--James Logan Howlett, Logan
"I did something. Something unspeakable. I've remembered what happened in Westchester."
--Charles Xavier, Logan
"We struggled with the X-23s. We assumed, because they were children, we could raise them without a conscience. But you can't nurture rage. You must simply design it from scratch."
--Dr. Zander Rice, Logan
James Mangold's Logan towers above other films I viewed which were released this year in terms of developing characters, focusing a story, and utilizing every scene left in the final cut--all while truly ending the 17 year reign of a cinematic legend. Depicting a world without mutant saviors where shadow organizations experiment on children, where safety and hope seem absurd fantasies, and where time and grief have reduced great heroes to impotent old men, this movie succeeds entirely on practically every level. Although it does fit into the X-Men cinematic universe, one can enjoy it alone and not have the experience seem incomplete--one of the movie's many unique qualities.
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Production Values
Logan has excellent acting on all fronts. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart ARE their characters (not that I expected anything else). Stewart plays a seizure-ridden old man who is losing control of his mind very effectively and Jackman outdoes all of his previous Wolverine performances in terms of showing his character's torment and personality. Dafne Keen did not allow herself to get overshadowed by the cinema giants she shares the screen with, as her ferocious and acrobatic X-23 was quite impressive. Truly, for her to star in a movie alongside Patrick Stewart as Xavier and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and still contribute noticeably well is no small feat. Steven Holbrook did a wonderful job bringing his role of Donald Pierce to life, even though his character is a relatively cliche/basic one. That did not stop Holbrook from truly embracing the character and giving an utterly spectacular performance, it just means that his villain's personality is not the most original or unique despite the great execution.
In this movie, practical effects supersede overuse of CGI. This helps ground the sense of realism that permeates the story and preserve the tone of the film. Where superhero movies like Age of Ultron or Suicide Squad bombard audiences with large-scale multi-hero fights within CGI environments, Logan avoids relying on elaborate computer effects to hold audience attention and instead relies on beautifully-executed practical effects combined with extraordinary acting and expert writing and pacing.
Many scenes (especially the dinner scene!) truly showcase an expertly-constructed script. Dialogue flows naturally and reveals the hearts of the characters; every scene is either absolutely necessary for the story or very useful in furthering it. The writing elevates the characters in the film far above the generic superhero tropes of other similar movies.
Story
An attempted carjacking and violent fight in the first scene of Logan set the tone for the grim and bloody story to follow. James Howlett (Wolverine) awakens in a leased limo he uses to drive people around for cash as a band of thugs attempts to remove the tires. His most recent years have not been kind to him. 2029 finds his eyesight, healing regeneration, claw extension speed, moral compass, and stamina degrading. His physical prowess has disintegrated to such an extent that ordinary humans can gang up on him and briefly overpower him. Charles Xavier is in his 90s, as a brief verbal spar with villain Donald Pierce reveals. His mind has fractured to the point where he occasionally has seizures of such devastating power that nearby beings can die from them. Both Logan and Charles live with Caliban, a rare living mutant who can track other mutants and who says that Charles is telepathically communicating with someone. Mutant births have dropped dramatically if not vanished entirely, for reasons revealed later in the story.
By various turns in the plot, Logan finds himself offered a $50,000 job: the transportation of a young girl to a place called Eden in North Dakota. Her name is Laura. However, a corporation called Transigen wants her too. Donald Pierce and his transhumanist Reavers, a group of cybernetic ally enhanced humans, pursue the trio intent on reclaiming Transigen's lost child, as Laura was one of a batch of mutant children raised in a laboratory to become psychopathic soldiers. She was fashioned from Wolverine's DNA. Zander Rice, the leader of Transigen, even tells Logan at one point that he knew Rice's father during the infamous Weapon X Program where Wolverine received the adamantium coating for his skeleton and claws.
(SPOILERS!!!)
The journey to Eden proves difficult and full of loss. Logan has to confront a Transigen clone of himself called X-24--not Laura, but a clone that resembles him in height and appearance. Beloved characters die. But at the end of the story, the legendary Wolverine performs one last bout of heroism and then finally has his dreadful existence ended by a combination of battle wounds and adamantium poisoning. The final shot of the film shows the children he died protecting hold a brief funeral service for him before fleeing to the Canadian border--and viewers do not see if they make it or not.
