The following review for Logan will be spoiler free.
For many years now we have seen Hugh Jackman run around with ripped muscles, in a singlet, cutting people down with his claws, but not like this. This Wolverine is much older, world weary and violent. James Mangold returns to direct the Hugh Jackman’s final outing as the famous X-Men character, this time with Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier and introducing Dafne Keen as Laura, the mysterious girl who turns up in Logan’s life. The film also stars Stephen Merchant as Caliban, with Boyd Holbrook (Pierce) and Richard E Grant (Dr Rice) as the films antagonist.
The film takes place in 2029 where we see Logan (who is going by his birth name James Howlett) is not in the best shape, he is slower and not healing in the same way he used to but he is also more violent. The opening scene shows a different vibe to Logan not seen in the other X-Men movies, where he loses control and we see the true violent aspect of having metal claws. We have seen Wolverine cut opponents down but not in such a violent fashion, with blood gore and loss of limbs. This is a different Logan from the other movies; he is carrying more emotional baggage and living with the sins of his life, highlighting a side not often seen of superheroes, what happens to them when they retire. Logan finds purpose for his life by caring for Charles Xavier aka Professor X who in his elder years seems to have begun to lose control of his mind. Logan has a plan for him and Charles to get away from the world when they encounter a young mutant called Laura who is being hunted by a shady corporation. Forced to go on the run Logan must deal with his powers weakening, Charles’s becoming unstable and a young girl with a mysterious past.
Even though the Oscars have just finished and are 10 months away from the nominations there is already buzz towards Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. Logan is a character movie and these two lead actors give phenomenal performances in their final film as the characters they brought to life 17 years ago. This could easily be Hugh Jackman’s best film as an actor, with him showing full range as an actor. He conveys so many different emotions whilst delivering intense action sequences making the movie an action film with depth and emotions. Patrick Stewart brings his incredible talent back as Professor X but as a man who is losing control. He creates the role of a man with an unstable mind brilliantly and offers humour, wisdom and a caring side not seen before with this character. For a young actress Dafne Keen does a fantastic job as Laura, creating a great young female super hero. She is able to show off so much talent for such a young actress given everything the role of Laura required. She is only 12 so I am not sure she would have been allowed to see the movie she starred in.
I believe that the success of this movie comes down to the amazing acting and brilliant filmmaking. Director James Mangold employs different plot devices and rather than use exposition to explain everything allows the audience to make up their own mind and piece the puzzle together themselves. This tactic does rely on the audience having seen previous X-Men movies (which I had done recently to rank them all, click here to read more) but it felt refreshing to not have the filmmaker rely so heavily on exposition to further the story. Sometimes believing the audience is smart enough to form parts of the narrative is an effective way to tell a story.
Logan does not feel like a comic book movie because it is not a typical comic book film. It feels more like an indie western style film rather than a big blockbuster spectacle that we usually see from X-Men films. It appears that Fox decided to follow the Deadpool model that you can still make a great movie with a smaller budget, as well as adding swearing and gratuitous violence. Logan offers a look at what happens to heroes when they are no longer needed or can no longer be the hero they were. This is something no film has done before to the calibre that Logan achieves. Despite the MA 15+ do not go in expecting Deadpool or a typical super hero movie because you will find yourself disappointed.
This was the Wolverine movie that the fans have wanted to see and was the perfect way to send off the character Hugh Jackman has spent nine movies building. Though I am still hopefully we will see him cameo in Deadpool 2 though it is unlikely (unless Ryan Reynolds gets his way). Logan showed fans the animal that the Wolverine can be, doing a service to the character from the comics who is often violent and sometimes foul-mouthed. I believe this was a great way to say goodbye to the character whilst welcoming in a new generation.
Logan scored an 85% and a HD
Have you seen Logan? Do you plan to see it? Thank you for reading my review. Let me know what you thought in the comments below.
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