“Nature made me a freak. Man made me a weapon. And God made it last too long.”

Flinthart’s review: First: as a film, Logan is well shot, well composed, and well supported by a sparse but effective soundtrack. The performances are all solid, as one would hope from a troupe of experienced players. Patrick Stewart’s aging, mentally unsound Charles Xavier is genuinely sympathetic, tragic, and occasionally scary for the right kind of reasons. Hugh Jackman himself is living in the role he created — but for the first time, he manages to deliver depth, life, pathos and a real sense of tragic heroism, because at last he’s allowed to play the character and not the four-colour comic-book caricature. And young Dafne Keen is fine as the young girl who sets the story in motion and forces Logan to confront the world once more.

I wouldn’t call this a ‘superhero’ movie at all, however. The protagonists do indeed have superhuman abilities, and those abilities are at the centre of the conflict which drives the narrative… but there’s no spandex. There are no supervillains. There’s no threat to end the world. There’s just some well-known characters battling the same issues of aging, of fear, and of failure that all of us face. Their history as superhero characters simply means the situations they have to face are more dramatic and more action-oriented than yours or mine.

Nevertheless, it’s still a movie for the fans. The characters are more, not less, of the things you may have enjoyed if you appreciated them in the comics. The complex mythology is woven through the storyline, and the comics are both invoked and dismissed in a rather interesting fashion.

I’ll say this: I liked superhero comics when I was younger, and Wolverine was a favourite character because he was the first of these heroic figures who was allowed to be truly dangerous. Even the terrifying, brutal Incredible Hulk was always shown as wanting nothing more than to be left alone. Wolverine? He killed people. He was good at it, and because that was pretty much all he was good at, he kept doing it despite everything.

So when I say that this is the very first film to bring the Wolverine to the screen in any genuine, visceral way, you’ll understand what I mean. They didn’t hold back. The Wolverine of this film invokes and recalls the character at his bitterest, bloodiest, most brutal and determined — and that made me very happy.

If you’ve ever enjoyed Marvel comics — particularly the X-Men — you should see this. But be careful: It will make it extremely difficult for you to enjoy the rest of the Marvel movie canon, because Logan is closer to the source and truer to the characters than anything else Marvel has done. I’ve enjoyed the Avengers material… but Logan turns them back into cartoon characters.

If you’ve never enjoyed the superhero genre? Take a look anyway. You could treat it as a science fiction action film, and lose nothing in the result. Or you could treat it as a rare opportunity, a chance to see for yourself the stronger ideas so often buried in the four-colour wish-fulfillment fantasies of the comic books.

It’s not a perfect film. I found the pacing a little patchy, for example. And of course, it’s still embedded within the fundamentally silly superhero genre in its own way. But it’s the best superhero film I’ve seen so far, and for my money, the first to cross over and become interesting in its own right.

Oh — and if you’re a longtime fan of the Wolverine of the comics, I’m willing to bet you’ll be wiping your eyes by the end of the film.

Justin’s rating: Six out of six claws

Justin’s review: At the start of Logan, it’s immediately clear that something is really off with our favorite X-Man, played by Hugh Jackman for supposedly the last time. This near-immortal man is aging, his healing factor is failing, he’s getting roughed up by mere thugs, and he’s — prepare yourself — working a lame job driving a limo. This isn’t the spirited, wise-cracking superhero who blazed his way into our hearts since the original film in 2000; this is a mutant who is worn down to the nub and barely holding on.

In Logan, it’s 2029, the X-Men are disbanded, and mutants aren’t so much of a thing any more in the world. Logan’s secretly caring for a dementia-ridden Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), who apparently caused some mental explosion that wiped out a whole bunch of people and mutants. Obviously, we’re in for a happy-skippy ride where our favorite heroes are dead, grumpy, or losing their minds.

What Logan doesn’t need are any more complications or hardships, but both come in the form of the mute Laura (AKA X-23) — a mutant child made from his DNA and sporting a few retractable blades of her own. As mutant hunters try to track her and others like her down, Logan oh-so-reluctantly agrees to be her protector, her mentor, and — eventually — her father.

This bedraggled future is certainly dismaying and depressing, especially for fans of this long-running franchise who are used to colorful team-ups and spirited adventures. We don’t want to see all of this come to such a sad end… and yet it’s hard to stop watching this movie. It’s the fact that it starts in the absolute pits gives way for a painful climb to redemption and purpose. It’s one last, great ride for the man once known as Weapon X, and it’s here that this whole journey comes to both a conclusion and to a purpose.

Certainly it was very risky to deviate from X-Men’s leather-suited PG-13 world to make a wonderfully mature and thoughtful character piece that just so happens to have superheroes in it. It feels like all bets are off, and that is deliciously dangerous. But it’s not just being bloody or dour as a cheap way to exploit R-rating territory; it’s essential to tell this story. And what a story it is.

Laura represents the flickering flame of mutant-kind that may finally be coming back into the world — if she isn’t extinguished. And it’s going to be just as hard to put her down as Wolverine, since she has the same healing factor, adamantium frame, and Swiss knife assembly. And while she doesn’t need a combat instructor — X-23 is plenty lethal all on her own, thank you very much — she does need something she’s never had before: a family.

It’s this family that Charles, Logan, and Laura are going to have to fight to protect. That fightin’ is going to be up close and very, very brutal, as befitting people who have knives welded to their bodies. We’ve seen Wolverine fight and kill in many other movies, but never like this, where it feels real and shocking rather than to make an audience cheer. It’s no less exciting, however.

Hugh Jackman’s been a fan-favorite in this role for a while, but this may be the first time that viewers have seen him as a person rather than a character. Logan is so tired and so reluctant to be drawn back into the superhero scene, but everyone — Laura’s caretaker, Professor X, and Laura herself — urge him to saddle up once more to fight on behalf of the disenfranchised.

Logan is a grim road trip (slash chase), but it’s not grimdark, and that’s an important distinction for me. I need the hope that not all is lost, that not all heroes are gone, and that not all struggles are pointless.

I won’t lie — this was a gut punch of a film. It seriously brought me down for a while until the psychic residue wore off. But I am quite glad I saw it. Rest well, Wolverine. You done good.