Photo credit: comingsoon.net
Here are a few of my thoughts on the movie, Logan. It’s super difficult to avoid spoilers since this is a movie seeing the end of two iconic characters from the Marvel universe (or, one of the multiverses, to be more specific.)
Logan, The Wolverine, goes on a journey, both physical, and emotional, to help out a girl, who has similar abilities to his own. At the same time, however, he’s suffering from a side-effect of his own. His body is poisoned and slowly deteriorating due to the adamantium in it, which is a material known to be lethal to him.
He’s battling not only those after the girl but his inner demons. He’s on a quest, however reluctantly, for redemption. He’s not alone, however. Charles Xavier, Professor X himself, is also along for the ride. His body is also, coincidentally, slowly deteriorating, with dangerous effects. His mind, his super weapon, is breaking down, and that’s a huge risk to all who are near him but in a much larger area. Logan’s got a tough set of tasks on his plate: protect his mentor, the child, and the larger world around him.
That’s the setting for this action-packed adventure. This Wolverine is not the spandex-clad one from some of the comics (and one of my favorite cartoons as a teen.) Jackman’s Logan is a much darker, grittier almost anti-hero. Logan’s far from perfect, and, as an artificially-created mutant, so aware of what can be wrong about weaponizing super-humans.
He’s also, in a way presented with a way to not make up for his misdeeds, but to help another with the potential to become like him to understand that it’s the choices made that matter most, and not how one’s “created,” or what purpose their creators might have intended.
I thoroughly enjoyed the action. It’s a movie with a long trail of sometimes grisly fatalities. Logan’s not the most graceful fighter, but he’s hard to take down. The only one who Logan needs to fear is himself. He’s got an antagonist here that’s human, but “enhanced” in a manner more like what’s sure to come in the near future.
Logan is certainly an action adventure, but it’s also a story of redemption. It’s easily a contender for the best comic-based movie, ever. It’s also an excellent story. I have not seen all of the Hugh Jackman Logan/Wolverine films yet, but it made sense. I feel like I’m OK at this point.
If you like action movies, see this movie.
If you like westerns, see this movie (if you like Shane, especially.)
If you like Hugh Jackman and/or Patrick Stewart, see this movie.
If you like stories of dark heroes seeking redemption, see this movie.
If you have little ones, get a sitter and see this movie.
You should probably see this movie.