Logan is not only an AMAZING superhero movie, it’s a phenomenal film in general. It comes equipped with characters you care about (or new characters you quickly learn to care about), it builds a unique world that feels like it exists outside of this 2-hour story, and it has major stakes – which is something that can’t be said for 99% of superhero movies. On top of all of that, it has emotion and heart. I cared about EVERYTHING I saw. There was not a moment where the movie comes to an abrupt halt.
The name of the movie itself tells you that this movie isn’t your typical superhero movie, it’s Logan. It doesn’t try to attach the X-Men or Wolverine name onto it for the sake of marketing purposes. It’s about the characters, not a brand. It isn’t trying to push big set pieces, it wants to tell a good story. It exists on its own despite sort of being a sequel to other X-Men movie, you (or someone you take with you) can go into this movie completely blind and feel like they watched a complete story. Granted, you’ll get a lot more out of it emotionally if you have seen some if not all of the previous movies.
The film is set in 2029, mutants are pretty much extinct and everyone seems to have moved on for the most part. In a way, the X-Men are sort of like forgotten characters that have achieved some sort of cult classic status. The world is more advanced, but not in an over the top Jetsons kind of way, it feels normal for this universe. Truck drivers have been replaced by autonomous shipping containers with wheels that speed past cars on the highway, some characters have had body parts replaced with cybernetic enhancements, and giant machines help maintain crops in the midwest. These things are usually briefly seen or mentioned and aren’t overexplained or done to be like “Look at this cool future stuff we came up with! Our world might end up like this one day!” It gives weight to this world, it isn’t just a backdrop with no real work done to it. It adds a whole new layer to the movie.
It’s an understatement to say that this movie is the darkest, most brutal superhero movie ever made. Yes, it has extreme amounts of blood and gore but the topics this movie tackles are rough. Wolverine is at the end of his rope, he’s contemplating suicide and the only thing keeping him around is Charles Xavier. Xavier is weak and his powers are so out of control that it is implied heavily throughout the movie he has killed a large number of other people on accident. Logan is the only one who can really take care of him and he feels he owes it to Charles due to the fact he gave him a family earlier in his life. Now, he’s pretty much alone because Charles is senile and the only other person there is Caliban who he doesn’t really get along with. There are so many layers to Logan’s character. He’s a fallen hero who has become a limo driver, he’s bitter and cynical, his powers don’t work like they used to, and he doesn’t want to help anybody anymore. He wants to be as far away from society as possible. When we find him at the start of the movie he wants to buy a boat so he can go live the rest of his days out on the ocean with Charles where neither of them can hurt anybody.
I’ll keep things relatively vague to avoid spoilers, but Logan is eventually thrust back into the thick of it when a young mutant girl with powers just like his comes along in need of help. He doesn’t want anything to do with her, but Charles convinces him they need to help her reach her destination which on the complete opposite end of the country. The three go on this long, tiring journey which results in utter heartbreak, terror, and tragedy. Trouble follows them wherever they go and others must pay for their actions. There’s one particular sequence in the movie that feels like a horror movie and raises the stakes in the most brutal way possible.
Logan blends so many genres together, it has sprinkles of the horror genre, the superhero genre, the drama genre, and even a bit of something you’d see in a family movie. Not a family movie in the way of ‘bring your whole family to see this movie’ (you probably shouldn’t bring anyone under 15 to this movie because it’s pretty disturbing), but a family movie as in a movie about what family is. Even during all the chaos, you see these little moments of happiness found by the main characters and it sort of makes the brutality and chaos all worth it. By the end of the movie, Logan realizes what life is all about, it’s about surrounding yourselves with others and loving others. The film does a very good job of not trying to shoehorn anything down your throat.
One of the most appealing elements of the story is this theme of heroism. Logan is no longer a hero, he’s done. He’s fallen off the heroic status and although there are some people in society who still look up to him, deep inside himself he believes that’s no longer him. As the movie goes on, he rediscovers himself. He grows back into this heroic role and eventually puts others before himself even though he’s not in the best shape to be doing that. This is something we rarely see in a superhero movie, let alone a superhero movie sequel.
Another interesting aspect is that Wolverine is vulnerable in this movie. As previously mentioned, his powers don’t work right, his healing factor is significantly slower, and he’s very weak. In previous movies, it never felt like Logan was in any danger, however, in this movie, it felt as if at any moment he or anyone else could bite the bullet at any moment. He gets his ass handed to him in a few fights and it was hard to see this character I adore get beaten up, but it was also refreshing and felt right for this story.
The one thing people have been looking forward to with Logan is the violence. The true Wolverine (and X-23) can finally be unleashed. The movie could’ve gone super over the top, but it does what it needs to do while remaining true to the character. Make no mistake, it’s gruesome and brutal. Wolverine and X-23 straight up murder everyone they come in contact with and limbs fly off, but it’s done in a way that suits the story and it’s justified.
The best thing Logan does is truly execute on what a comic-book movie should be. The movie does have awesome action scenes and does have some silly tropes, but it’s more of a character study than a big budget summer blockbuster. The best comic books have always been about the characters and the world around them, not the epic spectacles. James Mangold truly understands what a comic-book movie should be and one can only hope that more studios and directors will follow in his footsteps. Logan could very well stand on its own against movies outside of the genre.
Logan could easily go down as the best comic-book movie ever made. Not only is it an emotional, adrenaline-filled ride, but it’s layered with excellent storytelling and Oscar-worthy performances from Jackman and Stewart. It is the pinnacle of this genre and it serves more as a breakdown of these iconic characters with true messages rather than a fun popcorn flick. At the moment, there’s really nothing on Marvel or DC’s slate that even looks like it could come close to what this movie has accomplished.
