"In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X somewhere on the Mexican border. However, Logan's attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are upended when a young mutant arrives, pursued by dark forces."
Leaving a movie theater with completely satisfied feelings is rare. After seeing Logan (2017) on the big screen I had one of these moments. Long gone are the child's play of some of the previous films where the Wolverine has appeared. Logan presents us a world with depressing present and future for mutants, cynical and messed up characters and a glimpse of hope for a better tomorrow.
Director James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, The Wolverine) has stated that he was granted full artistic freedom when making Logan. Most definitely the reason behind this was the success of Deadpool (2016) and Mangold's previous film the Wolverine (2013). One must have some serious talent to fully utilize this possibility. Fortunately director Mangold has that talent and makes the most out of Logan.
Logan is a violent piece of art full of wonderful moments ranging from warm and heartfelt to sorrow and depressing. Make no mistake, violent depiction is not a synonym for an outstanding movie but if used in a proper manner it can serve the story, characters and create a sense of actual threat. As a result of versatile emotions and violently depicted story the movie makes the viewer care and fear for its protagonists. This is exactly what many people have been waiting from a Wolverine movie and finally we got to see it on the big screen.
The structure of the story shares similarities with the best action movie of the 1990's. The movie is very atmospheric and balanced offering calm little moments before and after the storms. The action is organic to the story and is served in well thought portions. Logan is shot in a way that makes it feel like a western. The beautiful scenery is shown with longer shots and grounded direction. The character has always felt like one of the gunslingers of the past which makes me wonder how come it took seventeen years to make a film that does him justice?
Actors do a wonderful job with special credit given to Jackman (Logan) and Stewart (Xavier). Since the beginning (X-Men, 2000) they both have nailed their roles perfectly. Jackman plays Logan with ferocious intensity while Stewart shows us an crumbling Professor X with a grin. The newcomer Laura (played neatly by Dafne Keen) is the MacGuffin of the story. She brings vulnerability to the story and her interactions with Logan and Xavier fleshes out the characters. The only misstep I could nag about was the scarce amount of screen time given to our antagonists.
Logan is for the adults with focus on substance rather than style. It is a movie that is not afraid to show our favorite characters as weak, fragile and vulnerable. The film is hugely satisfactory and even holds some surprises in its sleeves. It is Hugh Jackman's swan song as the Wolverine and also his strongest performance to date as the titular character. Logan is a blockbuster smaller in scale and enormous in emotion. Wolverine's last appearance is a wonderful example that the way to create unforgettable films is to focus on character's and their story and make us care about what happens to them.
Five claws out of five.
