Logan is the latest and also the last of the films for the Wolverine film series starring Hugh Jackman. This film comes directed by James Mangold who some may also know as the director who brought us The Wolverine (2013) (click to read our review here) or Walk The Line (2005). Logan also sees the return of Patrick Stewart to the role of Charles Xavier who fans do love to see and I think have missed seeing at the cinema recently.
I’ve decided not to spoil too much of the plot with this review as I think it’s much better for you all as viewers to go in without knowing anything at all about the film as I did when I went to go and see it. If you want to know nothing, skip the following paragraph.
I will say though that it’s essentially about Logan getting old, he’s been Wolverine for a long time and it’s been a pretty rough life. He’s having trouble healing as well as he used to and he’s contemplating his life and what to do. Professor X is in the same type of situation or worse and his very old now and his powers aren’t easy to control anymore. Logan is kind of the Charles’ carer and brings him medicine. Everything seems pretty depressing and bad for the two characters until a young girl in danger appears in their lives and is in need of help. It seems the two last X-Men left get one last mission.
As a comic book film, this one to me seems to be focused the most on character development than any comic book film I’ve seen in years. The Logan/Wolverine character gets I think the best treatment he could possibly get in a movie and this is actually really big because so many comic book movies just don’t seem to get the characters right (see Batman V Superman). This film I think does both the character justice, but should also please all the fans out there as well. Professor X also is interesting to see again, I’ve never seen an elderly version of him before and what they did in Logan was excellent. The film at some points may pull people in emotionally and there’s a lot of surprises in there I just didn’t see coming at all.
As as a comic book film, this I think is the most brutal and violent of many recent releases. We see Logan cut through a lot of people and I mean literally. We see the stabbing, we see the slashing and the director does not hide the savagery of the attacks at any point. From an action standpoint, Logan delivers more than I had ever expected. In comparison to the last film in the Wolverine series, this is a massive step up in violence level and I loved it. The tone and the gore level in Logan seemed just right, it took filmmakers many movies to get to this point and with the last in the series, I think they did, everything was perfect.
As far as the acting goes, Hugh Jackman knows exactly what to do with his character, he’s been playing him for so long now and just never disappoints. I feel I can tell that the actor has an appreciation for who his character is and also what his character is and I think it’s this which helps him to deliver a great performance every time. It was great to see Patrick Stewart again as Charles and while he’s not as prominent in the film as other characters, he is memorable, particularly with some of the more emotional scenes in the film. There’s also a young actress in this film, Dafne Keen, she plays Laura who is who Logan is trying to protect, she’s excellent, especially in the more violent scenes. Boyd Holbrook played the antagonist in the film and was also fairly enjoyable as well.
As a fan of X-Men films and the Wolverine series, which has not always been perfect along the way, I wasn’t sure how good Logan might be. Sure it had a great trailer, but that’s not always a sign of a great film. I have to say though that as a fan, I was more than pleased with what I saw in this movie and felt that out of all the Wolverine films, this one handled the character in the best way possible. The action scenes and the change of tone to a more violent viewing experience, with a lot of slashing, cut limbs and blood was a great idea and made everything so much more impactful and also enjoyable. There’s not many action films out there that also have decent character development as well as great acting and Logan has all of that. If this is Hugh Jackman‘s last film as Wolverine, I will miss him in the role, he’s been great!
