LOGAN review

I'll be upfront when I say that I'm not too keen on the X-Men movies. The first two films are boring products of their time. The Last Stand was actually fun, but not a particularly good film. Origins: Wolverine is the absolute nadir of this mediocre franchise. Apocalypse had one good scene and nifty costume design, but nothing else. First Class, The Wolverine and Deadpool were easily the only entries in this series that even remotely approach greatness. I say this to give you a sense of where I'm coming from when approaching Logan. After having seen it and having some time to process it, I can say with confidence that this might be the best X-Men movie yet, partially for a reason that's been the main problem with the entire franchise. To put it simply, Logan succeeds by repeating what's been the dominant flaw of the previous movies: it strips out almost all of the elements that made the X-Men comics so unique in order to focus on a different vision. Now you may be asking why I think it works here and not in the other movies, allow me to elaborate. My problem lies not in a filmmaker using only the bare essentials of a source material and inserting their own distinct hang-ups into the mix; to be honest, I'm completely fine when filmmakers do that after all. After all, its thinking like that that gave us masterworks like the Dark Knight trilogy, Constantine, The Godfather, Jurassic Park, you get the picture. And that doesn't mean that you couldn't do that well for X-Men; it's just that the creative team behind it hasn't. Instead, they threw in a lot of the most dated aspects of that era in mainstream filmmaking. Needlessly slow pacing? Check. Indistinct black rubber costume design? Check. Preposterously overblown need to be seen as serious/mature? You bet that's a check. Point is, the creative vision for this franchise was just boring, pseudo-serious rubbish.

Logan, on the other hand, uses this model to work like a well-oiled machine. It's a comic book flick in only the loosest sense of the term, seamlessly fusing different elements of Westerns, dystopian sci-fi, neo-noir and familial road trip dramas. Much of these influences can be found in John Mathieson's striking cinematography. He manages to fill the 137 minute runtime with plenty of bold, instantly iconic shots, all of which could be hung and framed. There's talk of a black-and-white cut for this and you can easily why that would fit well. Along with the excellent camerawork, Credit should also be given to Marco Beltrami's eclectic score, giving certain scenes a lot more depth.

The performances are just as great as you would expect going in. Hugh Jackman has always been one of the best parts of these movies; but, he brings something a little different to the table this round. Sure, he definitely gets his fair share of awesome moments; yet, there seems to be more to him this time than just the most badass X-Man in existence. For his final stint as the character, Jackman imbues Wolverine with a more complex brand of the seasoned tough-guy routine. Think Clint Eastwood or Phillip Marlowe (specifically Elliot Gould's interpretation) with razor-sharp claws. Patrick Stewart also adds some new layers to Professor X, in ways that are as humorous as they are tragic. Boyd Holbrook makes for a great villain, with a deliciously slimy demeanor and a cool robot hand to boot. Nevertheless, the real standout performance in Logan comes from newcomer Dafne Keen. Her work as Laura (aka X-23) is quite versatile, fluently transitioning from astoundingly fierce to subtly innocent; she's easily one of the best child characters to come out of any recent movie that isn't directed by Shane Black or Michael Dougherty.

With that all out of the way, let's address the elephant in the room: this is undoubtedly an R-rated movie, Blood drenches the frame and F-bombs are dropped frequently; yet, it feels (for lack of a better word) appropriate. It's one of the few quote unquote "mature" superhero movies that actually feels adult, both in ideas and themes as well as in content.

If there's one complaint I do have with the movie, it's that the third act feels slightly incongruous. Thankfully, its not really THAT jarring; but, it does kind of feel like someone stitched together the first two acts of Hell or High Water and the final act of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Still, its a minor complaint and it barely keeps the rest of the film from being absolutely marvelous.



Logan is, without a doubt, a fantastic sendoff to one of the biggest icons of modern cinema. Underneath its downbeat exterior lies a more soulful, moving experience.

LOGAN gets a...
MASTERWORK out of TEN