I don't actually have a lot to say about Logan. I can sit here and discuss how OVER "superhero" movies I am and how damaging they've been to original scripts that are being written all over. But, I've said all that already and if we continue to get movies like Logan, then can we really bitch and argue we're not seeing anything "new" because we're now getting a fresh spin on the old and it's working? I'm not going to really discuss anything about the movie because I don't want to give anything away. The trailers themselves give away too damn much and the movie is too beautiful to have spoiled for you. I'm not going to give a history on the X-Men movies and how inconsistent they've been, especially when it comes to the Wolverine spinoffs. Because that's nothing more than a gigantic preface for me to say... but it's all led to one powerful, glorious, darkly wonderful film. Logan is the perfect ending for Hugh Jackman's character (who he has now officially retired), and one of the best Marvel films ever made.
I'm so happy that Fox listened to Jackman and Director James Mangold's idea of turning the final Wolverine movie into an R-rated, bloody, profane, DARK film that strays away from the bright colors and CGI of the other X-Men films. Wolverine has always been a pretty consistent character throughout. He's a curmudgeon, consistently struggling with the internal conflict he's had going on for centuries and can't get past. He's a bastard for nearly 3/4ths of all of his movies until he has the moment of vulnerability and we see that he's actually a hero. There is no difference here. Logan, the man, is still a bastard... and now a full-fledged drunk. It's 20+ years into the future, mutants are gone, and Logan is drinking himself to death while caring for an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart). Their paths cross with Laura, a nearly mute mutant with abilities not too different from Logan's. She's being chased by a militant corporation and Wolvering and Prof X decide to fight to keep her safe. That's all you get from me.
I'm also very thankful that they went with the hard R rating because Wolverine doesn't deserve to be watered down. He's an angry, brute force of a character with a potty mouth and razor-sharp knives that shoot out of his hands. The fact that for seven previous movies, he's fought bloodless fights makes no sense. And let me tell you... they make up for all of it with Logan. It's very violent and bloody, but not gratuitously (most of the time). It's not a happy movie in the slightest, and hardly any side character is spared. A lot of death and destruction has befallen Logan's long life, and there's no difference here. The only change here is that he's older, weaker, and ready for it all to be over. It's little Laura who is the catalyst to bring a little bit of humanity back to Logan's life. (Sorry for the abundance of unintentional alliteration.)
I can't talk much about Logan because everything I feel about the movie has, in some way, to do with the spoilers of the movie. I think the movie was fantastic, I think the ending was great, and I think Fox deserves a lot of credit for showing a significant amount of balls with this movie. It's already looking like their "gamble" is going to pay off and this is the movie that Wolvering deserves. It's not a superhero movie in the slightest... it's an updated bloody, spaghetti western with very flawed, human characters. It's not bogged down by CGI effects and nothing even flies through the air in this film. It's a very realistic, hands-on, personal film that will shake you to your core. You're not watching The Avengers here. Hell, you're not watching any "superhero" movie I've ever seen here. You're watching a very smart director paired with a very smart actor take one last look at an iconic character, spin something completely new (and, again, very very dark) to give him one last ride before the character is inevitably cast by someone else and given another eight movies.
Logan is badass. It won't short you on thrills, kills, and buckets of blood. It's a fitting finale for a flawed hero.
B+
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