Of all the ups and downs of the X-Men films - Hugh Jackman has consistently been one of the best parts. A lanky singing, dancing Australian dude shouldn't be able to pull off Wolverine - but he does, and he's done it with gusto for a long time now. Even though the films themselves may not be the best no one can doubt Jackman's commitment to the role and his appreciation for the character. Enter: Logan. It's 2029 and the X-Men are no more. An older and worse for wear Wolverine has hung up the claws so to speak and spends his days working menial jobs and trying to stay under the radar. When a mysterious woman and a young girl suddenly appear - Logan finds himself drawn back in to a world he thought he'd left behind.
The Good: Jackman, as always, kills it. This version of Wolverine is older, slower, sadder and more nihilistic and melancholy, and that makes for a more compelling character than the indestructible killing machine of the earlier films. After the success of Deadpool, the decision was made to make Logan an R-rated film, and that was the best decision anyone associated with this film could have made. As a longtime X-Men fan, let me assure you that Wolverine is an R-rated character. He straight up murders people constantly in a way that your more classic superhero characters do not. This R-rating allows for a darkness and gravitas to seep into the film that simply wouldn't have been present with a PG-13 rating. It allows Jackman to really delve into the character and allows writer/director Mangold, and the rest of the cast to really insert themselves into a violent, quasi-dystopian world filled with dangerous people and plenty of blood. The best way I can describe this film is Clint Eastwood meets superheroes. It almost has an Unforgiven feel, where a fading gunslinger has one last ride in him. Mangold's screenplay is dark, bitterly funny, and touching where it needs to be, as Logan finds himself tasked with protecting a young girl who he's more connected to than he ever could have thought. The film is set in the future, and does a great job of trusting the audience to catch up with what may have happened in the interim. The characters don't dwell on the past or fill in questions with clunky exposition any more than absolutely necessary, and I appreciate that the film trusted its viewers enough to let them fill in the blanks. Jackman really sends Logan out with a bang here, turning in a bitterly melancholy performance and elevating the film to a place where X-Men films have never been before. Wolverine is a much more compelling character in a reduced state, and Jackman revels in the character's limitations. Patrick Stewart is great as well as an elderly, much reduced Professor Xavier, and newcomer Dafne Keen rises to the occasion as the mysterious Laura.
The Bad: this is going to sound lame, but bear with me. I've ALWAYS had a problem with the fight choreography in the X-Men films and the way they use Wolverine in particular. When you juxtapose the way Wolverine moves and fights with the way that say... Captain America moves and fights in Winter Soldier or Civil War and it's cheesy, slow, clunky and too dependent on wires and the like. The action sequences, even though they are terrific, lack a certain pop. Additionally - the villain was a little disappointing. In a roster of villains as deep as the X-Men's and Wolverine's I feel that the choice was uninspired. Ultimately, these are relatively minor gripes with an extremely strong film.
In all, Logan is dark, violent, bitterly funny, masculine as hell, and more than a little touching. Jackman and Stewart have great chemistry, and Dafne Keen turns in a great performance sharing so much screentime with such talented actors. The film has the sentimentality and spirit of a western with the action chops of a modern superhero flick - it's not a combo that I knew I ever wanted to see but damned if it isn't pretty great. Yet again superhero flicks demonstrate their versatility - as the best western I've seen in years turned out to be a Wolverine flick. If this really is the last time that Jackman will be playing Wolverine - he gave the character a hell of a send off.
This is the best X-Men film by a pretty sizable margin.
8.5/10
