In the near future, an old and weary Wolverine agrees to protect a
young mutant girl from military forces trying to use her as a weapon. ACTION/SCI-FI
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Logan (2017)Directed by James Mangold
Written by Scott Frank, James Mangold, Michael Green Starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Richard E. Grant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal, Quincy Fouse Sequel to 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past Based on characters from Marvel Comics Oscar Nominations - Best Adapted Screenplay |
When Hugh Jackman announced his official retirement from the X-Men franchise, fans everywhere were taken aback. Among the most asked questions was, of course, "What will his last movie be?" The answer? Sad. Logan is the Wolverine story we've been waiting for, complete with R-rated blood, gore, and language. Hugh Jackman has never felt more connected to the character and while his swan song is not without its problems, it is certainly a high step up from his previous two solo adventures and allows the character to go out on a high note.
Logan takes place in the year 2029, when nearly every mutant on the planet has been wiped out. Among the survivors are an old and dying Wolverine and a Professor X battling dementia. After 17 years and 8 films, it's depressing to see such beloved characters beaten down by life and its unfortunate gifts. In this timeline, Logan has all but lost his healing powers and has given up entirely on society. Everything changes when a young girl named Laura asks for his protection from military forces led by a cyborg mutant-hater. For me, this is where things start to get disappointing. My favorite thing about the X-Men franchise was always its larger than life villains, and with the tease of Mr. Sinister at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse, I was holding out hope for an appearance. Instead, our main villains are Donald Pierce, a bland soldier with a metal arm, X-24, an evil Wolverine clone with no substance, and Dr. Rice, the (SPOILERS) secret son of William Stryker who doesn't reveal his true intentions until the last ten minutes. Unfortunately, I thought it was the poor choice in antagonists that kept this finale from living up to its full potential. It was still exciting to witness an adaptation of Old Man Logan on the big screen, though it's sad to see Hugh Jackman leave the franchise. His final film is pretty good, but it's far from perfect. It stands on Jackman and Stewart's killer performances, as well as the chemistry between Jackman and newcomer Dafne Keen. The overall depressing nature of the film really doesn't help either. It doesn't feel like the rest of the franchise. I can't see myself taking it off my shelf and putting it on for a fun watch, which is what I did with every other X-Men movie. This one, though, is really just too pessimistic to enjoy. However, if you look at it as a separate entity, it contains the best performance Hugh Jackman's ever done as the character and sends off one of modern cinema's greatest antiheroes in an honorable and fitting way. |