‘Logan’: Bittersweet, savage end of an era

Patrick Stewart (left) and Hugh Jackman as aging mutants

It’s the feral mutant in action, just like you’ve always imagined—and then some. In James Mangold’s gritty, aptly disconcerting “Logan,” clawed hero Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) finally cuts loose in graphic, gory detail, proving that some comic-book concepts can flourish despite—or because of—the R-rated treatment, post-“Deadpool.”

“Logan” follows a future timeline where mutants have all but vanished. Even the world-weary hero himself has given up the fight for equality, and has found some semblance of “regular” existence as a limo driver, of all things.

But, there’s more—while he still retains his savagery 12 years into the future, he isn’t the spry, indestructible mutant he used to be. He looks out for himself and one close friend—the increasingly weakening and incoherent Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), founder of the X-Men.

The equation radically changes when an unknown element is thrown in: They discover a young mutant, Laura (Dafne Keen), who has healing powers and unbreakable claws—even a gruff personality—similar to Logan’s.

Trouble is, she’s an escapee from a facility dabbling in cloning and experimentation of mutants. And of course, relentless goon Donald Pierce (“Narcos” actor Boyd Holbrook) is hunting those missing potential “weapons.”

“Logan” is Jackman’s ninth and last time to portray the character. He recently teased that he would only return to it if Wolverine became one of the Avengers, which the mutant is also a member of in the comics.

For 17 years, Jackman breathed life into the live-action version of the character in various “X-Men” and solo films. This film is a fitting way to end that long stint, and this aging incarnation of Wolverine is the most sympathetic and accessible of them all.

Laura, codenamed X-23, transitions well onto the big screen. She’s a delightful cross between Wednesday Addams and Eleven (“Stranger Things”), but considerably more stoic, brutal and bloodthirsty.

The “Odd Couple”-like rapport between Logan and Professor X gives the film some of its funniest moments, as well as some of its most heartbreaking. This is also Stewart’s last time to play his character, so it’s doubly bittersweet. It’s also surprising to hear so many “f-bombs” dropped by such an esteemed figure from the mythology.

One gripe, though—Pierce and his henchmen, the Reavers, have some bionic parts, but they’re hardly the scary cyborgs from the comics. In any case, they work as persistent adversaries.

For such a bleak and violent movie, “Logan” offers rays of hope throughout. It’s the end of an era; this is Wolverine as he should be—unrestrained, terrifying and heroic—and it may be some time before that exceptional lightning is captured in a cinematic bottle again.