Long Live Logan

When Hugh Jackman signed on to play Wolverine in the movie Logan, he knew it was going to be for the very last time. He wanted the most legendary X-Men character to have a proper send off. And he and director James Mangold drew inspiration from movies like Shane (which plays an even bigger role in the film), The Wrestler and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven to really capture the tone, sentiment and feel of the last days of Logan's life.

And if it wasn't already assumed: spoiler alert. Logan doesn't make it out of this one. It's hard to believe that actor Dougray Scott was initially chosen to play the adamantium filled character until he had to drop out due to overdo shooting for another movie. It's really hard to see anyone else playing Wolverine the way that Hugh Jackman does. It's even harder to wrap your head around the fact that he's been playing this hard-up and intense character for the past 17 years. His real life personality is that of a jolly Aussie who is two awards away from an EGOT (after having won an Emmy and two Tony awards -- obviously, none of those were for anything X-Men related).

But in Logan, you see a very different side of the Wolverine we've grown to love. Although still very likable, he's spending his days as a limo driver trying to save up enough money to get himself and Professor Xavier to a life on a boat. By this time in the future, there aren't really any more mutants alive (possibly something to do with Professor X and his ailing brain). And no new mutants have been born in the past 25 years. But one day, Logan encounters a woman who wants Logan to help her bring a little girl (Dafne Keen) to safety. After practically being pressured into taking on this task that he so vehemently does not want to be a part of, Logan learns that this little girl is way more special than he ever knew.

I'll keep the other spoilers to myself, but if you're a comic book fan, then the terms X-23 and X-24 will come into play in this film. And people will probably start comparing young Dafne Keen to Chloe Moretz (see here and here).

The preview for this movie was quite amazing. I really don't think any other film has used Johnny Cash's Hurt as well as the marketing team did for this one. But the trailer is actually even better than the movie, even though the movie is still a high quality R-rated romp. I can't see how you'd be disappointed.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

THREE MOVIES I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT:

• The Power Rangers
• The Girl With All The Gifts
• Get Out