TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
The only bad part about Logan is that it took so long to get here. To get one amazing 'X-Men' film, far as Logan can even be referred to as such, it took all those bad to ok ones to get here! Nearly two decades, in fact. But it's here now, and its pretty incredible. To say I was surprised, considering I was expecting the usual X-Men rubbish, was an understatement. Incidentally, despite being vaguely based on the Old Man Logan story, this film is much closer to DC's The Dark Knight Returns, just as a point of interest.
I don't really follow the X-Men time travel stuff, but its the future, Logan hasn't acknowledged the Wolverine persona in years, he's caring for a dementia addled Charlies Xavier in the Mexican desert, whilst also being sick himself and slowly aging whilst also drinking himself into oblivion. Despite having given up being a hero for a long time, he reluctantly finds himself being given one last chance to be the guy people seem to think he is when he's charged with delivering a young girl with powers similar to his own to a safe haven from the people she's being hunted by.
It's a pretty simple set up, but the best stuff it does is all in the show don't tell, and the fact this film isn't afraid to dissapoint you, in the best way. There's no surprise X-Men popping up to add levity to proceedings, there's no happy ending, there's no continuity nods to the X-Men films.
And like I said, I loved it. It's dark, its violent, it's not afraid to go places maybe other superhero films couldn't or maybe couldn't go. It's much more effective at being dark and gritty and grim than anything Zack Synder has attempted to churn out.
Big part of that is of course, the age rating, which means we finally get claw fights with blood and gore, but Logan doesn't revel in the violence at any point of the film, and every action scene and death shows the pain of fighting and violence on those participating in it. This ties into a bigger theme of the film which genuinely elevates it above other superhero films trying the same shtick, say, Watchmen, Batman V Superman, whatever. I don't include the Marvel films there cos I think they're going for different things than Logan or what DC tries and fails to do, incidentally
Fact is, Logan isn't a superhero film at all. You could easily watch this without having seen a single one of the original X-Men or Wolverine films and enjoy it just as much with only a cusory knowledge of these characters and setting. Logan is about dissapointment, its about failing to live up to a legend, its about the lies we tell ourselves to make life more palatable, and its about how we do things we can't take back, and how we live with those things, it's about growing old and having to deal with that. The line from the film, 'There's no living with the killing. Right or wrong, its a brand.' sums that pretty well.
The acting is absolutely terrific. I hope this is Jackman's last turn as Logan, cos he absolutely kills it (no pun intended) Patrick Stewart does a great job in his last stand (that pun was intentional) as Charles Xavier, playing a difficult role as someone whose distressed at the state of the world and his world in particular, yet lacks the ability to change anything, and Stephen Merchant plays an unusually well acted and understated role as Caliban. And of course, Dafne Keen does a fanastic job as X-23. It's more than a little interesting, and feels unique to have a child actor playing a violent role thats not played for comedic laughs or in an ironic sense, e.g Hit Girl.
The film also looks fabulous, displaying a world that we'd recognise yet thats falling over an almost invisible edge, and the musical score and sound effects of the film are magnificent. Visual effects have been mentioned, but really, Wolverine should have got that 15 age rating a long time ago, cos it just fits like a glove.
There we go, I adored Logan. Far more than I expected, to the extent its actually diminished those other terrible comic book films that tried so hard to be grim and dark and edgy yet just missed the point completely, whereas this, nails it. Highly reccomended.
I don't really follow the X-Men time travel stuff, but its the future, Logan hasn't acknowledged the Wolverine persona in years, he's caring for a dementia addled Charlies Xavier in the Mexican desert, whilst also being sick himself and slowly aging whilst also drinking himself into oblivion. Despite having given up being a hero for a long time, he reluctantly finds himself being given one last chance to be the guy people seem to think he is when he's charged with delivering a young girl with powers similar to his own to a safe haven from the people she's being hunted by.
It's a pretty simple set up, but the best stuff it does is all in the show don't tell, and the fact this film isn't afraid to dissapoint you, in the best way. There's no surprise X-Men popping up to add levity to proceedings, there's no happy ending, there's no continuity nods to the X-Men films.
And like I said, I loved it. It's dark, its violent, it's not afraid to go places maybe other superhero films couldn't or maybe couldn't go. It's much more effective at being dark and gritty and grim than anything Zack Synder has attempted to churn out.
Big part of that is of course, the age rating, which means we finally get claw fights with blood and gore, but Logan doesn't revel in the violence at any point of the film, and every action scene and death shows the pain of fighting and violence on those participating in it. This ties into a bigger theme of the film which genuinely elevates it above other superhero films trying the same shtick, say, Watchmen, Batman V Superman, whatever. I don't include the Marvel films there cos I think they're going for different things than Logan or what DC tries and fails to do, incidentally
Fact is, Logan isn't a superhero film at all. You could easily watch this without having seen a single one of the original X-Men or Wolverine films and enjoy it just as much with only a cusory knowledge of these characters and setting. Logan is about dissapointment, its about failing to live up to a legend, its about the lies we tell ourselves to make life more palatable, and its about how we do things we can't take back, and how we live with those things, it's about growing old and having to deal with that. The line from the film, 'There's no living with the killing. Right or wrong, its a brand.' sums that pretty well.
The acting is absolutely terrific. I hope this is Jackman's last turn as Logan, cos he absolutely kills it (no pun intended) Patrick Stewart does a great job in his last stand (that pun was intentional) as Charles Xavier, playing a difficult role as someone whose distressed at the state of the world and his world in particular, yet lacks the ability to change anything, and Stephen Merchant plays an unusually well acted and understated role as Caliban. And of course, Dafne Keen does a fanastic job as X-23. It's more than a little interesting, and feels unique to have a child actor playing a violent role thats not played for comedic laughs or in an ironic sense, e.g Hit Girl.
The film also looks fabulous, displaying a world that we'd recognise yet thats falling over an almost invisible edge, and the musical score and sound effects of the film are magnificent. Visual effects have been mentioned, but really, Wolverine should have got that 15 age rating a long time ago, cos it just fits like a glove.
There we go, I adored Logan. Far more than I expected, to the extent its actually diminished those other terrible comic book films that tried so hard to be grim and dark and edgy yet just missed the point completely, whereas this, nails it. Highly reccomended.
- 1986 was a good year for movies. While this is definitely the most 'action movie' Carpenter has ever done, it is probably also his most fun one, even if it missing the slower personal style that he uses. But what I really enjoyed here is the fact that Jack is essentially being the 'other' here with his friend often having to bridge the gap between what he says ("I ain't afraid at all" ) and what he's actually feeling or missing from his Chinese companions.