Our resident movie critic Esther McCarthy examines this week's top releases, Logan and Trespass Against Us...

Logan (16) ****

Hugh Jackman relishes giving film fans the Wolverine they’ve been waiting for in this slick and very violent comic-book action thriller.

Set in the near future, the worn-out Logan’s action days are well behind him as he hides out in a remote range near the Mexican border, along with the ailing Professor X (the always-great Patrick Stewart).

Logan believes that mutants are virtually a thing of the past - but he’s forced to reconsider when a young girl with exceptional powers and abilities comes under his radar. It’s not long before all manner of baddies and weirdos are hunting them down.

The most refreshing thing about Logan is that it doesn't really feel like a superhero movie at all. There are fantastical elements, of course, but it’s grounded in its character and the very real consequences they face for their actions. The graphic violence makes it unsuitable for kids.

Trespass Against Us (15A) **

It’s difficult to know quite what drew top Irish actors Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson - other than perhaps the chance to work together - to this confused, meandering film.

An attempt to reconstruct the family crime thriller by setting it within the travelling community, Trespass Against Us is an ambitious movie that falls at several hurdles.

Fassbender is Chad, a member of a clan of west-country travellers in the UK, who live a chaotic life in their rural setting.

He’s keen on a better life for his kids, but unwilling or unable to change his own habits of stealing from the rural homes of the wealthy in the area.
This is a pattern encouraged by his father (Gleeson) who rules the roost and shuns the younger family’s attempts to send their children to school.

But we’re given little insight into the lives and dreams of these characters, and so it’s impossible to invest in them. The film also lacks any real sense of storytelling or dramatic tension.