Review of Logan (2017) by Jv T — 14 Oct 2017

Wolverine's last outing is the closest in spirit to the X-Men source material (most of it written by Chris Claremont) making it the finest movie in the franchise. The best X-Men stories were dark, tragic, suspenseful, and emotionally powerful.

Director James Mangold captures it all here. Hugh Jackman finally nails the real essence of the character - a haunted anti-hero who is emotionally and physically at conflict with himself because of all the tragedies he's endured, connecting and saving others - the cost of a being hero.

Thanks to the R rating, we finally see Wolverine do what he does best and what he does is gory and nasty - limbs fly and heads are impaled c/o adamantium claws in the bloodiest action sequences this side of Hacksaw Ridge.

Uninhibited by the PG-13 rating, Logan gets to let the cursing fly and even Patrick Stewart's Prof. Xavier get into the act as well. It's a sad and hilarious statement about how far these former heroes have fallen from grace.

Stewart gives his best portrayal as Prof. X, like Logan, age has caught up with him as well but his altruistic nature comes out in bursts (when he's not bickering with Logan). The rest of the cast is great but the real standout is young newcomer is Dafne Keen, who says so much in her silence and violence.

This may be a Wolverine movie but this is still an X-Men movie at heart which deals with such themes as the old age, price of heroism, slavery, and oppression in a reflective manner. What makes it stand out from the rest of its X-Men film brethren is that it defies standard superhero standards in its relentlessness in the dialogue, the violence, and tragedy.

Which makes it a fitting and poignant swan song for this heroic icon.