Logan: New footage proves final Wolverine film really earns its R-rating

*WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS FOR LOGAN*

Call it the natural result of Deadpool's unexpected success last year, but the hype surrounding Logan - AKA Wolverine 3 - has honed in fast on its R-rating.

From reports that star Hugh Jackman took a pay-cut to ensure the studio wouldn't push for a PG-13 rating, to the first trailers pushing a gritty, more realistic style that takes pains to differentiate itself from the rest of the X-men universe - Logan is truly establishing itself as a totally unique beast, and quite the final outing for Jackman's take on Wolverine.

Two scenes were shown to journalists as part of a slate of upcoming Fox films, and if there's one takeaway from that experience: Logan is violent as hell, and its R-rating hype is far from a hollow promise.

First shown was what appeared to be Logan's opening scene, where Wolverine wakes up in a limousine in the midst of the desert near El Paso, Texas, only to find a gang attempting to steal the wheels off his car. What follows is a brutal fight scene, but there's something different here.

Logan takes place in a near-future in which Wolverine finds his healing factor is losing its effectiveness, meaning he's begun to succumb to the effects of age. He can still survive bullets and is shot multiple times throughout the scene, but each time he's winded and knocked down by the pain, with his efforts now far more noticeably strained.

The second scene offered an extended look at the desert action sequence featured in the second trailer, introducing both Stephen Merchant's mutant-tracking Caliban, as well as Patrick Stewart's now-frail Charles Xavier; the latter now in hiding after what appears to be an incident "on the East Coast", which has seen his mind now classified as a "weapon of mass destruction".

Villain Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) arrives at an industrial building acting as Logan and Charles' refuge, rocking a cybernetic hand to boot, and appears to be searching after Laura (Dafne Keen); there's talk of Logan having crossed paths with a woman called Gabriela, who is later revealed not to be Laura's mother. As the conflict heightens, Pierce is suddenly knocked out by the force of a metal pipe, revealed to be thrown by said Laura.

The trio retreat inside, and it's clear from the conversation that Charles is absolutely intent on Laura's protection, but that Logan has both little knowledge and little interest in what powers the young girl may potentially hold.

However, back up soon arrives, with Charles and Logan both finding themselves surrounded and a few of Pierce's men sent inside to fetch Laura. We hear the sounds of screaming and gunfire, but it's Laura who emerges clutching something underneath her arms; it's a severed head, which she rolls over to Pierce nonchalantly. And then the moment comes: two adamantium claws emerge from between her knuckles, and she reveals herself to have healing powers very similar to Wolverine. But how?

If the casual decapitation wasn't enough proof, the brutal fight scene which ensues very much sets up Laura (and her probably identity as the comics' X-23) as a worthy successor to Wolverine; 11-year-old Keen's performance here is positively animalistic, snarling and ruthless as she plunges her claws straight into the necks of her foes and lets the blood splatter.

So don't take that R-rating lightly anytime soon.

Logan hits UK cinemas 1 March.