Rating: 5/5 Director James Mangold's and writer Scott Frank's new Wolverine story packs a clawed punch. Logan is the clever answer to a difficult question: how to make a Wolverine solo film without affecting the other X-Men titles? Well, you set the story in the future – or a future, courtesy of the Marvel multiverse. The year is 2029, and mutants are extinct. Or nearly so. Logan (Hugh Jackman) is still around, with some grey in his hair (and beard) and considerably diminished powers. He doesn't heal too well and has trouble with his claws. He works as a chauffeur to pay for the drugs 90-year-old Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) needs to ward off brain seizures that seem to alter time and endanger people's lives. World's most wanted, with Xavier's brain listed as a weapon of mass destruction, the two of them live in relative peace in an abandoned building in Mexico with mutant-tracking Caliban (Stephen Merchant). That is, until Gabriela (Elizabeth Rodriguez) comes begging for a ride to North Dakota for herself and her "daughter" Laura (Dafne Keen). When Gabriela is killed, Laura hides in Logan's car to escape Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook). Pierce and his men are on the hunt for all the mutant children escaped from a clinic where they are created using mutant DNA. Now Wolverine has to decide whether to leave his quiet haven for a potentially suicidal trip to save the life of a girl he doesn't even know. Once he finds out she has claws to rival his own and she is more to him than he imagines, it's hard to say no. His choice marks the beginning of a journey across Mexico and the States to reach Eden, a safe place for these young new mutants. Yet the journey isn't only physical; the emotional tension stays high for nearly three hours of run time as Logan and Laura slowly build a touching relationship, with a climax that will break even a heart of adamantium. Mangold and Frank blend feelings and butt-kicking together skilfully, alternating slow, character-driven sequences with fast-paced fights featuring plenty of guns, blood, and mutilations. Entertaining as the massacres are, it's in the slower scenes that we unravel the core of the story: for instance, when Logan, Xavier, and Laura accept to have dinner with a family they helped on the way to Eden, Xavier encourages Logan to savour this moment. The episode reveals Logan's longing for a family, a desire unbeknownst to him until it is personified by our heroes' hosts. Admittedly, the road trip and the emotional journey eclipse the Transigen threat. Pierce and Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant), head doctor of Transigen, have very little screen time and personality; moreover, the final battle is way too quick and anticlimatic. Regardless, this doesn't impact too negatively on the overall cinematic experience. There will come a time when an X-Men film will feature a truly fearsome enemy, but Logan isn't that time. Nonetheless, you won't regret the ticket, whether you're missing some good ol' violence à la Weapon X or you're waiting for the denouement to Logan's eternal struggle between beast and human.
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October 2017
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