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Hugh Jackman returns to his signature role one last time (so he says), reuniting with filmmaker James Mangold, who also directed 2013's The Wolverine. But this doesn't feel like any other X-Men movie; it strikes a sombre, gritty tone from the start to take the audience on a dark and rather brutal road trip. So while it feels rather long and repetitive, the movie also has a strong emotional kick.

It's set in the year 2029, when mutants have been wiped off the planet, and no new ones have been born for years. Hiding out in a drunken haze as a Texas limo driver, Logan aka Wolverine (Jackman) has stashed Charles aka Professor X (Patrick Stewart) across the border in Mexico, watched over by albino caretaker Caliban (Stephen Merchant). Then a nurse (Elizabeth Rodriguez) appears asking for Logan's help to transport the young Laura (Dafne Keen) to North Dakota. And Laura clearly has a genetic connection with Logan. It also turns out that she has escaped from a Mexico City hospital, so as Logan, Charles and Laura hit the road, the ruthless henchman Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) and sinister Dr Rice (Richard E. Grant) are hot on their trail.

Mangold holds all of this in careful control, never tipping over into the usual whiz-bang Hollywood superhero action chaos (the violence is especially grisly). The story moves at a steady pace that adds an involving note of desperation to each sequence. This also makes the movie feel a bit repetitive and even wheel-spinning at times. Since the baddies are able to stay right on the heroes' heels, it's clear that even a nicely offhandedly sojourn with a farmer (Eriq La Salle) and his family will be short-lived. But the gnawing intensity, while never quite building into proper suspense, gets deep under the skin as it fleshes out the characters.

Continue reading: Logan Review

This closing chapter of the First Class trilogy falls into the same trap as The Last Stand, the final part in the original X-Men trilogy: it shifts the focus from character detail and social commentary into a more standard effects-heavy action brawl. There's still a lot of strong character detail, and a big story that can't help but be entertaining. But it's impossible to escape the feeling that the film's scale is far bigger than it needed to be.

It's now 1983, and while Professor X (James McAvoy) works with Hank (Nicholas Hoult) to set up his school for young mutants, his old friend and nemesis Erik (Michael Fassbender) has started a family in a rural corner of Poland. But he can't hide forever. Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is roaming the world helping mutants where she can, meeting the teleporting Kurt (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in Berlin before heading to Cairo. There, CIA operative Moira (Rose Byrne) has just uncovered a bizarre underground cult that has revived the ancient super-mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), who immediately sets out on a quest to cleanse the planet and start over again. He needs four assistants, and the question is which of the X-Men will go over to the dark side.

This is the third comic book movie in a row about superheroes fighting each other, after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War. And it's similarly enormous (all three films are around two-and-a-half hours long), with mammoth battles that don't quite make logical sense but are compelling enough that the audience goes with them. This film has a bit more emotional depth, including back-stories that have been developed with unusual complexity. But some characters fall through the cracks.

Continue reading: X-Men: Apocalypse Review

Both the filmmakers and the characters on-screen are so pleased with themselves that this might just be the smuggest movie ever made. Thankfully, it's also very funny. It's a passion project for actor-producer Ryan Reynolds, who throws himself fully into his role as a snarky mercenary who becomes an indestructible superhero with nothing to lose. And in addition to a constant stream of irreverent humour, he underscores the film's snarkiness with some real emotion.

Reynolds plays Wade, a thug for hire who works out of a bar run by his comical pal Weasel (T.J. Miller), and when he meets fellow mercenary Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), it's love at first sight. The feisty pair match each other with sharp tongues and brutal physicality, but their romance is shaken when Wade is secretly diagnosed with end-stage cancer. His only hope lies in a shady treatment from the ropey Ajax (Ed Skrein) and his sidekick Angel Dust (Gina Carano), which turns out to literally be torture. Sure, it cures his cancer and sparks his innate mutant healing power, but it leaves him hideously scarred. As he sets out to get revenge, two young X-Men (Brianna Hildebrand's Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Stefan Kapcic's Colossus) try to recruit him to their cause. And Wade, now known as Deadpool, tries to work up the nerve to show Vanessa what's left of him.

All of this is revealed early on, as Wade's back-story is recounted in a series of flashbacks in the middle of a massive opening action sequence. And once we're caught up, the story heads into a succession of massive climactic action sequences. Fortunately, there are some quieter moments in between that are both hilarious and involving. Reynolds effortlessly bridges the film's wild mood swings. His sassy attitude and feisty physicality feed cleverly into his riveting chemistry with Baccarin, whose character starts off strongly before dissolving into the standard hackneyed girlfriend role.

Continue reading: Deadpool Review

Frank (Pine) and Tuck (Hardy) are best-pal CIA operatives who wouldn't know the word "subtle" if it clubbed them over the head. After a chaotic case in Hong Kong, they're grounded back home in L.A., and both decide to use the down time to find women. The problem is that they find the same woman, Lauren (Witherspoon), who struggles to decide which one is right for her. Certainly her married best pal Trish (Handler) is no help. The bigger problem is that Frank and Tuck use the agency's resources to sabotage each other.

Continue reading: This Means War Review