Logan Review: Wolverine’s Bloodied Curtain Call

Director: James Mangold
Cast: Hugh Jackman,  Boyd Holbrook,  Patrick Stewart,  Doris Morgado,  Stephen Merchant,  Dafne Keen,  Elizabeth Rodriguez
Rating: 15
Running Time: 137 mins
Release Date: 03/03/2017

Hugh Jackman retracts the admantium claws for the final time in, what fans of the character have been calling for years, a brutal and heartbreaking story of fighting for freedom and choice, one last time. And Logan hits all the right spots so sweetly, it makes you wonder why didn’t they do this sooner.

Watch Hugh Jackman discussing hanging up his claws here.

Coming after the average X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine, the film instantly sets it self apart by taking the cue from the very successful and funny merc with the mouth, Deadpool (2016), by being gruesome in its reality and being honest in its storytelling. No longer able to fling himself around killing a multitude of bad guys, no longer able to withstand bullets and attacks that would be healed within seconds, the famous mutant Wolverine is all but dead, filling his time being a limo driver, drinking to keep the pain away, and caring for the mentally unstable Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) who wilts away in an abandoned metal factory. Along with the help from Caliban (Stephen Merchant), the professor is kept in a constant comatose state until the chance meeting with a mother and her daughter that brings Logan out of retirement.

Taking clear inspiration from the classic western Shane, and hints of the strong performance of Mickey Rourke’s The Wrestler, Jackman here gives the performance of his career for the character, harnessing all the years of terrible X-Men movies to fulfil his destiny by giving him the character in its full embellishment. Swearing, rough round the edges, captivating, heart-warming but overall badass, Wolverine goes from the best part of the X-Men franchises to perhaps being the best film in the Superhero genre, up there with the likes of The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 and Captain America: Civil War.

It has a gritty plane in which to fill, set in 2029 but focusing more on the wilderness and the empty space filled around the central characters. It’ll be a timeless piece that could set off a new era of Superhero movies where taking risks and putting these established names into new arenas of genre, could turn out to be fantastic, or a two-hit wonder (counting Deadpool too). It hits on a steady pace, moving from location to location, with ever-growing nature of the final outcome looming overhead, you’re allowed to enjoy the journey more than the destination, and it’s one that hits home for fans of the series, the character and the actor.

Not littered with X-Men references, but small ones to connect storylines, the introduction of New Mutants is great for the franchise and could see a new direction setting up, especially after the unsuccessful X-Men: Apocalypse which had everything right on paper, just not the execution, something which when getting into the third instalments of their trilogies, they tend to falter (see X-Men: The Last Stand).

James Mangold, the director, has the ability to be honest in his storytelling, not shying away from the violence Wolverine uses, rather than glorify it, it stands to reason the necessary nature of a man with the ability to use metal out of his hands to kill a human being. The humour throughout is unexpected and helps break up the alluding sadness and bogged-down nature of the heroes and especially the relationship between Logan and Professor Xavier is fantastic, with one line quips and genuine connection, it allows the audience to be drawn in and finally blown away when it hits its key scenes.

The marketing around the film has also been superb, with the use of Johnny Cash songs to rile up those thoughts of an aging hero ready to set sail, but not before giving the world one last time, a perfect performance. It also works well the Mexican landscape, the dusty metal hidden within large empty dunes. It’s very reminiscent of Mad Max: Fury Road, and the use of space to create isolation.

Another key part of what makes Logan a fantastic film, is the performance of the girl-who-would-be-Wolverine, Laura, played by Dafne Keen who has a rapid-like tendency to go from calm to killer within seconds, and it’s the subtle acting talent here to only use emotion and facial expressions to portray this. It’s very good and when bouncing off the pissed-off nature of Logan, who is seemingly always tired and rundown, it’s a great relationship that builds through the story arch, and one that conjures up the relationship in the video-game The Last of Us.

With Jackman and Stewart both announcing this to be their last instalment in the X-Men franchise, we can only salute them for their performances throughout the movies they’ve been in, from the starters-of-the-superhero-boom X-Men and X2, to the underrated X-Men: First Class and to the former, best in the series, X-Men: Day of Future Past, these two will be forever be known as the legends that created and helped establish, a genre of movies that I personally adore. So on behalf of the millions of fans worldwide, thank you.

Verdict

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