In the not-too distant future, something is going wrong with Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Years of exposure to atomantium, the remarkable metal coating Logan's entire skeleton, has taken its toll on Logan's uncharted regeneration mutation.

Logan keeps a low profile. He works odd jobs in order to obtain black-market tranquilizers. The medicine is critical to the survival of the human race. Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) is also getting old. Xavier suffers from seizures. Without medication, Xavier's outbursts can unknowingly kill everyone on Earth through his telepathic mutation.

During several of Xavier's quiet moments, he has become mentally aware of a new mutant. Logan knows this is impossible as the mutants have been hunted to extinction. There are no new mutants.

A strange woman Gabriella (Elizabeth Rodriguez) seeks Logan's help. She is cryptic about why. Logan refuses to help her. But events are already put in motion and Logan is involved without his knowledge.

Thus begins Logan. This is Hugh Jackman's swan song as Logan/Wolverine. Other actors may take the Wolverine mantle but this is also Logan's swan song. Logan is still regenerating from his wounds. The healing time is increasing to minutes rather than immediately. Time is running out for Logan and Xavier.

The last thing Logan needs is exactly what happens to him. Laura (Dafne Keen) is a different type of mutant. She was created at the cellular level using the DNA from another mutant. Dr. Rice (Richard E. Grant) has destroyed the naturally occurring mutants and replaced them with laboratory mutants who he controls. He is building his own private army of mutants.

From the very first X-Men movie, Logan has been a paradox. He talks one story but does the opposite. Logan wants to be left alone. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. Yet, every time he has the opportunity to turn his back, he never does.

Laura is only a child. She has a remarkable mutation. She has uncharted regenerative capabilities. In the first surprise of the film, Laura's skeleton has been grafted with atomantium. Logan was an adult. He chose to have the atomantium graft. Laura is a child. Her atomantium graft was forced on her.

The next surprise is a video from Gabriella. She recorded the tape in the event Logan turned down her request for help. Gabriella worked for Dr. Rice. She became troubled by Rice's experiments. In a bold move, she smuggled out as many mutant children as she could. The Canadian government welcomes mutants but will not help until the mutants cross the border. The race is on!

This is the special characteristic of Logan's that Hugh Jackman is so very good at portraying. Logan is world weary. No one knows when he was born. Logan is both blessed and doomed. His past has been erased from his memory. His future seems endless.

Now Logan is faced with the ultimate question. If he helps, Logan may die. If Logan dies, Xavier has no one looking out for him. Humanity lies in the balance. The future of mutants lies in the balance.

Logan is caught right smack in the middle. He doesn't want to help. He doesn't have a choice. Logan has always had a personal code of conduct. There is no telling what Logan will care about. The decision is rendered moot upon the discovery of Laura's identity, which comes as a surprise even with all the foreshadowing.

Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier is touching, tender, and terrifying. Xavier is crying wreck pleading for Logan to not sedate him. When his seizure kicks in, Logan takes a beating before he barely injects Xavier. When the medication kicks in, Stewart returns to the normal Xavier. Stewart quickly changes making the audience wonder if Xavier is suffering dementia. Stewart is fanatical in Xavier's ravings, desperate to convince Logan there are mutants who need their help. Stewart walks a tightrope between sanity and insanity.

The biggest surprise in Logan is not Jackman's performance, Stewart's performance or the wonderful screen play. Dafne Keen is amazing. Keen has a tough act to follow. Laura is basically a pre-pubescent female Wolverine. Laura is a new character. She is a new mutant with an entirely new and different upbringing than Logan. But Keen also has to incorporate the same characteristics into Laura as Hugh Jackman embodied into Wolverine. Dafne Keen succeeds on all levels.

Laura is an innocent child. On one hand, Gabriella has tried to give the children some semblance of a real childhood. Laura behaves like a child. Like Wolverine or the Hulk, do not make Laura angry. When Dr. Rice's henchmen try to apprehend Laura, they have no idea what they are getting into. Keen is frightening in Laura's savagery indiscriminately killing and killing and killing. Keen does not embody Laura's outburst with a sympathy. When consumed by rage, Laura becomes a mindless killing machine, exactly what Dr. Rice envisioned with his experiments. This morality is frightening!

Laura has no childhood. Like the Jurassic Park dinosaurs, Laura was "born" in a laboratory. She has no rights. Dr. Rice and others see the child mutants as laboratory specimens. The escaped mutant children will be returned to the laboratory or they will be destroyed. In the eyes of Dr. Rice, these children are not human beings. This morality is frightening!

Another element of Logan topping the frightening scale is the violence. The violence is not necessarily bloody. When Logan and Laura get going, no one is spared. Dr. Rice's henchmen are stabbed, skewered, slashed and beheaded. Children are at the center of the movie but this is not a movie for children.

Despite the violence, there are an equal number of truly touching, tender and funny scenes. Laura is stubbornly heading for a rendezvous point. She found the location cleverly hidden in, what else, a Wolverine comic book. When they arrive, Logan is shocked to find Laura was right. Several of the new mutant children have converged on the same location.

Logan is the only adult. Only Logan stands between freedom or capture of the children. Logan is faced with one final decision: Do nothing or die helping the children. Jackman wordlessly makes Woverine's choice or lack thereof. Wonderful!

There wasn't much of a surprise when Hugh Jackman announced Logan would be his last film as Wolverine. Logan has uncharted regenerative abilities. Jackman doesn't. The only real way Jackman can continue in the role is through motion capture and a computer generated Wolverine. Hugh Jackman will be missed as Wolverine. James Bond and Doctor Who have survived actor changes so Wolverine will probably return.