Logan sliced its way into theaters recently and it’s the final outing for the beloved actor Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and all I can say is “wow.” Logan left me speechless.

The movie starts out in the year 2029, and the world is somewhat the same but mutants are going extinct. Logan, who is now an alcoholic, down on his luck luxury limo driver, is hiding out in Mexico and helping hide the ailing Professor X. But Logan gets forced out of mutant retirement after a mysterious mutant girl Laura who needs his help in getting across the border and into Canada.

Right from the go, Logan shows you how it’s not gonna be like any of the other X-Men movies. It’s brutal and gritty and brings bleak and dry undertones throughout the whole film. At times I didn’t even feel like I was watching a film about a mutant with metal claws in his hands but instead an expertly crafted film that doesn’t fall victim to superhero cliches. Logan stays grounded as he is never fighting a huge Alien or a giant beam in the sky at the end of the movie.

Director James Mangold really made incredible use of the R rating that Logan got. With absolutely violent and brutal murders and foul language Logan hides nothing like the previous X-Men films have. Logan finally shows the side of Wolverine we always wanted to see with him going into “berserker” mode more than one time in this movie and when he does man is it brutal. The R rating is perfect for this film not because of its crude humor or gags like in Deadpool but because of how gritty and dark Logan’s life has really become. Logan who is slowly losing his healing power and has lost all of his friends except Professor X who is also ailing.

Jackman of course as always knocks it out of the park. It’s so hard for me to think that originally he wasn’t cast and for playing this role for almost nearly two decades Hugh Jackman probably gives his best performance as Logan. But his acting alone doesn’t carry the movie. Patrick Stewart is of course amazing as Charles Xavier in his last performance as the character too. Boyd Holbrook was very good as the villainous and snarky assistant to the Dr. Rice. But the person that of course steals the show is the little girl Laura or X-23 played by Dafne Keen. For more than half the movie she doesn’t really talk but her facial expressions and mannerisms were amazing and she hung in there with acting greats like Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart.   

In the end Logan uses its R rating to perfection as it brings a darker take on the story of Wolverine as it avoids other superhero movie tropes and easily joins the ranks as one of the best superhero movies ever made along with the Dark Knight. With a deep and dark tones like depression, and suicide and happy tones like family and well being Logan was heartbreaking in all the right places and heartwarming in all the others. I can’t recommend going to see Logan enough it’s definitely a movie you shouldn’t miss.