'Logan' Review

Image from Indiewire

By Darian Scalamoni

            It was the year 2000, when comic book movies would begin to get serious treatment for imagery, influence and cinematic success when Bryan Singer’s X-Men hit theaters. The ensemble superhero fare included many characters, similar to the comic book story but it was young Australian actor, Hugh Jackman who stole the movie and began his 17-year reign as Logan aka Wolverine. The mutant with adamantium claws who had the ability to heal at the snap of a finger was one of the most beloved comic book characters ever and a no-name actor was playing him, 17 years later, we couldn’t have seen the character any other way.

            Fast forward to 2017, and after the height of a rated-R comic book film based around the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool becoming a huge financial and critical success, it seemed that Jackman’s last go-around as the titular character would be perfect in the Old Man Logan comic book arc. Cutting the title to simply, Logan, the film takes place in the distant future, 2029, and we see a grizzled, broken down mutant who no longer uses his name within the X-Men team. Instead, he is raising money as a chauffeur trying to get himself and Patrick Stewart’s ailing, Professor X to sail away on a “sun seeker’ just before they themselves, kick the bucket. Things go out of whack when a woman approaches Logan to save her and her daughter to bring them to “Eden” in North Dakota. When he agrees to do the job for $50,000 which should be enough for him and Charles Xavier (Professor X) to get away, he discovers that in his time away, the woman has been murdered and her daughter, Laura, has disappeared. Logan returns back to his desolate location housing him, Xavier and another mutant outcast, Caliban to find that the young 11-year-old girl, Laura has snuck into his limo and followed him back. They’re sniffed out by Donald Pierce, a Chief of Security at Transigen and his cybernetically-advanced enforcers, The Reavers who are trying to re-capture Laura who was an experiment at Transigen known as “X-23”, just one of the children who was bred with DNA samples from mutants before they died years before.

            The plot has plenty of stakes within as it is but clearly the acting makes this film. Unlike many other comic book movies, we see a much more emotional and human performance that still includes brutal action and gore but is more about the suffering that Logan has endured as he’s gotten older. The film is a portrait of how the lead character along with Charles continue to wither away in a tragic and touching manner where fan favorites start to meet their demise. Logan gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “hero’s struggle” as we see the crucial moments of human frailty break down a man who has his fair share of demons while also trying to ensure a life worth meaning for Laura, aka X-23. In regards to the latter, X-23, played by Dafne Keen, practically steals the film from Jackman. Her quiet intensity plays off in a manner where she commands attention from her small stature to her willingness to not give up even in the worst situations. Patrick Stewart also shines in what appears to be his last time portraying the Professor X character as a senile and sickly man at the end of his days.

            The script crafted by Scott Frank, Michael Green and the director himself, James Mangold gives it a Western vibe and is quite a slow burn but makes it stand alone as one of the greatest superhero films of all-time. The movie doesn’t fall trap to a typical “comic book” feel while acting more as a gritty variation of complexity, ambiguity and fantastic storytelling. There are a few minute nitpicks like no proper villain, little pacing problems near the end and the inclusion of actual comic books in the narrative but Logan redefines the way many people should look at “superhero movies” as more than being one-note. The film is a true testament to how a character built over 17 years on screen can be fleshed out that so much so that it can invoke human emotion based around a character that is based out of the colorful imagery through Marvel Comics.

9.3/10