Logan (2017)

Review

137min

Genre:       Comic-Book, Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-fi

Director:    James Mangold

Cast:         Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen…and more

Writers:     James Mangold , Scott Frank and Michael Green

-Synopsis-

In a bleak future where mutant-kind is almost extinct and a shadowy organisation led by a ruthless individual threatens what’s left; a fading ‘Professor’ X must convince ‘old man Logan’ to unleash the ‘Wolverine’ one last time and protect a young girl displaying eerily familiar abilities, as Hugh Jackman unsheathes his Adamantium claws for the last time.

After seventeen years of buffing-up and unleashing his cantankerous but loveable inner rage-demon, Jackman reunites with gritty drama veteran and his ‘The Wolverine’ director James Mangold for a graphically violent, emotionally layered, and unexpectedly poignant swansong in the ‘X-Men’ universe—further pushing the boundaries of the comic-book movie and rounding-off the story which helped to re-launch a now massively lucrative genre into the 21st century.

We find our clawed-crusader twelve years into the future having abandoned his duties as a reluctant hero, self-medicated and scratching a living along the US-Mexico border and acting as a glorified carer for the most dangerous patient imaginable—a senile ‘Charles Xavier’ (Patrick Stewart) who’s lost control of his considerable abilities. But his murky past and a dark present catch up with the Canadian superhero when a persecuted young mutant girl (Dafne Keen)—with an even more troubling upbringing—seeks his help to escape a powerful corporation and their ruthless security agent (Boyd Holbrook), as the unlikely trio embark on a dangerous road trip to salvation . . . while ‘Logan’ struggles with fading powers and degenerating condition.

Right from the start director Mangold sets the tone and signals his intent, fully justifying ‘Logan’s’ 15-rating (R in the US) with levels of profanity and violence we’ve not experienced before in an ‘X-Men’ movie—or indeed rarely seen in comic-book cinema in general—but adding the novelty of it not being over-stylised or gratuitous, and even weaving the consequences of violence into the film’s narrative . . . courtesy of a highly unlikely classic movie reference.

Mangold and the other writers deliberately keep the fate of mutantkind vague throughout the story—and to avoid ruining the experience we’ll be equally vague when it comes to key plot points—but they manage to strike the right balance between building on 17 years of cinematic ‘X-Men’ lore and not being shackled by it. In fact the film straddles genres and is clearly built upon the bones of the classic Western—with the modified archetypes and references to prove it—but ‘Logan’ is just as much a road movie and has as much in common with sci-fi road dramas like John Carpenter’s 1984 classic ‘Starman’ and last year’s ‘Midnight Special’ as it does with any superhero flick.

That’s ultimately where ‘Logan’ becomes a triumph of comic-book filmmaking. Not only is it fast-paced when it needs to be and offers visceral but simple and gripping action sequences with the bare minimum of discernible CGI, but it’s charming, legitimately poignant and moving at times too—delving into a sincere and moving father-son relationship between ‘Wolverine’ and ‘Professor X’ while playing like a highly dysfunctional family drama at times—and even presenting superheroes in a dark and very human state of mind, while exploring the ravages of ageing.

‘Logan’ has story strands which link it to the existing canon and even other superhero narratives, but it thankfully builds upon without being held hostage by them, and mercifully avoids relying on pure nostalgia for emotional resonance. In true ‘X-Men’ tradition it also displays a socially conscious underbelly which not only continues the conversation about discrimination and persecution, but also builds on themes of corporate corruption and touches upon the strenuous relationship between the US and its southern neighbours—even making subtle references to America’s current political climate.

It also manages to just about effectively round-off a long cinematic ‘X-Men’ narrative which has become confusing and anachronistic over the years—thanks to the juxtaposition of the original trilogy with the ‘Wolverine’ origin movies, plus the prequel/reboots and some alternate timeline-creating time travelling in ‘Days of future Past’—although it might require a little selective amnesia when it comes to some of the things you’ve seen in the last 17 years.

Although it may have a couple of plot-holes and rely on a few ‘Hail Marys’, which prevent it from being a genre masterpiece which transcends the comic-book milieu like ‘The Dark Knight’ did, ‘Logan’ is still a prime example of the potential range of the superhero movie. Thanks largely to the most complete incarnations of their characters and finest performances from Jackman and Stewart in ‘X-Men’ movie history to-date—plus an impressively intense debut from young  Dafne Keen as the newest mutant on the block. Proving that there’s plenty for room in the genre for everything from the sombre to the exuberant.

The Bottom Line…

A dark, poignant and gripping but entertaining and surprisingly layered action-drama which pushes the boundaries of the comic-book movie, ‘Logan’ is nuanced and memorable enough to put it in the pantheon of greatest superhero movies of the last decade. Writer/director James Mangold’s effort is a fitting swansong to two of the most beloved characters in the albeit brief history of comic-book cinema . . . that is unless a certain friendly neighbourhood ‘Pool-Guy’ has anything to say about it.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Midnight Special (2016)

In a desperate attempt to protect his son who possesses mysterious supernatural powers; a man goes on the run from religious zealots and government forces with the help of his companions, on a mission to get his gifted boy where he needs to be in this sci-fi road drama from the maker of ‘Mud’ and ‘Take Shelter’.

Directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Jaeden Lieberher, Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton among others.

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