Bringing an end to Hugh Jackman’s 17-year-long reign as the mutant we adore, Logan begins with a sense of an ending. Set in 2029, age is finally starting to take its toll on Wolverine. Based on two of the most iconic storylines from the comics, Old Man Logan and X-23, Logan had a lot to live up to and it is safe to say that James Mangold handled it with great finesse.
Aside from Wolverine himself, it was painful to watch Professor Charles Xavier deal with his old age. Xavier, the most powerful telepath, has developed a neurodegenerative disease, causing him to have seizures which prove catastrophic to his surroundings. Needless to say, he’s a ticking psychic time-bomb, ready to paralyse anyone and everyone around him. On the contrary, it was hilarious to hear him swear like Logan does. It was something that has mostly been missing from the X-Men movies.
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Logan did not waste a single opportunity to exploit its R-rated tag. There’s a lot of blood and gore (at par with Game of Thrones). The violence only makes the action more thrilling to watch and sometimes, might even want to make you shield your eyes from the screen. It is amazing how at nearly 50, Hugh Jackman can still kick some serious ass on the battlefield.
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Jackman’s final time on screen was undeniably his best one. He’s delivered some powerful performances in shades of sarcasm, rage, and grief. However, his performance is fairly modest against the likes of Patrick Stewart. Given that it is also Stewart’s last time portraying the beloved Professor X, he truly outdid himself in this one, setting a new high for James McAvoy. Dafne Keen, the actress who plays Laura Kinney aka X-23, was quite the shocker. For an 11-year-old, she seems to grasp the importance of subtle glances and expressions that talk much louder than words; important in her case as she hardly has any dialogues.
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Laura’s relationship with Wolverine is much deeper than it seems. Given that she’s a genetic clone of the three-clawed beast, she’s his daughter in more ways than one. She’s the spitting image of Logan when it comes to the way in which she deals with emotion. Her impatience too seems to be inherited from her biological “daddy”.
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The plot was a bit disappointing as it is very predictable, however, everything else in Logan seems to make it work. Perhaps it is also a good thing as nearly everything you expect from the movie gets delivered. It is blissfully funny when it needs to be but, essentially, it is a tragic movie. Jackman’s last lines in the movie are connotative and will break your heart.
Logan truly is the Wolverine film every Marvel fan has always deserved. The film was a great boost to the degrading franchise proving yet again that, in the end, the X always stands.
