I’ve grown up in the age of superhero movies, the good films, the bad films and the amazing films. Wolverine has been a character in the good and bad films, Hugh Jackman has been fantastic in both the good and the bad films. Now Hugh Jackman and his Wolverine are in an amazing film. Logan is a spectacular film that I feel like I can’t talk about too much without spoiling the film. It’s so well built together and so maturely handled that I’m still, two days later, thinking about how well the story is conveyed and how it covered so much story without being in your face like most superhero movies. It is definitely the best X-Men film, yes even better than Deadpool.
There is a point in Logan where you realize how much you’re going to miss this hero. Every X-Men movie fan hasn’t just watched the Wolverine character grow and evolve but has seen Hugh Jackman become older to the point where he has to stop playing Wolverine because it’s such a large role to carry. This resonates throughout the film as it’s core, how can one man go on through so much and keep coming back to give it his all. The Wolverine is now up there with Batman, Spider-man and Superman as one of the main superheroes that every kid wants to be. That in itself is such a weird thing because the character isn’t your typical save the day character and he doesn’t have a cool kid-friendly vibe, which is very obvious in this film. Yet Hugh Jackman has managed to bring Wolverine to life and show us one last time that this character means so much to fans everywhere. Logan is a huge testimony to the last 17 years that Jackman has been playing Wolverine. It is brutal, funny, smart, crazy, caring, memorable and most of all its the perfect Wolverine film. All these years later Wolverine has gone from one of the worst superhero films ever to Logan, which in my opinion is only beaten by The Dark Knight in terms of best superhero movie.
There are so many things that the film does that other films should learn from. One of these things is that Logan is how you do a Batman & Robin film well. The story of Wolverine and X-23, the young girl he must protect, is so well done that you don’t want either of them to be injured or hurt. You care as much about X-23, Laura, as you do about Wolverine. It’s the perfect portrayal of seeing Wolverine try not to care and him disagreeing that he needs help which makes the last third of the film so emotionally charged. The two of them can’t get along or on the same page until they have to. It shows Wolverine’s true colours and who he is inside, a man broken by time and loss. Wolverine is character who over the years has endured so much and gained so little and now towards the end he can finally find peace but he can’t accept it because he doesn’t know how to or even know what that peace is.
Logan is a showcase that includes a man destroyed by time and pain, a world gone to ruin by society, a mutant professor with a disease that anyone can get, a girl on the run with nowhere to hide from the evil that follows her, the story of a student and the professor that has been trying to save him and a hero who is hurt as he gets up again and again because to everyone in the world and to those watching he can never be kept down and always finds a way. This is shown in the beautiful cinematography of the film as well as the story, it is one of the best looking films I’ve ever seen from perfectly planned shots to the careful detail in colourgrading used. The film is so emotionally charged that you’re waiting for disaster happen at every change of the scene. You’re also looking for the point where it’ll end up being like every other superhero film, with a big villain who wants to destroy the world but that never happens. Instead of the film being about Wolverine saving the world, it is instead about people and how Wolverine has to save himself and others around him. Logan is a human story in a mutant world. X-Men is a comic book about racism, the struggles of minorities and fitting into society when you’re so different. That’s what it’s always been about and, for the first time, you truly feel that idea at the center of an X-Men film. It is the perfect ending to Hugh Jackman’s run as Wolverine and no one will ever be able to be seen as the Wolverine because no matter how good they are they will never be Jackman’s Wolverine. Our Wolverine. Seventeen years later and our Wolverine finally has the film he deserves and its a sweet finale.
VERDICT
Score: 5/5 – Logan is an amazing film, only beaten by The Dark Knight, it captures everything that fans want and everything that a superhero film needs. It’s emotional, funny and different, it will be remembered for years and years to come. The difference between Logan and the other X-Men movies is that they’re movies and this is a film. It’s on another level that takes a special kind of commitment to turn it into the masterpiece that it is. Thankyou Hugh Jackman you finally did it, you’ve been doing it all along by being the best character but, finally, the spotlight is on you and you’ve made history. Can’t thankyou enough for the effort you’ve put in and the amazing last film you’ve given to us.