Review:
"Logan"
Release Date: March 3, 2017
Rating: R Running Time: 141 minutes Logan closes out Hugh Jackman’s 17-year tenure as Wolverine in a fit of berserker rage that was only hinted at in past X-Men adventures and his solo outings. Remember Wolverine’s brief but bloody rampage in X-Men: Apocalypse? That was nothing compared to what Logan must do to protect an ailing Professor Charles Xavier and the pre-teen mutant Laura Kinney in this second Wolverine sequel that’s directed by James Mangold. All notions of a PG-13 X-Men spinoff are shattered in the first few minutes, when Logan turns a group of carjackers into sushi. Heck, Logan stabs more people in the head with his claws that Gerald Butler did with his trusty knife in both Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen. What is all this in aid of? It’s 2029. An old, bitter, and alcohol-soaked Logan spends his days either driving a limo or helping to care for an in-hiding Xavier, who is played by Patrick Stewart. Without his meds, the sick Xavier experiences seizures that result in devastating psychic events around him. Logan’s efforts to keep Xavier safe from a world that believes he is dead are threatened when Laura Kinney enters his life. Known as X-23, Dafne Keen’s young mutant possesses the same strength and powers as Logan. She is on the run from her creators, who have bred mutants at a time when they are no longer born. On Logan’s trail: Boyd Holbrook’s part-cyborg Donald Pierce; Richard E. Grant’s scientist Zander Rice; and Stephen Merchant’s Caliban, a mutant who is forced by Pierce and Rice to track his friends Logan and Xavier. What follows is a superhero road trip that allows Logan and Xavier to spend copious hours contemplating the meaning of their lives and what the future may hold for them. If this sounds somewhat uneventful, it’s not. Mangold has learned from his experiences making The Wolverine, which spent too much time inside Logan’s head for its own good. Logan offers a perfect balance between action and reflection, with the narrative not driven by the chase but by the deep and complicated relationship that exists between Logan and his surrogate father, Xavier. They may bicker, and they may not share the same optimism in humanity, but the bond between Logan and Xavier has been special since their first meeting in 2000’s X-Men. But the franchise has always opted to put first the friendship and rivalry between Xavier and Magneto. With Magneto nowhere in sight in Logan—his fate remains unknown—Mangold presents the definitive study in contrasts between Logan and Xavier that has taken the franchise 17 years to present. Why does a loner such as Logan remain loyal to a telepath celebrated for embracing mutant and human alike? If Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey or Anna Paquin’s Rogue offered Logan love and compassion, Xavier serves as Logan’s conscience. Without Xavier, the Logan of the X-Men franchise would not have any connection to his fellow mutants. Sure, Logan goes off and roams when it suits him, but when Professor X calls, Logan is there is help him. This is never more evident in Logan. Xavier is in a bad state, and it is Logan who is there—initially with Caliban—to keep him safe and as well as possible. Logan isn’t happy about this but he knows it is the right thing to do, not just for the few of his kind who remain alive but also for the humans who believe Xavier is dead. While Logan and Xavier clash over and over again, whether they are in hiding or on the run, the mutual love and respect that they have for each other is undeniable. Jackman and Stewart seize upon this last opportunity to explore the relationship that has developed between Logan and Xavier over the course of time. While there’s certainly a sense of finality to be detected in the way Jackman and Stewart engage each other, there’s a vitality to their conversations that can be attributed to Logan’s intense focus on how they need each other now more than they did throughout the course of the franchise. Jackman exudes an exhaustion that comes with living a longer life without the prospect of death, but his commitment to protecting those in his charge is unbreakable. Stewart once again portrays Xavier as a symbol of hope, courage and enlightenment but this time he brings an illness-fueled crankiness to the professor that makes him shorter and more direct with Logan. Sometimes, this manifests in the few laughs to be found in Logan. The dynamic between Logan and Xavier is put to the test with the arrival of Dafne Keen’s Laura Kinney. Logan wants to put as much distance as possible between Xavier and Laura for fear it would put Xavier’s life in jeopardy; Xavier sees Logan and Laura as one and the same, and wants Logan to drive Laura to Eden, a mythical paradise for mutants that Logan does not believe exists. For much of Logan, Keen is quiet, intense, guarded. But when she unsheathes her claws, director James Mangold does not place any restraints on her. The steeliness in Keen’s eyes indicates she can be as vicious as Wolverine, and when she’s in the thick of battle, she is positively feral. There’s so much of Wolverine in X-23 that it prompts Logan to question what he once was, what he is now, and how he can help X-23 avoid the same mistakes he has made during his brutal extended life. Mangold also creates another mirror image for Logan, one that holds the potential for a horrifying future for X-23. This leads to a climax that mixes tragedy with a new hope. While Grant plays Rice as nothing more than your average crackpot scientist who wants to play God, Holbrook ensures his Pierce is less of a villain than a hired hand with a healthy respect for his quarry. Holbrook never hides his glee at being able to lock horns with Jackman. The 2029 of Logan resembles today as opposed to the harsh world of Days of Future Past. Much of the action occurs in the desert or in the forest, allowing Mangold to utilize an environment that feels familiar but definitely hostile. Like John Carpenter, Mangold knows how to give a futuristic thriller a strong western flavor. Not that Mangold, who previously directed the remake of 3:10 to Yuma, is interested in giving us an ending that allows his hero to ride off into the sunset. There is a price a man such as Logan must pay for a life build on violence, no matter his intentions. How Logan impacts future X-Men installments remain to be seen. Given Logan is set in the future, and that the X-Men franchise does not shy away from altering timelines and ignoring continuity to suit its narrative needs, we probably have not seen the last of Wolverine. Just Jackman as Wolverine. It's been a long and rewarding run for Jackman, and he exits the franchise that owes so much to him on a high and leaving us wanting more. Whether Stewart returns as Xavier is unclear—one minute he says he retired from the franchise, the next he's saying to open to returning to it. But, with the introduction of Keen as X-23, Logan feels just as much as a new beginning as it does the end of an era. Robert Sims Aired: March 2, 2017 Web site: http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/logan |
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