For me, my favourite superhero franchise is not the MCU or the DCEU, but rather the X-Men films from 20th Century Fox. Not only were they the most mature and revolutionary of the franchises, but they offer as much creative freedom as possible, for better or worse depending on the project. The final Wolverine film was supposed to be yet another superhero movie with the hero fighting off a powerful villain to save his kind and contain more bombastic spectacle, but it evolved into something more somber, personal, and emotionally genuine that not even the biggest MCU deaths or even their best films can match toe-to-toe with it. In a timeline separate from the ending of "Days of Future Past", the mutant population is rapidly shrinking as no new mutants have been born for 25 years. Logan is in a depressive state as the adamantium in his bones begin to poison his healing abilities and is struggling to earn money so that he and the dementia-suffering Charles Xavier, whose uncontrollable seizures killed members of the X-Men a year prior. When Logan accepts a job from a nurse and child named Laura, he learns that the mute Laura is actually a genetically-modified mutant born from a lab and Logan's own DNA, with the people responsible for her creation on their trail, forcing Logan and Charles out of hiding while attempting to reach the supposed safe haven to drop off Laura to stay safe. The story is the perfect balance of being small-scale, epic, and intense. Rather than trying to seek revenge against a villain or save the world from a bad guy, the story is essentially a chase movie where Logan is worrying about being able to escape the crosshairs of the never-ending army that the villains are able to access. It also serves as a character study for Logan and his arc being that he must embrace his heroic nature rather than avoiding to do the right thing. The tone offers the most darkest superhero film in terms of events, drama, intense violence, and thematic resolutions, but it also provides moments of levity, comedy, entertaining action, and the small glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. It's actually quite shocking that I laughed more times at this movie than a large portion of the comedic MCU films, but that's simply due to how well the writing and the chemistry of the characters work so off on each other.
Hugh Jackman's final performance as the Wolverine is not only as perfect as previous appearances, but it's probably his best out of the franchise. We not only have Jackman be at his most distant and dismissive as the aging and withering Logan, but he still manages to let out acts of charm and humanity that is kept locked up inside of the empty shell that is Logan. It makes it more satisfying by the end when he chooses to save Laura and her friends by basically embracing himself as a hero, while knowing that he may die doing so. Patrick Stewart's final performance as Professor X is on par as Jackman in terms of being so personally invested in the character. Stewart offers a familiar warmth that is familiar to the franchise and offers some of the more funny, humble, and heartwarming moments in the film, but it's given a sense of dread with him being diagnosed with dementia and that he's proving to be uncontrollable to others during his seizures, which makes him a liability to his only friend alive that is Logan. Newcomer Dafne Keen does a stand-out job as Laura/X-23, showing off fantastic capabilities for a child actor by being portrayed effectively mute for the first two-thirds of the film and speak English and Spanish by the third. Even though the character is completely different from the more adult portrayal in the comics, Keen manages to give off so much personality just by her body language and facial expressions. Stephan Merchant as Caliban is great playing this vulnerable, cynical ally to Logan and Charles who is concerned for the well-being of the two. It's jarring to see a one-scene character from "X-Men: Apocalypse" not only be more prevalent, but even be emotionally investing. The side cast are also acted as perfectly as possible from the kind and joyful Munson family, the nurse who seeks out Logan's help, and the various mutant kids who Laura reunites with. If there is one minor issue that the film has, it would be the villains. Boyd Holbrook as Donald Pierce is chewing the scenery and works as a cocky yet intimidating enforcer, but he and the Reavers are just not that interesting as they are just working for a larger corporation. There's X-24, a mindless clone of Wolverine made to follow orders played by Jackman, who is the best of the villains due to the simplicity of his symbolism and concept. Richard E. Grant plays the stock British villain that is Dr. Zander Rice, the surgical head of the company known as Transgen and the creator of a virus that was put into effect for decades to ensure no new mutants are born due to the consumption of corn syrup in products only for Logan to shoot him mid-speech. The villains work in a different way compared to most films. Unlike previous films where the villains are given a lot of depth and backstory to make them interesting for the entire film to have their evil motivation, the villains in "Logan" have already won to an extent and they are practically doing all of this slaughter and work out of pettiness and overconfidence. Even though all three die by the end, the company still exists and Laura and the others have to cross the border anyway, so they work as a different type of obstacle rather than fleshed-out and interesting antagonists. Overall, the cast is extremely talented with not one performance being below-average in comparison to the others, with Jackman, Stewart, and Keen offering some of the best performances in both the franchise or in a superhero film in general for their brilliant characterizations and investment for their final or only performances.
