Logan

Ever since the comic-book character code-named Wolverine made his first big-screen appearance at the turn of the century, played by Hugh Jackman in Bryan Singer's 2000 film X-Men, there has been fanboy chatter about whether we'd ever see the real Wolverine on screen - that is, the raging berserker who could do some serious damage with those razor-sharp metal claws of his.

Jackman's full-blooded performance over a long series of X-Men movies and Wolverine solo ventures depicted the fury, certainly, but it's not until now, with James Mangold's Logan, that the extreme extent of the character's capabilities has been shown.

Any previous slicing, dicing and impaling by our man was relatively bloodless. In Logan, limbs are lopped off and skulls are perforated. Graphically. And I'll admit it, it's kind of exhilarating seeing his famous line "What I do best isn't very nice" made manifest.

But the violence in Logan, perpetrated by its title character and others, comes at a cost. Even when characters aren't visibly suffering (and brace yourself for a fair bit of that), there's a bone-deep ache permeating this movie as people come to terms with a brutal past and a bleak future.

At the same time, there's something truly moving and stirring about faded, tarnished heroes using their waning strength to fight the good fight - maybe their last - as best they can.

It's what gives Logan an impact that is both immediate and lingering. There's so much at stake here, and every victory or defeat along the way means something. It means something to the characters, and because they're so richly written and portrayed it means something to the audience as well.

That welcome substance will give Logan the kind of staying power that'll have people revisiting and recommending it for years to come. But the film's more surface pleasures shouldn't be disregarded either - this is a fucking fantastic action movie, distinguished by taut storytelling that explodes into bravura scenes of confrontation and carnage.

It's the year 2029, and everything sucks, especially for Jackman's Logan, who's eking out a living as a chauffeur when he's not caring for his mentor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, giving his best-ever Professor X performance), whose mighty telepathic mind has become a "weapon of mass distraction" as dementia has taken hold.

Time has taken its toll on Logan as well, the adamantium metal reinforcing his bones leaching into his blood and slowly killing him. He dreams of escape, either via a boat he can't afford or the bullet he carries in his pocket.  

But when he encounters a desperate woman seeking help for Laura (amazing newcomer Dafne Keen), a young girl with remarkable powers, he's drawn into one last battle that has him taking on an army of enemies and quite literally wrestling with his own past.

Mangold and Jackman previously teamed up for 2013's The Wolverine, a sleek and sinewy solo project for the character. It's a terrific film, but they've exceeded it and then some with Logan, creating something that should stand proudly in the company of the best action-adventure dramas of the last half-century.