Hugh Jackman returns one last time to the role of Marvel Comics’ Wolverine in a film that finally lives up to the gravitas of Jackman’s portrayal of the iconic Canadian mutant superhero.

Growing up as a kid, Wolverine was my favorite comic book superhero. I grew up watching the X-Men animated series of Fox Kids every Saturday morning. I had the five inch “Tiger Stripe” blue and yellow Wolverine action figure from Toy Biz. Plus, one of the first comic books I ever bought was the Jim Lee X-Men #1 back in 1991. To put it short, I was a fan. That fandom continued through my teens buying the stand-alone Wolverine comic book written by Larry Hama and illustrated by comic book notables like Marc Silvestri and Mark Texeira. When it was announced that there would be an X-Men live action film in summer 1999, I was 20 years old and beyond excited to finally see my favorite character on the big screen in living color. It was a new actor who was cast as Wolverine, an unknown Australian actor named Hugh Jackman. And for the past 17 years, Jackman has been the embodiment of Marvel Comics’ most popular character. Few actors have ever been so defined by one role as Jackman has been with Wolverine. Despite that, he’s built a stellar career outside of the Fox X-Men films; a career that has shown time and time again that Jackman has the chops to play a more nuanced and grounded version of the character that the films have never taken advantage of on the screen.

It’s only now, in James Mangold’s second run at directing a stand-alone Wolverine film in Logan, that we finally get a movie worthy of Jackman’s pathos with the Logan character and its rich and tortured backstory. In fact, one could make the argument that following 2016’s similarly R-Rated Deadpool, Logan may well be Fox’s best film made with the Marvel Comics’ X-Men film license.

Logan greets us in the far off world of America 2029. Mutants have been all but eliminated; unemployment is rampant, corporations own most everything and outsiders struggle to eke out a living. An old sickly Logan makes his living as a limo driver; scrounging for gigs so that he can save enough money to take a senile and dangerous Professor X (Sir Patrick Stewart) as far away from society as possible. Logan’s healing factor is failing and he now goes under his original given name of James Howlett. Despite the efforts Logan has taken to stay off the grid; which include hiding Professor Xavier in Mexico with mutant tracker Caliban (Stephen Merchant) as his caretaker, he is found by a Mexican nurse named Gabriela. Gabriela tries to hire him to take her and a little girl named Laura (Dafne Keen) to North Dakota. Logan refuses the job, only to out himself to a group of mercenaries called the Reavers who have been tracking Gabriela and Laura. Their leader, a man named Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) hunts Gabriela down and executes her and Laura finds her way to Logan and becomes her reluctant protector.

From here, Logan really opens up and becomes the grounded small story that 2013’s The Wolverine could have been. The film has the feel of an elegy from the get-go, a post-modern western not unlike 1953’s Shane with Logan as the reluctant outlaw with the mysterious past and Keen’s Laura not unlike that film’s Joey, drawn to him for reasons explained later in the film. Mangold’s skill with westerns, notably his remake of 3:10 to Yuma really shine here. The chemistry between Jackman, Keen and Patrick Stewart’s Xavier really elevate the film to something special. Logan is very comparable to films like Children of Men and, to a lesser extent, Mad Max Fury Road. There are some decisions made in regards to antagonists which don’t serve the movie as well, mainly the introduction of a villain called X-24. For the most part, Logan is a highmark for the X-Men franchise and a high mark for the Wolverine character, especially if this is the character’s last motion picture appearance being portrayed by Hugh Jackman. Holbrook and Richard E. Grant make for capable and engaging villains with shades of grey. But the film’s standout is definitely Keen as Laura; playing a feral but charismatic girl. Her relationship with Jackman’s Logan has shades of Besson’s Leon and the heart of the film.

Logan is a solid swan song for the Wolverine character; a haunting and well-directed film that brings the character full circle and reminds viewers why they fell in love with the character in the first place. Long time fans will love it and its nice to see the Wolverine many grew up seeing on the big screen as we always imagined him.