Logan

Logan is something new in the field of comic book films. It's a serious, important, and thoroughly moving film with some more matured ideas and themes than your average superhero movie. The films discusses more important themes and has a lot of emotional substance. Logan is a beautiful, sombre, touching, brutal, dark and tragic film, one that truly redefines superhero films. In fact, it bares little resemblance to most of the genre, and though there are plenty of gritty, thrilling action sequences scattered throughout, the film feels more like sombre, touching drama with bursts of explosive action in between. The opening scene immediately establishes the mood of the film, with an old Logan (Hugh Jackman) waking up in his limo, one that he drives to earn cash nowadays, to find a few hoodlums trying to steal the car's wheels. After being beaten quite a bit, Logan loses his cool and slices up 3 of the hoodlums with his claws. The film shows very clearly that Logan is not the man he once was, and has been consumed with regret, grief and depression. This is shown brilliantly in Logan's physical movements, attitude and fighting style. The world is shown as a depressing one, where there are no more mutants and no more heroes. Logan is no longer Wolverine, and is now laying low down by the Mexican border where he and the albino mutant Caliban(Stephen Merchant) care for an Alzheimer-stricken, ailing Charles Xavier(Patrick Stewart), who is prone to sudden seizures, resulting in a potentially fatal psychic shock wave, incapacitating everyone but Logan. As the film goes on, and I won't dive much further into the plot, Logan discovers that he has a daughter by the name of Laura(Dafne Keen) and must protect her from dark forces lead by the ruthless Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook). The dynamics between Logan, his daughter Laura and Charles are compelling and extremely well-defined, with a variety of touching character moments bolstered by a script with lots of emotional substance. Most of characters are very well fleshed-out with complex and layered characterisation. The film explores themes such as mortality, regret and fatherhood which are uncommon in many superhero pictures. The cinematography is bleak, but beautiful nonetheless and highly well edited. The action sequences are extremely violent, but also well-handled so that they feel real. They are fluid, intense and very hard-hitting. The extreme blood and gore shows us the true consequences of Logan's powers and how, regardless of whether they are used for good or not, people, real people, are hurt and killed. Also, the fact that Logan is tired, weary, old and truly past his prime, adds to the tension of each fight, with him often getting kicked around a lot, before unleashing his inner beast. The performances are brilliant throughout, with Hugh Jackman giving one of the best on-screen performances in recent years. His acting is subtle, gritty, nuanced and truly believable. Dafne Keen, playing X-23/Laura is also very impressive in her film debut as the young mutant daughter of Wolverine. Throughout the film, she speaks very few words throughout the picture but communicates a lot of emotion through her facial expressions. Sir Patrick Stewart is as always brilliant in his role, but gives a different performance to his usual as Charles Xavier, and Stephen Merchant shines in what little screen time he gets as Caliban. Boyd Holbrook delivers his lines very well and gives a very good, menacing performance overall. The music is also beautiful, setting the tone for the film perfectly. Richard E. Grant does very well as Xander Rice. My one and only complaint on Logan lies with the villains, because they often seem somewhat generic and underdeveloped. However, the inclusion of X-24 ( a savage, mindless evil clone of Wolverine) makes for some impressive action sequences and showcases an interesting parallel as to what would happen if Logan was to let go of all his humanity. It also serves as a metaphor for Logan's inner battle against the savage version of himself that has been kept dormant almost his entire life. There is a scene in the film featuring X-24 which is so well handled, it almost feels like a horror film. The final few scenes of the movie show Logan dying at the hands (or claws) of his evil counterpart X-24. It shows 24 impaling Logan on a tree, and right before delivering the final blow, having his head blown apart by an adamantium bullet fired by Laura. As Logan succumbs to his wounds, he expresses a sort of satisfaction in facing his own mortality as demonstrated by the line "so this is what it feels like". Logan's death, I feel, is handled extremely well, with the titular character sharing a few blissful moments bonding with his daughter before dying peacefully. It is truly beautiful, but also very sorrowful,and is one of the few moments in all of cinematic history to bring me to tears. Also, there is a truly awesome berserker rage scene at the end of the film where Logan cuts, stabs and slashes his way through dozens of Pierce's men, which is what fans have wanted to see for the past 17 years Logan is a brilliant film, one that subverts expectations in every way. It's serious, thoughtful, emotional and at times truly touching. The film is a wonderful final goodbye and swan-song to the character after 17 years. Goodbye, Logan. We're gonna miss you.