Logan: Watch as a group of kids are more violent then any of the X-Men could be.

It's nice to see a movie come around that goes so far against espectations that it can't help but be admired. As I said before, I had lost interest in the X-Men movies as they went further on, and I think I'm not the only one who wasn't expecting much from Logan. Origins was awful, The Wolverine was ok at best, and while this had the advantage of being rated higher compared to them, thanks to the success of Deadpool, no one thought this was going to be as good as it was. How did this happen? How did a trilogy that started off so badly stick the landing this perfectly? Well I think one reason is going to be repeated this Wednesday when Endgame comes out here. For now though, let's look at Hugh Jackman's last run as Wolverine.

Set 10 years from now, mutants have stop being born, and those that were alive are almost all dead. The last three surviving mutants being Logan, who's slowly dying of Adamantium poisoning, Charles Xavier who's suffering from dimentia, which can cause him to have seizures that make his powers extremely dangerous, and an albino mutant named Caliban, who can track other mutants. Plans for moving Charles out of an old smelting plant are haulted when Logan and Charles are tasked with guarding a new mutant known as Laura. Comic fans probably know her best as X-23, a female clone of Wolverine, designed to be a weapon. To try and protect her, the two (though Logan does it begrugingly) must get her to a place known as Edan, where she and other genetically created mutant children can be safe from the organization who created them, and want to know kill them due to the X-23 project being considered a failure. Although Laura does manage to make it across the boarder safely along with all the other escaped children, Caliban, Charles and Logan all die by the end of the film.

It's a very basic story structure, with strong character interactions carrying the film. One thing that the X-Men movies have done well is cast the perfect actors for many prominent roles. While not all of them were perfect, it's hard to deny that Hugh Jackman was perfect as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart was perfect as Professor X, Ian McKellen was perfect as Magneto, Kelsey Grammar was perfect as Beast, Ryan Reynolds is perfect as Deadpool, and Dafne Keen is perfect as X-23. Holy crap this girl is amazing, and she's only 14! 12 when the movie came out! She's slightly earie at the start of the movie, but the first time we see her pop her claws out and fight, she goes from eerie to outright terrifying, it's amazing! She spends most of the movie silent, but when she does speak, she completely steels the show. I find it very hard to believe that anyone at Marvel would read this, but in the off chance there is someone with connections, convince them to bring her back in the MCU as X-23! If she's this good now, and provided she doesn't go crazy, imagine what kind of an actress she'll be when she's older. Though minor, the other child actors also do a really good job, and like the title says, these kids are way more violent then the "real X-Men" ever could be on film. Heck, before we see Laura pop her claws, she walks out to a group of armed soldiers carrying the severed head of one of their colegues. Another one shatters some pour souls arm off after freezing it.

I really only have two major complaints with the movie. The X-men comics and Wolverine toy felt really out of place here, though an interesting concept, it just didn't feel right in execution. The music itself was also subpar, potentially due to most of the movie being shot in a desert, to help give this a Western feel. On the plus side though, the effects are really well done here, both the CGI in the claws, robot limbs in the grunts, and the practical effects used in the fight scenes like the afore mentioned severed head.

I think the main reason this movie works so well is because it's not just the end of Wolverine. It's the end of Hugh Jackman's run as Wolverine. Like I said earlier, it's a casting choice so perfect that it's hard to think of any other actor in the role. He wasn't just someone playing Wolverine, from the moment we saw him in X-Men, he was The Wolverine. This is actually a very fitting thing to review with Avengers Endgame coming out this week, with many believing strongly that this is the last hurah for many of the founding Avengers. In the same way as Hugh is The Wolverine, Robert Downy Jr. is Tony Stark, is Iron Man. Chris Evans is Captain Steven Rogers, is Captain America. It's hard to see anyone else in those roles, though we know it will happen eventually, just as when the Mutants come to the MCU, there will be another Wolverine. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when they are added in. For now though, I leave the X-Men alone for now. I'll return next year to see how this splintered timeline pans out from the other side. However, April still has two movies left. I hope you all have a Happy Easter (if you celebrate it), and I'll see you on ANZAC Day for Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse... I was tempted to put Infinity War there, but it would feel a little awkward... more then reviewing a cartoon about spider people, a spider mech and a spider pig at least. This time next week though, I'll be revisiting the merch with a mouth.