Aw yiss!

Scrapping the sodomized continuity of the X-Men franchise, Logan wisely tells it's own story to avoid being hamstrung by time-travel and multiple Wolverine backstories. Instead, Mangold gives an intimate, (somewhat) grounded swansong for Hugh Jackman after 17 years in the lead role. As much as we all love a shirtless Wolverine tensing, it's amazing to see Jackman explore new areas of the character as he faces potential death and extreme loss in a world almost devoid of mutants. From the outset, the usually unbeatable Logan is weary, bruised and surprisingly vulnerable.

Working as a limo driver to support the Alzheimers-stricken Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart also returns for the last time) and live a quiet existence as his healing factor slows down. New mutant Laura bursts onto the scene, with her mother requesting Logan protect her from an evil organisation led by bionic mercenary Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook). Child actor Dafne Keen is extremely promising as the surly young girl, progressing into a more tender performance as she builds her rapport with her protector. Jackman certainly isn't upstaged though; he gives a performance twice as powerful as the finest scenes in the franchise so far. The same is said for foul-mouthed, tortured Stewart - AKA one half of everyone's favourite Shakespearean bromance with Ian 'Magneto' McKellen. With meatier material, Stewart gives an outstanding turn as 90-year-old physic which could even nab him an Oscar nod if Logan pulls a Fury Road at the award circuit next year. 

On the flip side is Stephen Merchant's mutant carer Calaban being acted under the table by his more dramatically inclined cast. His Bristol accent bleeds through, robbing the character of credibility. It would be alright if Logan was played by Rickey Gervais and Xavier by Karl Pilkington. Aside from this, the only other quibble is the questionable blood lust. For some, it will seem excessive, and a tad jarring compared to other X-Men films, the intention to separate it from those films notwithstanding because it's hard to shake the memory of those films. It's like going from early James Bond to Hacksaw Ridge in terms of the violence dependency.

Still, this doesn't take away from the interestingly de-mythologising elements, such as Xavier's powers being unstable in his old age, Logan attempting to live a normal life and an immortal man facing death. Jackman bows out in a moving, fresh fashion. If the symbolic final shot combined with a fine Johnny Cash choice doesn't at least make you melancholy, go re-watch X-Men: Apocalypse.

FOUR STARS. It would be Five if they somehow found a way to chuck Stan Lee in.