[This is a re-post of my Logan review; the film opens this Friday.]

Franchises should end more often. Freed from setting up the next installment or worrying about if an actor will reprise a beloved role, Logan isn’t constrained by rating, putting pieces in place for the next chapter, or keeping characters alive because they might be needed down the road. Logan is an ending, not just for its titular character and the actor who defined the role for a generation, but for how he defined the X-Men saga. While Fox will continue to make X-Men movies, Logan feels like the conclusion of a story that began back in 2000 and in the hands of director James Mangold, the film serves as a moving farewell to a unforgettable character and the franchise he defined.

Set in the year 2029, we enter into a world where there have been no new mutants for the last fifteen years. Logan (Hugh Jackman), going under his birth name James Howlett, tries to keep a low profile as a limo driver in Texas. After long days of driving idiots around, he crosses the border into Mexico and goes to an abandoned facility where he, with the help of mutant Caliban (Stephen Merchant), cares for an ailing Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Logan wants to put together enough money so he and Xavier can peacefully live out the rest of their days on the ocean, but his plans are upended when he crosses paths with Laura (Dafne Keen), a young girl with powers similar to his own. Forced to go on the run from military forces led by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), Logan eventually discovers his purpose in life looking after the young girl.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Although Logan is unmistakably “R-rated” (the first line of the film is “Fuck.”) and at times seems to be proud of unleashing the character in his full violent, vulgar glory, it also serves to give the movie a unique tone that lets us know that this will be unlike any X-Men film we’ve ever seen. And while the violence is brutal (lots of people get stabbed in the head), it never feels like Mangold is pandering to adolescent boys who get their rocks off by watching mindless killing. If anything, the film eventually reveals a character (who I won’t spoil here) who is a rebuke to that characterization of Wolverine. Although there’s plenty of violence, the film constantly wants to show us the emotional and physical toll it takes on Logan.

While Logan is dark and gritty from the get-go, it never feels like its taking on that attitude in an immature way. Mangold confidently places the film in the context of a neo-Western, painting Logan and Professor X as two men who have been left behind by the world they once defined. The X-Men have descended into myth, and what remains is a world where two of the most powerful mutants are just scraping by to survive. It’s a bleak outlook, but one that’s buoyed by the freedom of the performances.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

The film presents Logan as we’ve always wanted to see him. Although Jackman has done an outstanding job with a beloved superhero since he first started playing the role in 2000, Logan feels like the first time where he gets to dig deep into the role. There’s no “Bub.” There’s no “I’m the best there is at what I do, and what I do isn’t very nice.” Logan understands that after 17 years Wolverine is no longer chained to the comics. This Logan belongs to cinema and to Hugh Jackman, and his final film lets the character go out in terms of what’s been built so far rather than being constrained to what he was in the comics.

As for Stewart, he’s clearly having a blast playing this version of Professor X. No longer constrained to playing the wise old mentor, this Professor X is bitter, angry, and unafraid to swear his head off. He’s literally too old for this shit, and he’s a man who has seen his life’s work reduced to nothing. And yet his camaraderie with Logan is touching and heartfelt. While past X-Men movies have painted the relationship between Xavier and Magneto as the core of the universe, Logan returns to the first movie and how an angry loner decided to trust “Wheels” for some answers.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Credit also has to go to young Dafne Keen, and especially to Mangold and casting directors Lisa Beach and Sarah Katzman for finding a young girl who could conceivably be as badass as Wolverine. While I’m willing to bet that there was a suggestion to go with a teenager for the role since they can work longer hours and provide some banter, it would be the wrong direction for this movie. In order to position Logan as a father, he needs a child, not a young adult who could take care of herself. The film then takes an even bolder step by making Laura mute, so that Keen relies mostly on facial expression and physicality, which works beautifully.

Additionally, positioning the film as Logan and Professor X looking out for a mutant child makes this an X-Men movie at its best. If you boil X-Men down to its essence, it’s about protecting people who are different. The demands of blockbuster filmmaking being what they are, every X-Men movie has been about pitting mutants against mutants because that gives you the best bang for your buck. But that’s not really what X-Men is about. It’s about protecting people who are different, and Logan drops the mutant-vs-mutant angle in favor of something more thoughtful and emotional.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

That’s not to say that Logan is the way forward for the X-Men franchise as a whole. It’s a fitting conclusion for the mutant that’s been at the center of most of the X-Men movies. Although the action is fun and sure to excite audiences, Logan is mostly concerned with giving the character the send-off he deserves. It’s always been clear that Jackman cares deeply about the character and what it did for his career, and he gives one of his best performances to date in saying goodbye to Wolverine. Mangold exquisitely crafts the picture around him, but as always, Jackman is the beating heart of the story.

Logan is a unique film. It’s not a game-changer for the X-Men franchise or the superhero genre as a whole. It could really only be done with Jackman signing off and with Mangold being given the authority to really cut loose and present a clear, uncompromised vision. The result is a movie that does have a few faults (like most X-Men movies, it’s a little too long), but overall Logan provides a fond farewell to Jackman and the character he defined for a generation.

Rating: A-

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