Intellectual Content
The story and characters are quite existential, especially for a movie of this genre. Wolverine has always dealt with his violent nature, his mutation, social ostracism, the death of those he becomes attached to, and the natural immortality that perpetuates his woes by preventing his life from ending. Considering the existential side of the Wolverine character, it was no uninspired touch to introduce Laura--a type of clone of himself that Charles notes is "very much like you"--and have Logan fight X-24, a literal clone of him in his youth. It is also (SPOILER) very fitting and symbolic for the wounds inflicted on him by X-24 to kill him (along with adamantium poisoning). In a sense, it is as if after a lifetime of despair and pain Wolverine has finally killed himself. His own immortality has always been his most dreaded and tyrannical opponent, and Mangold weaves rich layers of significance into the finals days of the character.
The western overtones of the film heighten this, as things like having characters watch a potent scene from Shane introduce western themes. In the funeral scene at the very end, Laura quotes Shane: "A man has to be what he is, Joey". Of course, as with many of us humans, Logan can be quite confused about just what he is other than hurt (by the way, the Johnny Cash song Hurt that accompanied the teaser trailer last year matches the tone of the movie splendidly). At one point he bluntly tells Laura that he is not what she thinks he is. In a drastically different way than Ryan Reynold's Wade Wilson, Logan seems to view himself as someone who is not a superhero. A Transigen defector describes his X-24 clone as being "without a soul", so viewers must ask if this also describes Wolverine himself. But despite his jaded and battered heart, Logan resigns himself to a final act of heroism and imparts Laura in his dying words to not "be what they made you". Perhaps this meant that she should not be like him. Whatever the specific meaning, it beautifully captured designed he advice the character would give to a younger incarnation of himself. Wolverine is a man haunted by pain, tortured by the length of his life, and yet one who ultimately allows selflessness to overcome his cynicism. If nothing else, Logan offers a very honest depiction of a man confused, lost, and beaten down by continually shitty circumstances before showing this man receive the death he avoided for so long.
As exemplified by the scene where Wolverine dies, Logan embraces actual stakes. The once-mighty Wolverine can now be physically overpowered and cherished characters do die. Whereas in earlier movies audiences rarely had any reason to fear for the life of Wolverine, fights and gunshots can now incapacitate or even kill him. For perhaps the first time since Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, while watching a comic book movie I noticed a sense of genuine realism. In one scene Wolverine even mocks the X-Men comics Laura reads by saying "You do know they're all bullshit, right? Maybe a quarter of it happened, and not like this. In the real world, people die." The willingness to translate what Logan calls "the real world" into a comic book movie, along with all the other brilliant aspects of the film, show that perhaps the superhero genre is growing up into the cinematic equivalent of mature adulthood. If Logan is any indication of where the genre will head in the future, I am quite excited!
Conclusion
Logan is the most complete, satisfying movie I have seen in a while, a triumph in almost every way. Director James Mangold improved on his previous film The Wolverine in just about every way I can think of. One of the moments I connected with the most was when Logan stands over the (SPOILER!!!!!) grave of Charles, mourning, bitter, and frustrated. All the anger, grief, existential longing, and sadness of the character seemed to appear on Jackman's face, presenting together perhaps the most emotionally vulnerable superhero in cinema to this date. Ultimately, this ability amounts to one of Logan's greatest strengths. Instead of the ridiculous and now-cliche CGI ensemble fights around portals to the sky that populate other comic book movies, Logan opts for a screenplay that elevates intimacy, vulnerability, and honesty about the human condition over the repetitive effects and relatively shallow comedy that other movies of its type aim for. This movie has characters that seem real, thus permitting the audience an actual opportunity to truly connect with the pain and heartbreak they feel. With the exception of The Dark Knight (and to a lesser extent Batman Begins), I can't think of any other superhero movie that so boldly embraces a somber, realistic tone and expresses it so beautifully.
Marvel fans will cherish this send off to Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman for years. This film could easily become the nostalgic classic of the golden age of superhero movies in cinema. With absolutely splendid acting on all fronts, a return to practical effects, a heartfelt script, and excellent character development--and, of course, some vicious and long-awaited R-rated Wolverine action--Logan soars above not just the majority of the other X-Men movies but above many movies I've seen recently period.
Hugh Jackman said this would be his last time to play Wolverine, and he certainly made his final offering count. The last frames of the movie will be remembered as an emotional goodbye to a veteran actor and the beloved character he portrayed across nine films and 17 years. May Logan be long remembered for sending off a favorite character and for the genuine humanity it so wonderfully portrays!
Content
1. Violence: We finally get to see Wolverine's claws impale heads, faces, and arms onscreen. The camera does not turn from the blood, decapitations, and vicious flurries of stabs that Wolverine fans have wanted to see in a film for so long.
2. Profanity: Wolverine uses a variety of words considered profanity, including "Fuck" and "Shit". Even Charles joins in, dropping four f-bombs in his first scene he appears in alone!
3. Nudity: A girl being transported in Logan's limo exposes her breasts for several moments.
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