★★★½☆
28 February 2017
A movie review of LOGAN. |
"Seeing you like this breaks my damn heart," Pierce (Boyd Holbrook)
It is the end of an era. No matter the quality patchiness of the X-MEN franchise, this ending is an emotional sucker punch for those who have watched all 10 (including spin-offs) on the silver screen. The trailer hinted at the nihilism, and one simultaneously hoped for and dreaded it. Superhero movies have sunk into a rut of formulaic mediocrity, churning out bland spectacle that has the feel of endless revenue streams. LOGAN is a series exclamation point, which I hope other sequels take up.
It is the end of an era. No matter the quality patchiness of the X-MEN franchise, this ending is an emotional sucker punch for those who have watched all 10 (including spin-offs) on the silver screen. The trailer hinted at the nihilism, and one simultaneously hoped for and dreaded it. Superhero movies have sunk into a rut of formulaic mediocrity, churning out bland spectacle that has the feel of endless revenue streams. LOGAN is a series exclamation point, which I hope other sequels take up.
Who doesn't love a narrative ellipsis? Think THERE WILL BE BLOOD's decades long jump. 2029, mutants are on the endangered species list. In between DAYS OF FUTURE PAST's coda and this date, somehow the next stage of human evolution has not only sputtered but been a brief blip. No explanation is proffered. At first enticing, this ends up being a little frustrating. I'm not a fan of the spoon-fed, but we need more surely here? There is mention of the "Westchester incident", in which a mentally deteriorating Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) is said to have had an uncontrolled meltdown killing seven unnamed X-Men.
The school for the gifted ceases to exist and now Logan (Hugh Jackman) takes care of Charles in a makeshift cerebral blocker in a Mexican desert. The titular star is saving up to purchase a yacht to live out their remaining days on the ocean. Talk about modest plot drive. Of course, even such a pared down narrative thrust is waylaid, by off the grid scientists attempting to create mutant super-soldier children. One of who escapes, 11 year old Laura (Dafne Keen), and Logan very reluctantly takes her under his protection. Seventeen years of anti-hero non-desire to enter the fray shows a distinct lack of character development. LOGAN turns into an ultra-violent chase movie. After the rubbish previous Wolverine flicks, this is a noticeable step up in terms of action choreography and storytelling.
Logan, not answering to his alternate moniker, Wolverine, is also in a bad way. His healing powers have been reduced, and the beating he takes over 137 minutes is at times wince-inducing. Though, that is nothing compared to the punishment he dishes out. Professor X marshalling his fading powers holds the (endless) Reaver henchmen in check as Wolverine goes about dispatching them in cold blood, in close up, while they are physically frozen. The scene is shocking and joins others in which we watch children trained to kill do exactly that. There is not the feel of B-movie exploitation, rather the theme that violence begets violence.
At the press conference director James Mangold mentioned one of the film references was Clint Eastwood’s UNFORGIVEN. One wonders why that masterful Western is not used more as a cinematic touchstone for the aging brawler coming to terms with their life.
There is a touching father-son bond between Charles and Logan. Though the former is 90 years old, Wolverine is still about 50 years older (born in the 1880s) – so why this relationship is such is a little head-scratching. Is it an observation on wisdom and years not necessarily correlating?
Like the standouts from the X-MEN movies, LOGAN is soaked in melancholy at the repercussions of humankind’s fear of the different.
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