Based on the Marvel Comics series Old Man Logan, Logan, the latest film in the X-Men series which opens this Friday, begins in media res when thugs carjack Logan's limo. As the guys attempt to change a flat tire, Logan (Hugh Jackman) awakens in the back seat and confronts them.
While Logan might be reduced to wearing a shabby suit as a driver for hire, he still possesses a sardonic sense of humor. "You're going to scratch the chrome lug nuts," he tells the men. They don't think he's funny and try to take him down, popping a cap in his chest and hitting him upside the head with a crowbar. Though not as fierce as his former self, Logan still has regenerative powers and he still has a sharp set of claws too. When the blades come out, the guys don't stand a chance.
A bit banged up, Logan slouches back in his limo and returns to the remote desert hideaway occupied by Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Caliban (Stephen Merchant). There, Caliban struggles to take care of Charles, who suffers from migraines that set off earthquake-like tremors. The film's dark opening scene sets the tone for this somber movie, a striking meditation on what happens when superheroes get old and approach their inevitable deaths.
Logan's plan to buy a boat so that he and Charles can disappear hits a snag when a woman (Elizabeth Rodriquez) asks for his help with Laura (Dafne Keen), a mutant who, like Logan, possesses a set of sharp blades and unbelievably quick reflexes. And like Logan, she's got one helluva temper too. Logan agrees to transport her to South Dakota where she plans to meet a group of refugee mutants who've escaped from the same lab where she was created. Unprepared to take on dad-like duties, Logan struggles to keep the child's killer tendencies in check. The two must work together to combat Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), a former elite member of the Hellfire Club who leads the Reavers, a militant group of genetically modified mutant cyborgs.
Intended to be Jackman's final portrayal of the character after having played the role for 17 years, the ultra-violent film sends Jackman out on a high note. Director James Mangold (Walk the Line, The Wolverine), who co-wrote the screenplay with assistance from Scott Frank and Michael Green, provides Jackman with the opportunity to show off his acting chops and develop the character fully and completely.
