Logan Movie Review

Released: March 3rd 2017 (United States)

Length: 137 Minutes

Certificate: 15

Director: James Mangold

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Stephen Merchant, Boyd Holbrook and Richard E. Grant

Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart make their final appearances in the X-Men saga with Logan, an emotional farewell to one of the most prolific and well-known characters in super-hero cinema. It easily stands among the best films in the long-running franchise.

Taking place two decades after 2013’s The Wolverine and connecting to last year’s X-Men Apocalypse, Logan takes into account the continuity set out by Bryan Singer’s X-Men Days of Future Past. Almost every mutant has passed away with Wolverine and Professor X being the only ones left; they’re both shadows of their former selves, dishevelled and tired, hanging on their last lease of life. James Howlett is pulling jobs as a limo driver and doing backhand drug deals to ease Professor X’s mental degeneration. Things change however when Logan comes across a young girl named Laura (Dafne Keen), who possesses very similar abilities to him and a chase begins against the Reavers led by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) who are hellbent on catching her. We follow the three main characters from beginning to end as they trek across America and parts of Mexico, evading their pursuers and growing closer to one-another in their struggle. What really makes it work is the overall tone which drastically distances itself from every other film in the franchise; this is a dark, grim film that reflects the weariness of the characters within it. No longer are they the noble heroes you remember and one key addition represents this; X-Men comics are present in Logan but rather than feeling like a cheap addition, they work to ground the film in a more realistic setting while also emphasising the distance between the characters and their long-gone friends. It’s incredibly heartfelt and serves the focus of the film; occasional bits of humour are handled delicately before Logan gives way to its strong action sequences. You’ll be genuinely touched by its final moments, even if it does miss an opportunity to tribute Jackman’s performance over the years.

For a concluding chapter, Logan places a great emphasis on its smaller cast. The two main actors are excellent here; they truly capture a bitterness of being the last mutants alive, waiting around to die after losing all their friends. Jackman and Stewart bring an almost culminating effect to their performances here, their old characteristics seeping out of them to form a great amount of sympathy and the connection between them is the deepest and most profound of the entire X-Men series. Newcomer Dafne Keen is really good as Laura, getting across a lot with just her facial expressions and inner rage through much of the film. She transforms into a frenzy of bloodlust in the action scenes, not holding anything back as she plunges claw first into her foes. All is not perfect though; the thin-skinned Caliban (Stephen Merchant), another ally of James and Charles, has a fairly minimal presence in the film, meaning the audience doesn’t have much reason to care for his plight at the hands of the antagonists. Speaking of which, the villains feel a bit underwhelming too which is a shame, considering the forces they command are brutal in their efforts to hunt down our two protagonists. When you have a no-holds barred finale to a beloved character, you want every element to fit together seamlessly and while the villain’s motives are suitably sinister, this isn’t quite matched by their mannerisms. Making them more diabolical and sadistic would have brought them up to speed with the film’s unhinged nature. Jackman and Stewart make a superb final bow, alongside Keen’s great cinematic debut, but the side characters around them could have been better.

Unrestrained by both rating and content, Logan cranks up the violence to its highest level and quite frankly it feels just as welcomed as 2016’s Deadpool. Wolverine cleaves and slices his way through the opposition in a vicious assault, lending to some of most intense action set-pieces of the entire franchise. Guts spill out, unfortunate souls find themselves impaled on the titular character’s claws and Laura is often even more merciless, completely decapitating her foes. It’s all very well shot and choreographed, with relatively simple action effects keeping the focus on Wolverine’s bloody rampages. The look and sound of the film is highly westernised, with an angry orange hue and solemn folk guitar tracks working to further the film’s tone. At points I was reminded of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us with the way it portrays a journey to a supposed safe haven. The make-up is also a massive contributor to the film’s sad undertones; Wolverine’s healing abilities aren’t what they used to be here and the way he gradually gets more and more beaten up adds even more poignancy to his final chapter. The production design behind Logan complements its narrative effortlessly, standing at stark contrast to its more colourful predecessors.

In some ways, Logan feels a bit overrated with some characters, mostly the villains falling a bit short of their emotional potential. But when it comes to ending a story that has taken seventeen years to tell, the film is a sombre and mature farewell to a character that has populated cinemas the world over. Those who have waited for an uncensored, uncovered portrayal of Wolverine will get everything they asked for.

Rating: 4/5 Stars (Great)