Logan
by Scott Frank (screenplay), James Mangold, (screenplay), and Michael Green (screenplay)
Marvel Entertainment
NB: Please be warned that this movie does feature violence and abuse against children and teens.
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We got your female rage RIGHT HERE.
This is the most recent installation in the X-Men Series. Set in the not-to-distant future where mutants are mostly gone, Logan is an old, broken man who gets saddled with a tiny, violent, mini-girl!Logan, and a classic road trip ensues. With a lot of eviscerations.
IMPORTANT NOTE: there will be some spoilers in the following discussion.
RHG: THAT WAS SO GOOD.
Amanda: So so so good. I will never get tired of seeing a girl rip grown men to absolute shreds. Also…speaking of shreds, if you prefer your comic book movies with offscreen violence, this is not for you!
RHG: Not even a little. I don’t want us to get into “all comic book movies are rated R now!” (and I don’t think we will, the tween money is too good) but as a testament to the kind of rage that Wolverine carries, and the kind of damage Wolverine can do, this is UNFLINCHING. An 11 year old girl rips the head off a dude (he was a bad dude, it’s okay). We go from there.
Amanda: I think the violence is what I liked most though, if that’s not too strange to say. I’m not that big into superhero/comic book movies for the most part. My concerns also tend to stray into the sheer amounts of structural damage and bystander danger that’s happen; it’s hard to suspend my disbelief for some reason.
But with Logan, the presence of accidents caused by mutants (Charles Xavier has a degenerative brain disease, which is a huge problem for his abilities), as well as whatever mercenary teams are tasked with tracking mutants do have consequences. And I appreciated that…realism. As real as it can be when you have people unsheathing adamantium claws from their hands and feet.
RHG: Yeah, all the damage (save Charles and his seizures) was pretty damned intimate. Everyone was usually within claw-reach. That makes a difference rather than “I’mma lift this city up and dump it 17 feet to the left.” I like both kinds! Don’t replace! It’s 2017, and this is the year we embrace the power of “And.”
I thought this was an excellent send off to both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. They’ve done so well in these roles for SO DAMN LONG, and they go out in by far the best Wolverine movie and one of the best X-Men movies.
Amanda: As much as I wished that everyone lives happily ever after in some green pasture for retired mutants, the end of their story arcs made sense. And of course, I snot cried real hard. Thankfully, it’s winter in Boston and scarves double as tissues.
But! And there’s always a but, Logan ushers in a new era for mutants. I’m desperately hoping there will be a continuation that follows Laura and her fellow mutant friends. If you follow the comics,
I’d love to see Dafne Keen, the girl who plays Laura, grow with the role like we’ve seen Jackman grow as Wolverine.
RHG: DAFNE DAFNE DAFNE. DAFNEEEEEEEE. You’ve got an 11 year old girl who has ONE credit to her name before this movie, going toe to toe with Sir Pat Stew and Hugh Jackman and holding her own. She’s like a tiny lioness! Wary, plotting, lethal, and (I think, at least) looking just a HINT like Famke Jansen which was an amazing accident. I can’t assume that was on the list of criteria, but holy shit, that kid’s eyes are scary when she turns on the “I have a plan to kill everyone in this room” light.
She’s AMAZING. What a fucking find.
Amanda: And to add more to her amazingness, for most of the movie, she doesn’t say a word! All her acting is physical – facial expressions, angry shouts, petulant grunts. She’s such a badass too. Even though she’s eleven, she’s just as powerful as Logan, if not more. Probably more, if I’m being honest.
Speaking of additional characterization, I have a weird, perverse attraction to Boyd Holbrook who plays super soldier bad guy Pierce and I’m REAL ASHAMED ABOUT IT.
RHG: You missed her feral screams.
I did not look at the cast list at all for this (Hell, I wasn’t gonna see it, until the trailer with Laura in the gas station came out) so I was pleased to see both Richard E. Grant (a former Scarlet Pimpernel) and Eriq LaSalle (who I haven’t seen since ER!) were in it. I think all of the supporting actors were great.
This is just a really well put together movie! PLOTS. YOU CAN HAVE A COMIC BOOK MOVIE AND HAVE A COHERENT PLOT. It can be done.
Amanda: AW ERIQ! The Munson family in Logan. Jeez Louise, that was a scene. I think that scene has stuck with me the most out of the whole film, to be honest.
But I agree, there are few things I have to complain about, save for the fact it’s set in the distant future and I desperately wanted to more about those creepy corn harvesting machines.
