Logan
- Mar 8, 2017
- 2 min read
After watching the first trailer for Logan, my expectations were set at an unreasonable level. Between the aged look of both Logan and Professor X against such a bleak backdrop and Johnny Cash playing Hurt it was clear that the movie would be taking a very mature approach to the characters and story. While I way excited by the prospect of seeing such a serious comic book movie, the recent DC movies did stay in the back of my mind. Disney/Marvel have struck a great balance in their films, but Fox Marvel have hit the highs of X2 and First class and lows of Origins and Last Stand. The trailer gave me hope and recent movie history gave me reason not to be too hopeful.
The end result is a movie that has no reason being as good as it is.
In the same vein as Mad Max: Fury Road, Logan does away with many of the special effects and thrills of CGI found in other comic book movies. The focus is the characters and their struggle. There is no magical beam in the sky that threatens all of mankind. There is limited extended universe building. There is a great deal of blood lost and are a great many limbs removed. Surprisingly nothing feels frivolous during this soul draining journey.
It is difficult to put into words without spoiling the story just how great the emotional pull of this movie is. Logan is Logan. It is painstakingly revealed in every sentence Hugh Jackman utters that Wolverine is the costume and not the man. Over the years Logan has suffered for, fought for, and lost everything that he ever loved except for Professor X. Furthermore even that relationship is heavily strained. Professor X has effectively lost his mind and struggles to exercise any control over his powers. Logan spends his days medicating his former teacher as both struggle to maintain even a reason to live.
When X23 crosses their path, the resulting journey is one that has enough emotional pull that I found myself holding back tears at least 5 times. Much like the Dark Knight trilogy and Captain America: Civil War, Logan cares about its characters. The story therefore does not feel forced or in any way. It progresses naturally and shows the reluctance of Logan clearly. Logan does not want to be the hero, he just wants to escape the pain of a past that has no intention of letting him go.
Logan is not just a showing of what a comic book movie can be, but what any good movie should be. Character development, good writing, meaningful action, and a powerful message. This movie has it all.
10/10
Comments