Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

Logan

In Hugh Jackman’s third and final solo film as the legendary X-Man Wolverine, Logan is an unrepentant journey into the dark soul of one of the most iconic characters Marvel has ever created in a sea of icons. While Disney is busy churning out easily palatable comic confections, 20th Century Fox has been quietly building a pensive, visceral universe in which its characters can delve into realistic explorations of theme and humanity.

Jackman, after appearing in two Australian films that never saw U.S. distribution, got his start as the character Wolverine in the 2000 film X-Men, the keystone in the relaunch of the box office-dominating Marvel universe. Logan was a key component of each of the subsequent films and, in spite of a single cameo in X-Men: First Class, he has been a part of the X-Men universe the entire time. He’s thus been able to dig into the character with both sets of claws and wring out a complex, complicated, and conflicted character who earned his own solo effort, the only one yet for a cast member of the original X-Men films. Through three solid efforts, each increasingly more compelling, Jackman has delivered a fearless, full-throated performance, culminating in this career-topping effort.

The film, written and directed by James Mangold, follows Logan in his waning life, the adamantium of his skeleton slowly poisoning him. At his side is an albino tracker named Caliban (Stephen Merchant) who helps him care for an Alzheimer’s-riddled Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) as they hide out as the last remnants of metahumanity, all of their friends and companions having died. Set in the near future, Logan takes a young mutant (Dafne Keen) under his wing as they seek escape from the laboratory that made her and wishes to put her down. Stewart himself gives an Oscar caliber supporting performance.

The script explores the rough humanity of a mutant who’s life has been hard fought, but whose body is no longer able to heal itself with the same ferocity that allowed him to eviscerate his foes with little effort and come out of bloody conflicts unscathed. As his regenerative abilities fade, his age begins catching up with him and his injuries become more pronounced and impeding. This isn’t a glory-filled superhero romp where a great hero must face off against massive global conspiracies or strange alien threats. It’s a drama where sacrifice, compassion, and humanity are explored with grit and grim determination.