CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Critics lucky enough to have seen an early showing of the upcoming "X-Men" spin off "Logan" almost all seem to agree on one thing: It's good.

In fact, it could be the best movie to star the most popular member of the iconic mutant superhero team, and the best "X-Men" movie yet, critics are saying.

Forbes even speculated that it could be the first comic book movie to receive a best-picture nomination. "Logan" hits theaters March 2 in Cleveland.

The film stars the legendary Wolverine, an antihero with the power to recover from near fatal injuries almost immediately, and bestowed with an unbreakable skeleton and retractable claws.

"Logan" is Wolverine's third solo film, and takes place years after the events of his most recent movie, 2013's "The Wolverine." In his latest outing, he's older, less self-assured, and his healing powers aren't as potent as they once were.

In the upcoming movie he's tasked with caring for Laura, an 11-year-old mutant with powers and retractable claws similar to his.

She's being hunted by a group of murderous cyborgs called the Reavers, who are capturing and imprisoning young mutants for nefarious experiments.

The movie bills itself is a more grounded take on the X-Men mythos, relying more on a character-driven narrative then CGI battles between superpowered heroes and villains.

Early reviews praised James Mangold's directing, and Hugh Jackman's performance in the lead role, as well as Dafne Keen, who plays Laura.

Some critics were particularly keen on Patrick Stewart, who plays X-Men founder Charles Xavier, and brings a depth to the role fans haven't yet seen. The movie, reviewers said, packs an emotional punch as well as a visceral one.

"It's both the most violent film in the series and the most sentimental one," wrote Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly. "when it's not showering you and blood, it's trying to make you spill tears."

Many reviewers enjoyed the darker take on the X-Men universe featured in "Logan."

"Director James Mangold brings stark realism to the comic book genre," Julian Roman of MovieWeb wrote.

Some compared it to a certain Christopher Nolan-directed Batman film.

"'Logan' is 'The Dark Knight' of the mutant filled X-Men franchise, a gripping film that transcends the comic book genre by saying something important," wrote Brian Truitt of USA Today.

But not everyone lavished the movie with praise. Of the 59 reviews collected on critical aggregation site RottenTomatoes.com as of Sunday, two of them were negative.

Underneath bleak outlook and brutal violence, there isn't much separating Logan from its comic book movie peers, wrote Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine.

"It's really just business as usual on the comic book movie game," she said.

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