REVIEW #101 Logan (2017)

Logan directed by James Mangold is Hugh Jackmans final outing as Wolverine. Set in 2029 Logan is now being poisoned by his on adamantiam and has now aged considerably. However the arrival of a young mutant forces him out of retirement as he escorts her across the country, fleeing from an evil corporation trying to kill her.

CAST & THE ACTING 

Hugh Jackman returns to his iconic role of Wolverine and I think it’s fair to say it’s his best performance out of all the X-Men films he has been cast in. He portrays the vulnerabilities of the character so well, illustrating the awareness Logan has, that he is not what he used to be. Patrick Stewart also reprises his role of Professor X and the same can be said for his performance, his portrayal of a man suffering from dementia was convincing and combined with the characters powerful abilities bought a new dynamic to the X-Men franchise. I must also mention the chemistry between the two actors because that really shone through, both have so much acting experience and the ability to portray such a strong bond between characters takes a lot of skill, it really emphasised the father-son type bond the characters now have. Dafne Keen played the young mutant X-23 and she was brilliant, for such a young actor to match the performance of two acting veterans is really impressive. Boyd Holdbrook played one of two main antagonists Donald Pierce (the muscle) and Richard E Grant played the other, Dr Zander Rice. I would say they weren’t the greatest villains, they both came across a little flat at times but I think the main aim was to show the relationships between the main characters rather then creating iconic villains. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

My interpretation of Logan was that they wanted to create a film that celebrated the relationship between Logan and Charles Xavier, provide a sort of redemption arc for Logan giving him a legacy through X-23 and to have a dark superhero film that not only included epic action sequences but included excellent acting that highlighted just how good Hugh Jackman was as Wolverine, the perfect send off. I think they achieved all of the above! I loved how dark the film was with the R rating, the action sequences were outstanding, especially where we witnessed Logan and X-23 fighting together like father and daughter. In this film we find out that the Essex corporation have managed to stop any new mutants being born and instead tried to create their own weaponised mutants that they could use themselves. Upon realising that raising mutant children into soldiers was too difficult they looked to exterminate them all, which leads to Logan protecting and escorting X-23 to Eden, a safe place for mutants. This was a really strong storyline, probably one of the best out of all the X-Men films. As I mentioned above it really focused on the relationships between characters which I really appreciated. There were so many sub plots that elevated this film above a traditional superhero flick, which is why it has such high ratings with critics and audiences.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

Being an R rated film meant that there were a lot of bloody fight scenes, lots of gore that had to look realistic to make Logan a truly great film. James Mangold and John Mathieson definitely achieved that, creating brilliant scenes that have the reputation of being some of the best action sequences in any marvel film not even just the X-Men films. The camera work complimented those scenes, it was so free flowing and looked so organic. Putting the action aside for the moment, the general aesthetic of the film was also really good. You can tell a lot of thought went into every scene, the colour, the lighting, even the way the sun pierced through! So John Mathieson delivered very impressive cinematography. I also watched Logan Noir which I really enjoyed, those black, white and grey tones just emphasised the quality film making in this film. Marco Beltrami also scored the film, so even that element was of such high quality. There isn’t really an area within this category I can fault at all. 

OVERALL (9/10)

This is my favourite X-Men film and there are so many reason as to why that’s the case, to be honest it’s probably one of my favourite all time films within the superhero genre. The performances from Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart are outstanding, portraying two of the most powerful characters but having to show such vulnerability. The storyline is great and focuses on the relationships between characters. It also has some really strong character development, utilising their flaws to create small redemption arcs so that the characters could go full circle, giving them a nice send off. The cinematography is fantastic, there are so many beautifully aesthetic scenes, from the action sequences to the duologues between characters. It’s hard to actually find any faults within the film, I don’t think the antagonists were too strong, they didn’t bring much to the film but I think the main focus was definitely the relationships between Logan, Charles and Laura (X-23). I think Logan has just been uploaded to Disney plus so If you haven’t seen it definitely go and watch it! 

Thanks for reading 

Callan