RHG:
I liked that there were a lot of things that weren’t over-explained. There’s a through-line that explains why there aren’t many mutants left and why there haven’t been new ones, but you have to be paying attention for it (STOP CHECKING FACEBOOK IN THEATER OH MY GOD), because it’s only explained once and almost in passing. And-if you’re worried about “well, I didn’t see X-Men: Apocalypse because they covered Oscar Isaacs’ pretty face with makeup, will this movie make sense?” Yes, it will. I promise.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. I’ve only seen the first two X-Men movies waaaaay back when and I checked out on everything else. So you’re golden!
RHG: Hugh’s amazing at being Old Man Logan (oh, also, if you’re a comic person who knows the plot line of Old Man Logan and think “I don’t want that” it’s not even tangentially related, based on my reading of the summary. Logan is old and broken and dying and that’s pretty much the main similarity. Thank god for licensing issues). It’s been SEVENTEEN YEARS and he’s playing this stiff and sad old man who is self-medicating on multiple levels and making it through the day. I’m gonna miss him, but we have a lot of movies to go back to. Most of them are good!
Amanda: Agreed, and given what Logan has gone through and the shit he’s seen and done, it’s not much of a stretch to see him end up where he is in the movie. It’s sad, especially because it really does seem like he’s only keeping himself alive to take care of Charles. They have a dream of buying a nice boat, but I honestly can’t picture either of them in their respective states to enjoy a life on the ocean.
RHG: No, it’s a dream to keep going, that maybe tomorrow won’t be the same as today, but it’s just a dream.
What do you think for a grade?
Amanda: I really do want to give this an A, haha. I’m even willing to settle for an A-. It was a great movie with plot, emotion, and it gave us Dafne Keen. I’m really looking forward to seeing what projects she does next.
RHG: There’s an ad running that says that this movie should be considered for Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. I hope it’s at least in the conversation! Yeah, it’s an A-. It’s a road trip movie, a comic book movie, and a swan song that doesn’t shy away from the consequences of actions.
And Dafne elevates the grade level. She’s so good. SO SO GOOD.
Logan is in theaters now and tickets (US) are available at Fandango and Moviefone.
I really want to watch this now! I was going to wait for it to come out on amazon or Netflix, but now I might make the effort to watch it in the cinema . Note to self: take tissues!
I looooved Logan and can’t wait for a chance to see it again. Frankly I give it an A+ as any nitpicks I had were extremely minor and didn’t have anything to do with main story or any of the main characters.
Yaassss! I want to be Dafne Keen in my next life complete with all the little girl rage the world can handle.
I enjoyed the movie, but I gave it a B+ (review up at http://thearmchaircritic.blogspot.com/2017/03/logan.html ). While the leads were all very good, the character Pierce was one of the least interesting villains in all the superhero movies. I also found it a little inconsistent at times (when Pierce is knocked out, Logan is fine having Caliban drive him into a field and leaving him there; when other Reavers are paralyzed during Prof. X’s seizure, Logan is fine killing all of them). It’s worth seeing, but X-MEN 2 remains my favorite movie in this franchise.
I loved this movie. It was so good. My son and I marked out to see Wolverine doing that leap thing he did one last time.
One thing that struck me reading this review, and forgive me for diverging from the topic, is how grateful I am for this community. I could have come here and said it didn’t do a thing for me, knowing that I would not be showered with hateful comments. We respect one another and rejoice that there is enough out there that we can all find something to enjoy.
**Possible SPOILERS AHOY**
I saw this on opening night, and I’m still having feels. Logan, battle worn, tired, but still fighting even if its just to take care of Prof X. He does not want to still be the hero. When the nurse calls him Wolverine at the funeral, all he wants is to nope out. The way they slot in the back story of Prof X and West Chester via the radio news in the aftermath of the casino. If you weren’t paying attention you’d miss it. All the details mattered. It was tightly written and intimate without any wasted beats.
Also, the meta subtext of subverting violence with love introduced because the children have been nurtured by their nurses with x-men comics (for very good yet subtle reasons) is brilliant.
I liked this movie so much I think I have actually forgiven the universe for the other wolverine movies. The violence was everything I have always wanted, only better, because that kid was perfection and I could bitch for years about my hatred of plucky sidekick children, so it never occurred to me that putting a kid in an action movie could ever be so pleasing but all I want is to watch that girl destroy people.
Loved this and super loved Laura! What a freaking badass she was. And yes, I totally had the same response se as you guys that she did most of the movie without talking. I love that she is tough and unapologetic about defending herself and the people she cares about. But we also get some sweet emotional connections. Very good movie and fitting end for these guys.
