Hugh Jackman's last Wolverine movie, Logan, is due for the first weekend of March, but the critics' reviews are already out. The R-rated film was premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. The X-Men movie is the third instalment in the Wolverine series and critics watching Jackman's last outing as Wolverine are all praise for his acting in Logan.
Also read: Logan actor Hugh Jackman hints at Wolverine's return, leaves fans curious
The film stars Jackman in the title role, and Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Richard E Grant, and Patrick Stewart among others. Holbook will play the villain, Donald Pierce. The film is directed by James Mangold.
Here's what critics have to say about Jackman's last outing as Wolverine:
Mark Hughes, writing for Forbes, said "This is easily Jackman's greatest performance as Wolverine, allowing him to delve deeper into the persona than any previous film. He not only brings the usual cynicism, anger, and regret, but also a wonderfully confused mix of compassion, exhaustion, and bitterness in his complex relationship with Charles Xavier."
Giving the movie four stars, Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian writes that Logan is more of a survivalist thriller than a superhero film. "The heart of the movie is the unexpectedly poignant relationship between Xavier and Logan: I'd be tempted to call them the Steptoe and Son of the mutant world. Logan is a forthright, muscular movie which preserves the X-Men's strange, exotic idealism," he feels.
Logan is a satisfying finish to Jackman's Wolverine series, shares Variety's Owen Gleiberman. "The best thing about "Logan" is that it's one of those movies about a grown-up killer who becomes the mentor and protector of a child, yet it manages not to be cloying."
Entertainment Weekly's Chris Nashawaty shares that you might find yourself tearing up in some parts. "Mangold's Logan is a strange contradiction: It's both the most violent film in the series and the most sentimental one. When it's not showering you in blood, it's trying to make you spill tears. It's much more comfortable with the former than the latter," Chris writes.
Speaking about the villain of the movie, Screen Daily's Tim Grierson writes, "Richard E. Grant makes for a rather ho-hum evil geneticist who wants to clone the X-Men's DNA, while Boyd Holbrook is unimpressive as a somewhat-flamboyant killer. Logan unveils another, surprise bad guy about halfway through, but even this twist underwhelms, leaving our faltering hero without a worthy enemy for this climatic cinematic showdown."
The Hollywood Reporter's Sheri Linden says that Logan is a fine combination of Great Plains Americana, noir and comics-based superheroics. "For fans who are intimately versed in the franchise's playbook, this chapter should prove emotionally satisfying. For those who can't recite the plotlines of all nine of the preceding X-Men films, the new feature's noirish, end-of-an-era vibe is an involving hook," Linden writes.
Collider's Matt Goldberg praises Jackman's performance and the story and writes, "Although Jackman has done an outstanding job with a beloved superhero since he first started playing the role in 2000, Logan feels like the first time where he gets to dig deep into the role."
Watch Jackman play Wolverine one last time in theatres as the film releases on March 3.
