Year: 2017
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Stephen Merchant & Boyd Holbrook.
Written by Louie Fecou
For many people out there, Logan is the Wolverine movie that they have been waiting for. Set in the near future , and with the X-Men nowhere in sight, Logan is noticeably different from the very first scene. It certainly doesn’t feel like a super hero film, and director James Mangold lays his cards on the table very early on. The film is very violent, and Logan swears like a trooper, a shock for the audience used to a more diluted version. The violence is quite visceral too, there are no punches pulled, and seeing Logan go full berserker is both shocking and ultimately satisfying.
Story wise, we see Logan and professor X in hiding with mutant tracker Caliban keeping their house in order. Stephen Merchant is brilliant as Caliban too, great casting, and a risk to have him play this role, but Mangold takes lots of risks with Logan, and on the whole they all pay off. Richard E Grant shows up as the big bad guy pushing the plot forward, but he works and does exactly what is required of him in these type of roles. Dafnee Keen is exceptional as X-23. Considering that for the first hour and a bit, she says exactly nothing, this young actress can convey more with a look than a hundred lines of dialogue. Of course Jackman and Stewart are exceptional, wearing these characters like old jackets, they work so well together and there is a true chemistry there.
Seeing them weaker than ever, Xavier’s powers out of control, and Logan struggling to recover from battles that grow more vicious, leaves long time X Men fans like myself with feelings of great sadness. There is a finality about the whole project that is felt from the muted opening credits. Although I had avoided reviews and trailers as much as possible, I felt quite early on that there was not going to be happy end to this affair.
SPOILERS
Towards the final act, it seems hopeless for our protagonists. With the Reavers hot on their trail, and X-24 , a scary younger Wolverine prototype out for blood, there did seem only one way to go for the final battle.
As the end credits rolled, the audience I sat with refused to move until the credits had finished, hoping for an extra scene, something to give them hope for the future, but alas, it never came.
Logan is a brave film, and it should be rewarded for that. It is uncompromising and un sentimental about the subject matter, and is a different sort of super hero movie. I can’t help but feel, that if Deadpool had not been so successful, we may never have got to see this film at all. It proves that the genre still has room to surprise even the most die hard fans, the question is where do we go from here?