Logan - A True Standout Amongst All The Other Superhero Films

Logan

By: Noah Newcomb 

        I had heard of Logan's reputation. Many had called it the best superhero movie of all time. I had also heard that this was the superhero movie that finally beat The Dark Knight as the best superhero movie of all time. I had to see if it was true. I highly doubted it would be better than The Dark Knight, which I considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time. I knew this was going to be a different movie. This was the first rated-R superhero movie I had seen and wow, right off the bat you understand what this movie is going to be. The very first scene is brutal. Logan, Wolverine, one of my favorite superheroes of all time. The character can be rather one-dimensional but I still enjoy this character greatly. I watched Days of Future Past recently (another great X-Men film) and something clicked in my mind where I realized how much I like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He doesn't really do much in Days of Future Past but I enjoy Jackman being there. Then we just see the character fall miserably. Logan is two hours long and it is all full of pain. It is brutal. Seeing your heroes beaten and bruised is tough. I have to say, however, Logan/Wolverine is meant for an R-rating. All this action is fantastic. This is the action Wolverine was meant for. This is a beautiful film as well. The color pallet is fantastic and I've already mentioned how well the action looks. From the first few scenes, you wouldn't know this movie takes place in the future. But you really see when Boyd Holbrook shows up with his robotic hand that this is a film in the future. I have to believe Mangold (the director) was looking at the Mad Max franchise especially Mad Max: Fury Road. With the color pallet and prosthetics, it screams Fury Road.  Before I cross the spoiler wall I have to point out the acting in this film. Hugh Jackman brings it in, Logan. This is his best performance I seen him give. I haven't seen Les Miserables which is the film Jackman won an oscar for. Then there's Patrick Stewart who took the role, happy to do something different with the character of Professor X and he sure does but I'll talk about that behind the spoiler wall. Then there's the final lead character, Dafne Keen, who is really the surprise hit of this movie for me at least. This is her break out role and she does a phenomenal job at playing this wild animal of a kid. You see through her performance that she has been hurt. When she goes around slicing people up, you buy it. Her performance is shockingly good in this movie. Daphne Keen definitely has a bright future ahead of him. I do want to bring up Boyd Holbrook's performance because it reminds me of Val Kilmer in Tombstone.

SPOILERS!!!

        I'm going to go back to Patrick Stewart in this movie. His performance as this deranged Professor X is heartbreaking and fantastic of course since it's Patrick Stewart. Seeing Logan going into that metal sphere thing and Xavier is ranting Taco Bell commercials is heartwrenching. Then the tone shifts and Xavier is yelling at Logan blaming him for everything that's happened. Later on, in the movie, it's later revealed that it's Xavier who killed all the mutants at the school. Stewart's performance is great. You can tell he's having a fun time doing something different with this character. Logan is pretty much a two-hour road trip similar to Fury Road just not as action-packed. Don't get me wrong, Logan has some really great action but there isn't just a ton of it. Seeing Logan fight can be kind of sickening to watch. Logan is dying and he isn't at his best when he's fighting. Logan's claws don't even come out some times. He has to pull one of them out. It really is excruciating to watch. I love how Mangold uses Xavier as a ticking bomb of sorts. Since Xavier keeps having these panic attacks that killed the X-Men and could many other people. Xavier has always been one of the most powerful mutants so we know what he's capable of. I appreciate that Mangold doesn't belabor the fact that X-23 or Laura is Logan's daughter. We learn that pretty early on in the film from Xavier who has actually been communicating with X-23 telepathically. Eventually, the trio is invited into a Christian home after helping them with their horses. It's really nice seeing Logan and Xavier creating a cover story and Xavier joking that Logan was a terrible student. It's a nice, heart-warming scene. Later when Xavier goes to bed he has the epiphany of realizing that it was he who killed most of the mutants. He thinks he's talking to Logan but it is really X-24 who's a clone of Logan who's much younger and then stabs Xavier killing him. We get a cool action scene of Logan vs. X-24. After getting severely wounded we learn that it is Logan's adamantium skeleton that's poisoning him. Eventually, we meet the other younger mutants. Logan gives them the money he was going to save for a boat showing he still has a heart of gold. However, X-24 tracks them down and attacks. Logan is already wounded and eventually dies. X-23 got the adamantium bullet that Logan had been carrying around to possibly kill himself and kills X-24. Logan's death is touching and his final line, "So this is what it feels like" is the perfect line for this character. 

Final Thoughts

        I never cried in this movie, I certainly got emotional but I never cried and I think that's by design. Out of all the superhero movies, and there's a lot, this one stands out. I mentioned earlier that many say that this is better than The Dark Knight which is widely considered to be the best superhero movie of all time. I wouldn't go so far as to say that but this is my second favorite superhero movie of all time. It isn't a perfect movie. I think some things could be cut but overall it's perfect in my eyes. I pity Marvel on having to recast Wolverine in the MCU. No one will be able to embody this character like Jackman has.

Logan Official Trailer