'Logan' Review

Let me just start by saying: Logan is no traditional superhero movie. Get that image out of your head. James Mangold (also director of 2013's The Wolverine) brings a feature that isn't full of explosive high-stakes action, nor cocky heroes saving the day, on a fun adventure for the whole family to enjoy. No, Logan is a grittier, more melancholic tale. But it’s a fantastic one, and one of the best films about superheroes ever made.

Loosely inspired by the 2008 ‘Old Man Logan’ comic series, Logan features a significantly older, and more isolated James Howlett/Logan (Hugh Jackman) than when audiences last saw him. His healing factor is degenerating, and all the mutants from the ‘good old days’ are gone, with seemingly no more being born. To make ends meet, and so he can care for an increasingly insensate, debilitated Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Logan works as a limousine driver. Coming across a young girl/X-23 with similar powers to his own (Dafne Keen), being pursued by shady military-types, Logan and Xavier endeavour to take her to a safe zone across the country.

The unfolding of this, and the relationship between Logan, Xavier, and X23 is constantly engrossing as it develops, and at times effectively funny and light-hearted, despite the whole film having a bittersweet feel. This is both Jackman’s and Stewart’s last X-Men film after all. Logan’s plot, and Jackman’s and Stewart’s brilliant performances, give a more than worthy send-off to both characters. Keen, in her first film no less, shines as X23 too, and the relationship and interactions between all three is certainly one of the main highlights of the film.

The oft-bleak cinematography, and overall Mangold’s direction, are effective at showcasing the similarly bleak world and situations the main trio find themselves in, with little to help them but each other. A true sense of urgency is prominent throughout the entire film. The trio do find aid from Caliban (Stephen Merchant), another of the few mutants remaining in their world, while they’re on the run from forces lead by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) and Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant), the main villains. The villains in play have little character development, but Merchant, Holbrook, and Grant, and the rest of the supporting cast give strong performances, and this, plus the development and relationship of the main trio is more than enough to make up for it.

There are plenty of action scenes in Logan, for sure, yet they have a greater sense of drama attached to them than superhero films usually do. Logan and Xavier particularly are constantly portrayed as vulnerable, weak characters, a far cry from the stronger, more confident heroes found in The Avengers, for example. As well as having a bleaker, more desperate Logan than seen prior, Xavier is largely unstable, with the effects of this, which I won’t spoil, providing one of the most memorable action scenes. The action found here, as well as being the sort of satisfying, thrilling eye-candy the genre has accustomed us to, also greatly encapsulates and furthers the relationship between Logan and X-23. In addition, the film’s R-rated dialogue helps to cement Logan’s lost, weary attitude and state, and the violence found in these scenes isn’t gratuitous. The film uses its rating very well.

Mangold’s Logan is a film worthy of a 17-year build-up. Its plot, characters, and direction all combine to give a thrilling, heart-breaking, and perfect send-off to Jackman’s Wolverine and Stewart’s Xavier, two eternal icons for the superhero film genre. Logan isn’t like many superhero movies, but more superhero movies should endeavour to be like Logan.