Logan

Score:  ****1/2 out of ***** (A-)

Directed by James Mangold
Starring Hugh Jackman, Dafne Keen, Patrick Stewart
Running time: 137 minutes
Rated R

Long Story Short:  Logan is the third "solo" film for Hugh Jackman's iconic superhero character, likely also his final.  This film is darker than others in the X-Men franchise, not just because of the increased violence due to its R-rating, but also because Logan and others are confronted with heightened personal crises.  While therefore not a cheerful one, this is a more emotionally powerful superhero film than most, and thoughtfully made.  Highly recommended.


In 2029, few mutants remain in comparison to the heyday of the X-men; none have been born for twenty-five years, and the remaining population barely struggles on.  Among the survivors is Logan (Jackman), once known as Wolverine.  With his mutant powers in decline and his old friends almost all gone, he quietly works as a chauffeur.  He also cares for his old mentor, Professor Xavier (Stewart), who has begun to lose control of both his formidable mind and powers and must be kept at a safe distance from society.  Logan's routine is interrupted, however, by a woman who is desperate for his help.  She begs him to take her and her daughter to the Canadian border where they can find a safe haven - and he must be the one to do it, or so she insists.  When Logan confronts the forces seeking this woman, he reluctantly decides to help her, taking the dependent Xavier with him.  Although Logan wishes to spend the rest of his life in peace and quiet, he is forced to once again confront duty to his people - both past and future.

Logan has relatively few familiar faces for an X-Men movie, but the cast is solid all around.  Returning for a seventh film in the role of Logan, aka Wolverine, is Hugh Jackman.  There is no question that Jackman knows the character; at this point, he is Logan, however similar that may or may not be to the comic book version.  Jackman brings a familiar sense of weariness and moral heaviness, but it is also very clear that he is at the breaking point here.  His acting conveys the passage of time - mainly, that it's been a long time since fighting with the X-men, but also simple aging - both through a more subdued yet mature demeanor as well as a still-impressive yet ravaged physique.  Patrick Stewart is equally affecting in his return as Professor Xavier.  He is even more clearly on the edge, portraying a physical suffering and exertion as he never has before in playing the wheelchair-bound leader of mutants.  Joining them is one final mutant, a young girl played by Dafne Keen.  She does not speak for most of the film, but still conveys a wild, sometimes frightening fierceness while also being a shy, very human child in need of a guiding figure.

Logan is a fairly thoughtful, though also brutal, superhero film that - there's no point in beating around the bush here - likely will serve as the final chapter for Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine.  The mood and look of the film is immediately more desolate than other X-Men films - from the desert environment to the jarring sight of Logan as a chauffeur.  For Logan, however - always the outsider on a team of outsiders - this is perfectly appropriate.  The fortunes of mutants, even as powerful as him and Xavier, have soured, not due to any apocalyptic events or enemies but rather simple time and the curse that their once world-saving abilities have become.  This allows the film to focus on a familiar choice for Logan, though this time with finality: to eke out the most dignified, quiet retirement he can from the world and all its troubles, or to put everything he has into a service greater than himself.  As he joins the fray again, and the film turns into essentially a chase scenario, the heaviness is relieved by an unexpected but touching detour into "normal" life that rewards both Logan and the audience.

Just as quickly, events turn more bleak and brutal than ever before, accentuating the urgency of Logan's mission.  The villains and their plot are not all that new and exciting, but that doesn't end up being a big problem.  The good guys - both familiar and new - are clearly more vulnerable this time around, and so their mission and very survival is the main source of tension.  This is made all the more gripping by the aforementioned brutality, which mainly serves not to shock (though that it does) but to illustrate the depths Logan must go to and the psychic damage all this must have done to him over the years.  After one last bloody, slicing-and-dicing battle, Logan gets the ending he deserves.  His sacrifice is not for those in his past, but for those - including the young girl mutant - who now have a future.

***

Logan is a very good superhero film by itself, but it also represents how franchises can be brought to a close in a satisfying and - hopefully - truly final way.  Made possible by the success of Deadpool, this film takes the license for an "R"-rated superhero film and uses it not gratuitously but to finish the theme and tone of the Wolverine character as it should be.  While the X-Men can be overshadowed at times by the more famous and popular comic pillars like Batman, Superman and the Avengers, Hugh Jackman's achievements in longevity and quality are arguably greater than any other.  Even as the faces and styles changed around him, Jackman's Wolverine was the anchor for the entire franchise - someone who could kick butt as well as any other hero, but also provide character depth and growth in the puzzle of his past as well as intriguing relationships (particularly with Professor X and Jean Gray) and his outlook on the world itself.  Bravo, Mr. Jackman, and thank you for creating such a great character to watch over the course of seven films.  If you, too, have seen the other X-Men films, Logan is a must-see.




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