Review of Logan (2017) by Benjamin C — 23 May 2017

Logan is directed and co-written by James Mangold, and it stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Dafne Keen in a superhero film about Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) that is done with what he's used to do, and all he has done lately, is take care of Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) who is very sick and dying, which Wolverine's powers aren't working also.

So someone comes to him, and asks to take Laura Kinney (Dafne Keen) to up north for her safety. Thanks to Deadpool, we finally got ourselves a rated R Wolverine that I'm sure fans of the comics have been waiting for, even Hugh Jackman as he wanted to be in it too.

Not only was I excited for it being R rated, but also for the fact that this is the last time that Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine. Even though I never seen the film before, I decided to buy it on Blu-Ray just so I can own it, and also because I heard it's one of the best superhero films of all time, so it was a risky financial move for me, and it was worth it because Logan is definitely the best superhero films I've seen since The Dark Knight, and that's my favorite superhero film.

I'm serious about this, but if Hugh Jackman doesn't get nominated for an Oscar, I will be disappointed because this is probably the best that I've seen him in as you can tell that he's tired, he's been going at this for a long time, and even at one point he wants to end it all, which you clearly understand what he's been going through, and with him now having to take care of X-23 is a bit much from him.

Patrick Stewart is also fantastic in this as while the film itself is dark, he brings out a lot of humor in it that makes the film even more human, while sometimes also acting like a very grumpy grandpa which actually seems very relatable for families that have to take care of their parents for the way they act because they care about them very much.

The one aspect that surprised me, was Dafne Keen as X-23. I've never seen a child actor this intimidating, act very serious that is convincing, and emotional that's effective that I've seen since either Looper or The Sixth Sense, which is shocking to see that this is her actual film debut.

The action scenes are very intense to watch as this is a story that the director has made up, with some influences from Old Man Logan and other comic books by Craig Kyle, and that knowing the fact that almost all of the X-Men are gone, I don't even know what's going to happen with them, and not only that, it's been 17 years since we've seen Wolverine and Professor X in X-Men films, which we feel like we gotten to know them so well that we hope they survive.

The action scenes are very well done that for one of them, it reminded me of Mad Max: Fury Road for that sense of intensity. The gore effects are great, and it's enjoyable to watch Wolverine chop heads off with X-23.

The writing by Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green is well-written that seems to understand more about what Wolverine was famous for, while still putting in emotional scenes for the actors to act in, which are effective enough that for Hugh Jackman's last film as Wolverine, felt satisfying enough for it to earn those scenes.

The score by Marco Beltrami is catchy that makes the action scenes more tense, but never feeling generic in any sort of way. The cinematography is really nice, and it doesn't feel like your typical superhero film, which I love the fact that it goes outside the box when they think of different and new ways to go for a superhero movie.

I also thought the chemistry between Wolverine and X-23 is well done that makes sense for those type of characters, whereas you also find it enjoyable when Xavier talks to her to make her feel better.

Boyd Holbrook is actually pretty good as the villain, but if there's one small issue that I have with the film that doesn't make it better than The Dark Knight, is that the villain wasn't quite fully developed where you start to hate him and want to see him die, but there were some development on his character that doesn't make him feel expendable.

I'm glad that it made a lot of money that it deserves, and I'm glad that Hugh Jackman gave this last film as Wolverine his all, and it's quite a swan song from him to go out on.