First Take: Logan- saying goodbye is always difficult

Spoiler free as usual. Because this is a great X-Men film.

SYPNOSIS: In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.

Last year, Deadpool’s R rating revolutionised new ways of making superhero films- and now we have a new R rated Wolverine film. While it may be Hugh Jackman’s last ride as the character he began playing over 17 years ago, this is certainly a great film to bow out on.

James Mangold directs this film very much like a Western, with a lot of brilliant wide shots (courtesy of cinematographer John Mathieson) alongside some very well thought out plot points in the script he has crafted with Scott Frank and Michael Green. The pacing is very much perfect for this sort of film, and while we don’t see any of the familiar iconography of the X-Men franchise, the visuals alone certainly make up for the lack of the sleek, futuristic conventions we’ve come to expect from these comic adaptations.

Performance wise, this is another great film from Hugh Jackman as an older, more vulnerable Wolverine than we’ve seen before. Also delivering a stand out performance is Patrick Stewart as Professor X, but undoubtedly the real talent in this film is Dafne Keen as Laura. Her character raises a lot of questions throughout the film, but without spoiling too much of the film’s plot, I can honestly see an X-23 solo film in the near future. Stephen Merchant puts in some great work as supporting character Caliban, and I can definitely say that as a whole, this cast are brilliant. Marco Beltrami’s score also has that Western feel, and when it all adds together with the gloriously brutal action scenes (that are enough to earn the film a 15 certificate here in the UK), we get to say goodbye to Wolverine by seeing him do what he does best.

THE VERDICT

Brutal, full of violence and emotionally charged, Logan is quite simply the best X-Men universe film that has been released so far, and with its very close links to the Western genre, this isn’t just a brilliant superhero film, instead it is a masterclass in filmmaking as a whole.

RATING: 5/5