Logan- Film Review

Logan- Film Review

There have been many comic book films in the past decade, there have been many attempts to make great comic book films and while some films have succeeded in their attempts there have been some bad films as well. Arguably the comic book series which is a key example of this would be the X-Men series. The series started out strong with the first two entries and when it came to X-Men: The Last Stand people started to see the fall of the series. The X-Men franchise has also created some spin-offs with the character of Wolverine getting a trilogy of his own. The first film was hated by critics for many different reasons and is more of a guilty pleasure than anything. The second film The Wolverine was directed by James Mangold and was liked by critics, and it did have some issues but the film was a very good attempt. Logan is third film is this series and sees director James Mangold returning this is the final film that will star Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. Logan is set in the year 2029 where a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan's attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces, both Logan and Professor X must make sure that the young mutant evades capture and get her to safety from a group of people that are after her.

The first thing about this film would be the performances and characters in Logan, Hugh Jackman is a great actor in most of his films, his performance in Logan is excellent because he portrays a version of Wolverine that we haven’t quite seen onscreen and while we got some hint in the previous entry when his healing powers were taken away. In Logan, the performance shows a character that is just trying to survive while caring for Professor X. Logan is a broken version of the character that he used to be and at the beginning you don’t quite understand why he is dying or he is fragile compared to the version that we saw in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Hugh Jackman at this point has nailed this character he knows how to portray Wolverine as a character and this performance might be his best compared to the other portrayals of the character. Patrick Stewart has never had a bad performance in a film, in Logan he portrays an older version of Professor X which has lost control of his powers and if he isn’t given medicine then he could cause some serious damage. This performance from Stewart shows this character in a different way compared to the other films, the performance shows Xavier having various emotions at different points with him having low points to him having some laughs, this is an excellent performance and there are some great character moments throughout this film, and without spoiling this film there is an excellent character scene between Wolverine and X-23 in this film at the end.

More positives about Logan would be that most of the technical aspects of this film are very good, there is one thing which is not very good and that will be discussed below. However, most of the technical aspects of this film are good. Everything else about this film is excellent and there are many things about this film which will impress. The one aspect of the technical elements would be that the cinematography is excellent. There are some excellent character moments which have been discussed in this film but the way that the filmmakers communicate the themes in this film are what help this film stands out. The cinematography might be some of the best in the X-Men series. The other aspect of this film would be the special effects; the CGI is so well integrated into the live-action elements that the CGI is hardly noticeable compared to the other films. Although compared to the other films in this spin-off series this film doesn’t have as much CGI as the others. The technical aspects are excellent and there is nothing more than you can say about it.

Logan is very different from the previous films in the franchise, this is because this film feels more grounded and more contained than the other films in series. This film is basically a road trip film that sees Logan help X-23 from being captured by the antagonists in this film, the film has small scale action and it is refreshing to see a comic book film which doesn’t have the world being in danger. An example would be the final action sequences in this film, it takes place in a forest and Logan must take out an army of people after these other children. The final action sequence is excellent for another reason because instead of the classic one man army trope, the other children get involved in the action sequences and they can hold their own in a battle. The stakes are what make this film feel grounded because Logan is only trying to make sure that these children are safe from the antagonists in the film.

There are only two things wrong with this film, the first would be that the script could have done with another draft and this is because there are some aspects which aren’t explained in detail. The film Logan doesn’t tell you what year this film is set in and if you didn’t read the premise going into the film then you wouldn’t know. There are little issues like this throughout Logan, and it doesn’t tell you if it set in the same universe as Days of Future Past. These are just same details which could have been changed when they were written the script and it’s not a big issue with the film but some people will notice these small details that are missing in Logan. The second issue with Logan would be that some of the action has too tightly framed and the filmmakers decided to film the action quite close, while this won’t be a problem on a small screen, if you watch this in the cinema the big screen and the tight framing can make the action hard to follow at time. These are some of the issues that Logan has as a film.

The spin off trilogy of the wolverine films have become much better, they have improved on each attempt that has been released. This franchise started with X-Men: Origins Wolverine and ended with this film. Logan is more a character film exploring the weaknesses of the heroes and how relationships are created between them, there are some excellent intertextual references for the film and comic book fans in the audience. Logan is a film which is very enjoyable to watch and if this is Hugh Jackman’s final portrayal as Wolverine this is an excellent way to finish. This is a film which goes all out with the characters, violence and narrative. What does this mean for the future of comic book films? This film had received an R-rating just like last year’s Deadpool and while we are seeing more of these films, this doesn’t mean that all the comic book films in future will get the same rating. This shows that comic book films have a strong future and there are many narratives left to tell, will the future comic book films be R-rated? The answer to question is that some will be but this doesn’t mean that all the films will be. Logan, is like this to show the brutality of the character onscreen like they should have done to begin with. It is important to remember that it is not the rating which makes this film work, it is the fact that this is more of character film that explores these characters in a very contained environment and while it is essentially a road trip this film has small stakes compared to other comic book films.

Rating: 8/10.

Conclusion: Logan is a much more contained film compared to the others in the trilogy and has some excellent character moments that explore the humanity of these characters. Logan shows that while it is a comic book film the narrative doesn’t have to high stakes. Logan is worth watching because the characters and performances, this is an excellent film to end the trilogy.