A review of the new X-Men movie “Logan”
This is the ninth movie in the X-Men franchise (I’ve seen them all) and the third of the stand-alone “Wolverine” films, but this really is an X-Men movie like no other. In characterisation, narrative, location and style, it stands apart but is entirely consistent with the others and brings the story to a most satisfying conclusion.
Set in 2029 when mutants are all but extinct and located in a bleached terrain on the Tex-Mex border, we find adamantium-clawed Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackson) and wheelchair-bound Charlers Xavier aka Professor X (Patrick Stewart) as we’ve never seen them before: fragile, failing, vulnerable and ultimately in terminal decline. In thespian terms, this raises the bar for both Jackman and Stewart who are able to deliver more nuanced performances than one usually finds in super-hero movies. They are being chased by the bad guys from Transigen in a fleet of heavy, black vehicles commanded by a metal-armed cyborg, so this is part a road movie (with elements of “Mad Max: Fury Road”) and part an elegiac western (with echoes of “Unforgiven” and clips from “Shane”).
But this is the most viscerally violent and outright bloody X-Men work of them all with perforated chests and rolling heads, not just from Wolverine and X-24 but also from 11 year old girl mutant Laura/X-23 (played amazingly by English-Spanish child actress Dafne Keen).
It’s 17 years since we first met the X-Men on the big screen and Jackman as Wolverine has appeared in them all. The three stand-alone Wolverine films have been “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009), “The Wolverine” (2013) and now (2017) “Logan” (note the human name). James Mangold directed the last two and this time originated the story and co-wrote the screenplay and he can be proud of a truly exciting and entertaining piece of work that is one of the very best in the franchise. Although possibly a litle too long, “Logan” opens strongly, it is well paced, and the ending is poignant yet uplifting. But. unlike most Marvel movies, there is no end credit scene – I told you it was different.