Logan

Well, I did it.  After deciding that I didn't really want to see Logan and turning down an opportunity to see an advance screening on Thursday night, I went to see it last night (in IMAX, no less) because it got such great reviews.  I didn't expect to love it but I did!  Let me say at the outset that it is not your typical stylized superhero movie with sanitized violence.  It is laden with profanity and the violence is shocking and bloody (Logan uses those adamantium claws to decapitate someone).  But, in a way, it is a real and very raw portrayal of a tortured man living with regrets who, ultimately, finds redemption.  In 2029 mutants have all but been destroyed.  A grizzled and weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) is holed up in an abandoned silo in Mexico with Caliban (Stephen Merchant) and an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart).  He is still pretty lethal in a fight but it takes him much longer to recover.  There has definitely been a cost.  He eventually meets a young girl named Laura (Dafne Keen) who also has adamantium implants.  She was genetically engineered (using Logan's DNA) as a weapon by the Transigen Project but she escaped and is now on the run from Transigen's cybernetically enhanced mercenaries.  Logan reluctantly agrees to take her on a cross-country journey to find an elusive safe haven for mutants in Canada.  This eventually leads to an epic showdown with Logan, Laura, and all of the other surviving genetically engineered children against the mercenaries.  What I liked most about this movie is that it is very character-driven.  Logan is flawed, to be sure, and he is broken and angry but he is unbelievably sympathetic, especially in his interactions with Charles.  Jackman's portrayal is highly nuanced and more affecting than in any of the other X-Men movies and Keen is remarkable as the newest mutant in the franchise (could we see her again?).  While the tone is somber, the message, in my opinion, is incredibly hopeful and the ending is so moving that I had tears in my eyes.  I am surprised by how much I liked this movie but it is definitely not for everyone.

Note:  There is no end of credits scene (so don't wait like almost everyone in my theater did) but there is a hilarious Deadpool teaser before the movie which made me laugh out loud.