It’s a little sad that it took three movies to get Wolverine right (I don’t count the X-Men movies, he was always right in those, especially X2 and DOFP), but I am so glad they gave him the send-off he deserved. I knew, almost as soon as they said that Stewart and Jackman were done, how it had to end, but it still was such a sad, elegiac tale. I’m also here for a whole new series about Laura, because I don’t think there is an upper limit to how much I am willing to watch Dafne Keen slice and dice the shizz out of all comers.
Also, not for nothing, but the scenes where he nuts up and admits he needs the reading glasses? Adorable. I have a low-key fetish for men in glasses, so I choose to believe that they put that in there just to make me happy.
Pretty sure we will see this, one way or another. I hope Hugh Jackman starts getting some credit for being able to act. He seems to be very underrated, perhaps because he made the mistake of unapologetically singing well, but his range is impressive.
Fab review- love your conversations!
Cracking film, worthy ending for the series.
Highlights are:
Dafne Keen acting most adults off our screens without even talking.
Logan in glasses.
The unashamed intimacy of care Logan shows to Xavier.
Just awesome.
I feel like I am the lone voice in the wilderness, but despite being a huge X-men, superhero and comic fan (not to mention Hugh Jackman)-I have zero desire to see this movie. I remember practically dancing on air when the first X-men movie was announced and going to see it on opening day. Lately it seems like the only way any kind of science fiction movie can have any “gravitas” is to take what came before and rewrite it to make sure it ends as depressingly as possible.
I sat through the second “new” version of the X-men to see Logan finally reset the horrible destruction of mutants by the Sentinels so watching two hours where the never aging, indestructible Logan is slowly falling apart, Professor X has degenerative brain brain disease and the new hero is a feral child doesn’t really appeal. This reminds me of Alien 3 where the hard won victories of Ripley, Newt Hicks and Bishop were tossed away at the beginning with a “Yeah they all died.”
After seeing The Force Awakens (which I did really enjoy but left me with some mixed feelings) pretty much rip apart the happy endings of the Star Wars saga I grew up on in order to set up another “new” trilogy I kind of wish the writers working today had the originality to create something new of their own instead of just obliterating what came before to make an impact. (And yes I know this is based on the “Old Man Logan” comics). Just MHO.
Omg the FEELS I have about this movie.
Logan being old and fucked up tore at me in a way I didn’t expect. I also didn’t expect my panties to drop when he put on those reading glasses (UNF), but there you go.
The relationship between Charles and Logan…fuck. They love each other, and their intimacy is incredible, from Charles’ vulnerability about being old (“I have to pee!”) to Logan carrying him even when he doesn’t have to.
Apparently during the screening, Hugh reached over and held Patrick’s hand through the end of the film, and they cried.
Their send off was incredible.
Also, Laura is a vengeful child assassin and god help the poor schmucks who killed her daddy.
I went to see this movie and was blown away. My wife and myself have not seen the other xmen movies, it didn’t matter, this movie is that good. I hardly go to the movies to see comic book movies but the reviews changed my mind on this one. I was so glad I went, well worth the money spent and the 2.5 hours in the theatre. This movie flew by! The tears told otherwise as well.
The things that stood out to me the most:
1. The emotional pull this movie has, will leave you in tears. You can feel the pain in logan in every screen shot-played to perfection. The brutal addiction of alcohol to numb the pain of loss and regret, sounds so familiar to so many people. OSCAR WORTHY
2. Xavier felt just like the Grandfather we always wanted. An ailing man at the end of his life,needing someone to care for him. How ironic in life this is so true! Even his powers were weak, nearing his end game. But just like an old man of wisdom, he spoke with such grace. Oscar Worthy
3. Father and Daughter relationship, after years of loss. This was absolutely beautiful. Laura, played this role with such inspiration, I am not sure another young girl can compete with her in this x generation. She was someone out of nowhere, it was fantastic to see her anger but yet her desire to have a Father figure in her life. Real life happens for her in this movie, she played beyond her years. Oscar Worthy
I have lived through these things in my own life and this movie became personal to me.
I could go on but these things stood out to me, far more than the blood and gore, and believe me there is plenty of it!
Go see this movie, sit back, relax, take a deep breath, you will make it through this one.
10 all the way, beyond the Dark Knight, I venture out to say!
I can’t add anything more positive about Logan than was already said. Five Stars! This movie broke my heart, but it feels so good! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful movie.Fantastic acting by everyone involved, which is a gross understatement since I have no words to describe how good the acting is! When the credits roll and Johnny Cash sings “When The Man Comes Around”, an asterisk is placed on this installment of must see movie magic.