"Logan" One of the Best Hero Movies Ever?

    I come into this review as someone who read Old Man Logan which this movie is very, very loosely based on, having already watched this film once, and not being a particularly big fan of the Fox X-Men movies (not in the sense that I disliked them, just that I haven't watched them). Yet I have to admit, this is probably one of the best superhero movies out there, especially in the 21st century. Yes, it no doubt has it's flaws, I certainly have a couple of gripes with this film, but for the most part it's quite refreshing compared to the other superhero movies. It can try a little hard at times, but in my eyes that's better than not trying enough. Logan really does have some grit, and some emotional weight to it, which can sometimes be hard to come by in a superhero film, so let's talk about it.

    I'll get my criticisms out of the way first, like I usually do, because I don't think I have many about this film, and once you realize the "magnitude" of them, you'll see that there's really not much to complain about this film. Firstly, the timeline is certainly more than a little bit iffy in this film. It's like they wanted to do this dystopian environment, but they can't commit to it, like at all, so they pretty much avoid city centers at all costs except for the couple of scenes in the casino. Like there are self-driving trucks, mutants are described as a "blip," and both Logan/Professor X look old as dirt. Yet, when they play the news report, the supposed "Westchester Event" that basically destroyed the X-Men as people know it only happened a year ago? And also the world is pretty much largely the same (for superhero standards with powers and supervillains and such), so like not that much time has actually passed? I will not say Old Man Logan was perfect, but I will say you can at least feel like time has truly passed, it's moved onto a darker future and hope seems close to lost. In Logan because of the (deliberate, and possibly rightfully so) choice to only stay in the present for this film, it's quite hard to grasp how much the world truly has changed, sans the loss of mutants/X-Men. 

    Speaking of changes from the comic, another one to which I am a bit iffy on was changing the fate of the X-Men/how it sort of paints Wolverine as a character. I say this because (spoilers) in the comic the reason Logan is so beaten down, depressed and also a pacifist is because he is the one personally responsible for killing the X-Men. Of course it wasn't his fault but it makes the fact that he's so reluctant to fight more captivating in my eyes. Obviously, the plots of these two stories are different and in this scenario it's heavily implied Professor X killed most of the X-Men (though technically they only mention seven dead and Logan has some guilt so perhaps he mercy killed some of them). This is fine because Professor X's role as sort of this mediator between Logan and Laura works, encouraging him to look into the future just one more time to be inspired. I just think it might have been a more compelling film if the reason Logan is so reluctant to be a hero once more/seemingly can't forgive himself for what happened was because it was his own hands that did the deed.

    Lastly, while I enjoyed Laura not really speaking at all in the beginning, and enjoyed her slowly learning to speak again, they kind of dropped it by the end, and I think she should have just spoken English from the jump. Her randomly speaking Spanish kind of made me chuckle, when everyone else from the same program spoke perfect English, and she seemingly understands English perfectly fine, while the scientists who worked on them also almost certainly spoke English to them as well considering Dr. Rice's interactions with X-24, so it's kind of like why did we pretend to do this in the first place? Her learning to speak English after not speaking for a while would have been just as well in my opinion.

    All of this to say, everything else about this film was great. I have to say, I know it would not probably be feasible or popular, but it was refreshing to see a superhero film where they're just allowed to show blood, killing and swearing. Some might see it just as an edgier paint of coat, but I think it really helped make the fight scenes more impactful, and helped lend itself to the themes of being more than what people have labeled you to be, with Laura/Logan killing so that Laura doesn't have to fight anymore if she so chooses. Like it's not as if it's the goriest film made to mankind, or constantly swears, but considering who Wolverine is/his powers it's good to see him let loose sometimes in the film. 

    I will also have to say the acting absolutely carries this film. I've already touched upon the lacklustre/inconsistent setting of this film, and the missing piece to Wolverine's characterization that I feel should have been there. But it can largely be ignored when Hugh Jackman acts like that regardless, as if there's not only some physical ailment eating away at him, but also a mental toll as he continues to care for the one man who saved him, the one man who ultimately killed all of his friends anyways. As I mentioned previously Dafne Keen has basically no lines in this movie, not until the very end, yet for a child she was also very good in this film. I pretty much never have to worry about Patrick Stewart, and dare I say I even enjoyed Boyd Holbrook who made sure he felt so punchable anytime he was on the screen.

Final Score: 80/100

    Even if I never watched all of the other films that culminated in this one, it does feel like quite a satisfying end to Jackman's Wolverine. Though the ending kind of jumps around a lot of places, and you're never quite sure where they actually are, the movie ends on the same note as the comic that inspired it. Wolverine finds himself reinspired to fight the good fight one last time, with a future that he's now looking out for, that wasn't there originally. I'm also a sucker for this older washed mentor/younger hero trope to be honest, so maybe this movie was just designed for me to like it. Either way, I usually don't think about Fox when I think about good superhero movies, but Logan has proven to be the exception to the rule.