James Mangold took it upon himself to make a far more distinct and improved title from "The Wolverine" when he returned to direct and write the final film of the titular trilogy. Mangold takes a lot of inspiration from not just "Old Man Logan", but the western genre in general, allowing the film to have a far more relaxed pace, familiar structure and storytelling, and a unique look and style unlike that of previous X-Men films or superhero films in general. The world that we see in 2029 is dirty, grimy, and lacking a sense of warmth or clarity, which perfectly matches the tone and the journey of the heroes as the world doesn't provide a sense of comfort or security much like a western film where it's everyman for themselves. The cinematography by John Mathieson is not as stylish or flashy, but rather picturesque and feasible in execution, which gives the film a more personal aesthetic than a studio-processed look. The trick used to give off Charles's seizure attacks is genius in how it's just Mathieson shaking the camera and having a program to correct the movement to give off a frantic visual effect. The music by Marco Beltrami is perhaps his best work to date as it offers a more western-dramatic-inspired score rather than an energetic hopeful score we hear countless times in the genre. Again, it feels far more personal and hands-on rather than a large eventful piece only an orchestra can pull off. Mangold tries to not overuse CGI in the film, instead trying to do action as hands-on as possible. Whenever there's CGI onscreen though, it's not too distracting or fake-looking. The best visual effect though is the interactions between Logan and X-24 as the choreography and editing makes it look like the two characters are inhabiting the same place despite being played by one person. The action is also great in how it has a grisly brutality with the combat of Logan and offering some type of style to it. The opening scene is a perfect introduction to how violent the film gets and each sequence afterwards tops off the previous scene due to the increased stakes and introduced elements that pile up from one another. The violence itself is by no means an over-the-top gore-fest, but rather show the realistic effects Wolverine's claws can do to an ordinary person that was left unseen for all of the X-Men films up to now. Even though his career has really just taken off, I think that this is Mangold's best film to date and one that will prove impossible to top.
"Logan" is as brilliant that a superhero film can get, allowing to be one of, if not, the best superhero film to date. While the villains aren't as developed due to the choice of narrative and approach, everything else about the film is spot-on. The story is small-scale yet engrossing, the tone is punishingly dark yet allows brief moments of humour and levity, Jackman's final performance as the titular hero offers the most depth to the aging mutant in this final venture, Stewart's final performance as Charles is both wholesome and tragic as the once-respected mentor, Keen's break-out role as Laura shows just how talented the child actress is with allowing a mostly-mute character to have so much personality and range just by physical acting alone, the side cast is extremely well-acted to allow the characters either care or hate them, Mathieson's cinematography has scope but not be excessively flashy, Beltrami's score is his best to date with the somber western music that fits the film and stands out from the genre, the CGI is decent to great with the two Wolverines being the highlight of the visual effects, the action is brutal yet memorizing to watch, and Mangold's directing not only converts the superhero story into a neo-western with its tropes and world-building, but his effortless dedication to the film and character makes this his best film in his career as of to date. Even though I didn't mind "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" or "The New Mutants" as the final films of the franchise as they are good films in their own ways, "Logan" should have been the final film to show that the best superhero franchise can go out in such a phenomenal way that not even the MCU could come close to the excellence that is the final Wolverine film.
Verdict: 9.5/10. Almost perfect if the villains were just a bit more interesting. Despite this, I will always call this the superhero masterpiece and I don't believe any film will be able to top off this for a long time...
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