Review: ‘Logan’ Is Razor Sharp and Emotionally Charged

Every fan has their favorite mutant in the X-Men universe. After watching Logan, you will be hard-pressed not to consider Wolverine as a serious contender to claw its way to the top. Hugh Jackman returns in his seventh performance – ninth if you count his uncredited turns in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Apocalypse — as Logan/Wolverine.

The year is 2029 and mutants are basically a thing of the past — there haven’t been any new mutants in 25 years. There’s still Charles (Patrick Stewart) and Caliban (Stephan Merchant), the albino — who avoids the sun (covered head to toe) when he leaves the abandoned warehouse in Mexico where they are seeking refuge.

Logan nurses the aging and ailing Charles with much-needed meds as he is suffering from a degenerative disease. He is losing control of his brain powers causing seizures that temporarily paralyze all in its wake. Stewart gives a tender and heartwarming performance of a mutant who was once king of his universe, and must now confront his inescapable fate.

To earn money for Charles’ drugs, Logan is now a limo driver who transports a late model Chrysler-like a Maserati sports car. He is fully bearded and battered — with bloodshot eyes from the alcohol he has consumed to numb the pain of his deteriorating Wolverine powers. Hugh Jackman — still in fine physical shape — is in excellent acting form as he must huff and puff his way through some of the action scenes. Yet he deliciously delivers when Logan is called to the task to summon up Wolverine — ejecting his razor-sharp claws — to slice and dice anyone who threatens him and the people he loves. In the first five minutes, he takes out a posse of Mexicans who decide to “mess with the wrong guy.”

When Logan answers the call to drive a woman and her “daughter” clear across the border to North Dakota, we are introduced to Laura (Dafne Keen). We soon discover she is not the innocent young girl she appears to be when a mutant bounty hunter named Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) is after her capture. Holbrook is dangerous and devilish in the role sporting a gold tooth and skull tattoo across his neck.

Laura reveals her mutancy when she joins Logan in their fight against the hunters. She even reveals her own claws sprouting from her hands — and feet — as she gymnastically decapitates them. When they are safe for the moment back at the warehouse, Charles rejoices in the young mutant and gleefully asks Logan, “She remind you of anybody?”

Logan, more than other X-Men film, successfully takes you out of the comic book world and into a fully realized reality. Even the most macho will get choked up by the emotionally-charged screenplay by director James Mangold.

You may wonder who is Laura exactly and why is she being hunted? Without giving too many spoilers away, all questions are answered within this provocative and moving chapter in the X-Men saga. Logan opens in theaters nationwide March 3.