March 4, 2017 -- Every once in a while in the X-Man series of movies, they decide to make a depressing movie like this for some reason. Take “X-Men: The Last Stand” for instance, which they virtually erased and fixed with “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Maybe they'll time travel again in some future film and fix “Logan,” too.

It isn't a bad film, mind you, just more depressing than I expected from a comic book movie series which is at its best featuring action, light entertainment and maybe some humor, not relentless heavy, downbeat drama. In this film, Logan (played again by Hugh Jackman) born in the 1800s, is finally starting to look old and tired. He even has the movie cliché cough, and you know what that means. He has lost much of his strength and healing powers. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart reprising his role) is sick too. Another mutant in the film looks sick as well. Everyone looks sick, tired and very unhappy. Enjoy!

Most of the world's mutants, who once numbered in the millions, have disappeared from this story line because of a virus created by the all-powerful Transigen Project. Transigen agents, called Reavers, are able to go around searching for mutants, killing people in public places in the process, without any consequences in this story. The lead agent of the Reavers, Donald Pierce (played by Boyd Holbrook “Run All Night”) is particularly ruthless.

Logan, working as a limousine driver (part of a blatant product placement scheme) comes in contact with a young girl, Laura (Dafne Keen) who has the same mutation he has, and the same built-in deadly metal claws, too. The Reavers are after her. Logan is asked to get her to safety in northern North Dakota. Logan very reluctantly agrees to do this when he finally learns the truth about Laura.

The Reavers invade Logan's sanctuary in Mexico, forcing him to flee with Xavier and Laura in tow. Since Laura has been raised in a laboratory, she has no social skills and is very dangerous. Xavier is subject to seizures, during which he can generate enough uncontrolled telepathic power to kill people, and apparently did so during an earlier disaster called “the Westchester Incident” referenced by name only in the film. Charles is kept sedated most of the time with a drug that diminishes his telepathic powers.

Despite all the sickness and drama, this is still an action movie, and there is plenty of action. While Logan and Charles Xavier are both ill, little Laura is healthy and has plenty of energy. She gets into a number of bloody fights. In one scene, she kills a man, cuts off his head and shows it to her attackers. She is fierce, like a Viking warrior of the past.

This is a movie that does have a couple of surprises, but the plot is mostly predictable. The story's sense of entropy never really wavers all that much from beginning to end. There is a real sense of inevitable decline. I've seen this story described as dystopian, but it didn't seem that way to me. I think of dystopian as being more like post-apocalyptic. This is more like a mild extension into the near future which doesn't seem all that much different from the way things are right now, and is consistent with the direction things are now headed.

This is a well-acted film with decent action scenes. As you can tell from this review, it isn't really my cup of tea, but that doesn't take away from the fact this movie is well made. I just wish they had made it less depressing. This film rates a B.

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