Logan Review

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen

Seventeen years ago, we were gifted with the movie X-Men, released on July 14, 2000. It would be the first in a wave of superhero films, adapted from both Marvel and DC comics, whose success has unquestionably dominated the US entertainment industry. And while Robert Downey Jr didn't put on his Iron Man suit until 2008, Hugh Jackman put his claws on in 2000. He's played Wolverine for seventeen years, and Logan is the ninth and final time he's playing the beloved character. Building off of the success of Deadpool last year, Logan is similarly rated R. It's a bleak look at the world of mutants unlike any film, and the darkest superhero movie ever made. Rather than taking the title from the name of the hero we all know, this film is titled Logan. It's stripped down. Logan never dons the costume of the hero we're familiar with, rather he is a regular man struggling with problems we know too well. In Logan, we follow an aging Logan as he tries to nurse his mentor, the former Professor Charles Xavier, whose telepathic mind is dying from dementia. Sounds upbeat, right? While carrying out his routine, he comes across a girl, a young mutant with similar immortality and metal claws, who has a bounty on her head. Xavier persuades Logan to help escort her to safety across the Canadian border, and the three set out on a dangerous road trip where Xavier tries to teach Logan final messages on what it means to be part of a family. The film is a heartbreaking swan song to the most endearing superhero movie character of our generation, and an extremely affecting drama about a man who wanted nothing but to be ordinary, and has been cursed with his superpower.

Logan feels so authentic because of what we have become accustomed to with the superhero genre. It's loud, it uses CGI and it typically has thin (but well-constructed) scripts. Logan has action scenes that feel genuine. The stakes feel real despite the surreal landscape. The characters feel like complex figures. Our introduction to Xavier isn't as he is clad in suit atop his pristine wheelchair. We first meet him, hands quivering, as he bounces his wheelchair in a fit of dementia, spewing a story of nonsense and screaming at Logan as he tries to force medicine into him. It's a stark departure from the powerful character we've come to know, and sets the tone for the film. I really enjoyed the development for Xavier's character. He's usually such a beacon of hope and light, and he is actually quite selfish. His actions actually put a lot of people in danger, and judging by what he did in the past, he really doesn't care much for what he does going forward. It's as if Logan cares for Xavier, and Xavier only cares for himself, which is a huge departure from Xavier's kind disposition. For what it's worth, Logan was the same hardy character that we're used to, except he swore a lot more. I loved X-23, and I thought she was able to convey a lot of emotion with very little dialogue. I thought her fight choreography was insane. I thought Boyd Holbrook's villain had a great intro but he fell flat for me, and I didn't like that it had a Dark Knight Rises style bait and switch. There is a secret villain that I won't spoil, but the execution of the twist and how he played into the ending was really something brilliant.

Logan's biggest flaw comes in its rating. Its R rating allows it to have a gritty realism, but it also gives them the green light for copious amounts of blood spurting from every orifice. In Deadpool this blood splattering is comedic because of the tone. But when Logan is so depressing and dark, the blood and gore becomes very overwhelming. By the film's last half hour, I was fed up with the blood and it stopped having an effect. The stakes felt less dire as a result. Another flaw is continuity. At one point, there is a massive jump cut and time jump that was so jarring. Logan falls asleep and then just wakes up in their destination with little explanation, and I felt that was very sloppy writing. This same writing was an issue for the entire final act. The movie has an ultimatum and many characters state this promise over and over, yet it doesn't carry through with it. It's like the movie abandons the very rules that it set, and that really bothered me. I just didn't believe that all of the villains suddenly decided that their goals had changed.

Overall I was very impressed by Logan. I think it was overhyped and is not, in fact, "The next Dark Knight". This is not nearly as concise a film as The Dark Knight and it should not be marketed as such. However, I do think it is the most realistic superhero film based on a Marvel property (The Dark Knight is DC), and I think Disney's Marvel brand should be nervous. Apocalypse aside, Fox's X-Men brand has churned out three sophisticated hits: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, and Logan. Deadpool just barely missed out on a Best Picture nomination. If you're a fan of Wolverine or the X-Men, you will enjoy Logan. If you like gritty realism, you'll enjoy it. If you much prefer the campy and fun Disney Marvel movies, you will probably think Logan is a little too much. At times, I was overwhelmed. This is not a movie I could watch on repeat, nor do I really feel like I want to see it again. But everything good about Logan is able to overpower those few narrative inconsistencies. I'm so sad to see Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart leave the franchise, but its an ending worthy of their talent.

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