Logan
(2017): Written by Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael
Green, directed by James Mangold. Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart,
Dafne Keen, Richard Grant, Boyd Holbrook, and Stephen Merchant. Running
Time: 137 minutes.
Rating:
3.5/4
One
of the easiest ways to make someone my (fairly young) age feel vastly older
than our years is to remind them that it was nearly 20 years ago when Hugh
Jackman first hit the big screen as the Wolverine in the very first X-Men movie. In time this casting proved to be every bit
as pitch-perfect as Patrick Stewart’s and Ian McKellan’s as Professor X and
Magneto. And since that moment, one of
the running gags surrounding the franchise and its comically zig-zaggy fortunes
has been the remarkable lengths to which each and every entry into the current
canon has gone to include at least a cameo of Jackson, if not outright starring
him.
His
presence has certainly defined this phase of the X-Men world every bit as much
as the character has, in turn, defined Jackson’s career, but alas, even the
Marvel film universe can’t avoid the ravages of time, and we truly have reached
the point where Jackman is simply too old to keep doing this shit. Which means that this dark, grim,
tightly-focused, and slightly-meta drama about facing up to aging and disappointment
in a bleak, possibly hopeless dystopian future really is it; Hugh Jackman and
Patrick Stewart have come out for their final curtain call in roles that have
defined them in the eyes of an entire generation of film goers. And in a particularly poignant twist, it
might just be the best X-Men movie they’ve ever done.
It’s
2029, and for reasons unknown, most of the old mutants have died and it’s been
years since new ones were born, so everyone simply assumes they were a freak occurrence
going the way of the Dodo. Logan,
clearly aging and dying in spite of the fact that his powers *should* make that
impossible, scrapes by as a limo-driver-for-hire in Texas. Most of his earnings go towards procuring medicines
for Xavier, holed up across the border in Mexico with an albino caretaker. Xavier is also rapidly dying, suffering from
seizures that amplify his mental powers in frightening ways and make him a
legitimate danger to everyone within a certain radius.
As
far as Logan is concerned, they are the last of their kind, and fated to remain
so, so he may as well try to make their passing as non-destructive as possible
until Xavier is gone and he can blow his brains out with an adamantium bullet
he’s been saving for just such an occasion.
This all goes up in smoke pretty quickly though, as a Mexican nurse
brings them Laura, a young girl who possesses Logan’s power set (infinite
regeneration, claws, and a vicious fighting style), begging their protection from
the hired hit men of an unnamed corporate entity (led by a fantastic Boyd
Holbrook as the film’s main antagonist) seeking to kill her.
In
typical gruffly resigned manner, Logan takes the girl and Xavier North, seeking
a location that may or may not be where the last of the mutants are gathering,
including other children like Laura. To
say that they are seeking hope or some sort of salvation for the clear failure of
what the X-Men should have been would be saying a bit too much, because this
movie is not a pick-me-up, nor does it try to offer much hope. It runs hard on themes of loss and failure
haunting someone knowing they are near the end and that everything they did in
their life may very well have been for nought.
Jackman’s Logan always hailed from the bitter side of pessimism, but even
Xavier, famed eternal optimist, has been brought low emotionally by his
failures and the ravages of his illnesses.
This
is one of those comic book movies that almost isn’t a comic book movie- most of
the dramatic weight and meaning to what Logan and Xavier say and do comes not
from anything explicit on the film’s part, but rather from the assumed
collective knowledge on our part that we are seeing the conclusion of a
two-decade-long film partnership in its final chapter. It’s an extremely rare set of circumstances
to surround a movie like this, giving it a heft it otherwise wouldn’t have had,
and often raising the film above its (admittedly fairly small) flaws.
And
it certainly isn’t a perfect film- there are a few story shifts regarding the
bad guys, what they do, and what they want that don’t entirely add up- but it
commits so fully to its road-trip-dystopia atmosphere that it has a unique feel
and character lacking in nearly every other recent entry into the comic book
superhero genre. It’s the first hard ‘R’
film to show us what people facing claws like that really would look like
afterwards, but given how easily the movie could have banked on that to sell
itself and excluded all else, like Fury
Road it goes the needed extra step to ensure that every bit of fighting or
action (and one very solid car chase) feels necessary to either the story or
the development of a particular character.
While
Jackman and Stewart give two of their best film performances ever, superhero
movie or otherwise, we already knew they were awesome. I suspect the truly lasting impact of this
film will revolve around the revelation that is Dafne Keen as Laura. Silent for nearly the entire film, she steals
every shot she’s in it with her presence.
It’s easily a star-making turn for the actress and one that SHOULD
guarantee a central part of her character in any future X-Men franchise. It’s also rather depressing that a film
featuring gifted children of color/minorities like the bilingual, Spanish Keen fleeing
not to, but THROUGH the United States to reach safety from forces seeking to
destroy them feels far more topical than it was probably meant to be when first
conceived.
Logan might or might not go on to
redefine what we expect superhero movies to be, but regardless of what comes
next in the X-Men universe, if indeed anything does come next, it’s a powerful
little film that does refreshing justice to the abilities of its cast and is
definitely a must-see for anyone who grew up with this particular version of
the X-Men. With both this and John Wick 2 hitting theaters this early,
the gauntlet has very much been thrown down for all other action movies set to
come out in 2017, so to those next in line I say; your move.
-Noah Franc
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