THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
An end of an era is when something special stops happening. Before Walt Disney purchased 20th Century (Fox) Studios, we understood that the X-Men franchise was reaching its end when Hugh Jackman stopped playing his iconic role of the Wolverine in 2017’s Logan.
PLOT
The film takes place in a fictional 2029, where mutants have become extinct as there hasn't any born in the prior 25 years. The Wolverine himself, James 'Logan' Howlett resides in El Paso, Texas, working as a limo driver, but his age is getting the best of him as his healing ability is failing. He is also taking care of an elderly Charles Xavier who is suffering dementia. His seizures inadvertently cause him to have psychic attacks towards those around him, which resulted in killing the X-Men the year prior. The only one who helps Logan is Caliban, a pale skinned mutant whose ability is to track other mutants but is allergic to sunlight. He encounters a Mexican woman named Gabriela (Elizabeth Rodriguez), who begs for his help. Another man named Donald Pierce encounters him and requests him to call if he encounters Gabriela again, because he is looking for her. Logan does see her again, but he doesn't call Pierce because she offers thousands of dollars for him to take her and her daughter Laura to North Dakota. If they reach cross the Canadian border, they can find refuge and won't be found by those looking for them. He chooses to take the offer because he needs the money to buy a 'Sunseeker' boat, so that Charles can be away from others. When he goes back for her after checking on Charles, he finds her dead. Upon returning to his home, Pierce finds him and demands for Laura. The child reveals herself as she tosses a pipe and hits his head. Her presence acknowledges that she stowed away in Logan's limo. Charles greets her excitingly, because he has been communicating with her via his telepathy for a while. Logan has Caliban leave the concussed Pierce out in the desert. But just as he does that, Pierce gets back up and is aided by his army of Reavers, soldiers with cybernetic limbs just like him. They return to the house and pin Logan down, hoping to get Laura. She is however able to defend herself because she has adamantium claws of her own: two per hand, one per foot. She is able to run away with the two mutants and move forward with the trip. Pierce forces Caliban to track down the group. During the trip, Logan looks through Gabriela's phone and discovers more of her and Laura. He finds documented footage that Gabriela worked as a nurse for Alkali-Transigen, a biotechnological corporation ran by Zander Rice. Laura is one of many children that were born in a lab, part of an experiment of mutant genetics. They were conceived by anonymous mothers and fused with mutant DNA but were trained to become super soldiers. This project would be deemed a failure as every child sustained too much emotion. When a secondary project known as "X-24" was deemed a success, Rice ordered for them all to be euthanized but Gabriela orchestrated their escape, and designated 'Eden' as a safe point to Canada. Because Charles watched some of the footage, he believes Laura could be Logan's daughter as she similar abilities as him. They first stop at a casino/hotel in Oklahoma City to get new clothes. When getting a new car, Logan does read Laura's file and discovers that he is indeed her biological father, as his DNA was used on her. He also ends up believing that Eden could be fake as it is the name of a fictional location of an X-Men comic book; The given coordinates are on the comic as well. When he returns to his hotel room, he finds the Reavers have caught up but as they attack Charles, he has another seizure that causes a psychic attack. He kills every Reaver in his room before he can give him his medicine. After this, they continue moving. They encounter the Munson family after a traffic accident and when Logan offers his help, they give him gratitude by inviting him and his group to dinner. They do enjoy themselves and are convinced to spend the night, insisted by Charles. After he and Laura are tucked in, Logan goes to help the family matriarch Will (Eriq La Salle) fix their water supply, which was tampered with by enforcers of a corporate farm. When they encounter him, Logan scares them off when he intervenes. Back at the farm, Charles wakes up openly confesses that he remembers what he did to the X-Men, expressing regret and remorse. He thinks he is sharing this with Logan, but little did he know he was talking to his perfect clone X-24, who quickly stabs him with his own claws. Laura attempts to fight him but he is able to pin her down. He kills Will's wife Kathryn (Elise Neal) and son Nate (Quincy Fouse) as he leaves. When Will returns, he is wounded as well. Logan checks on Charles after discovering his clone, but he finds him barely breathing. X-24 attempts to return to his master Rice, who caught up with Pierce, but stops when encountering the same enforcers from earlier. Caliban, who was able to track them, makes the sacrifice by setting off two grenades in Pierce's van, which the latter and Rice survive. After Charles takes his last breath, Logan fights his clone but is outmatched. Before X-24 could finish him, a wounded Will runs him over before he drops dead. After this, Logan and Laura keep moving. Once Charles is buried, Logan passes out and Laura takes him to the closest hospital. When he wakes up, a doctor tells him that something is poisoning his body, implying the adamantium. She starts speaking to him since she was mostly silent during the trip, encouraging him to keep going forward with the trip. Logan only chooses to do so at this point because he wants to prove her wrong. They make it to the coordinates and find the other mutant children Laura knew, meaning that the comic book was a coincidence. Logan recovers in their cabin, being given small doses of a serum from the lab that'll help him heal. Logan turns down the money originally offered, as he has no need of it anymore without Charles. During this time, he even admits to his daughter that he contemplated suicide, carrying an adamantium bullet around. The night before the children make way to the border, Laura is distraught that Logan won't accompany them, believing he doesn't care about her. The following morning, he wakes up noticing that they've already left, but notices a drone nearby. Looking through a telescope, he discovers that Transigen has caught up and are about to catch them all. This only happened because Pierce found the coordinates written on a picture Laura left behind. He than makes his way towards the conflict once he takes entire batch of the serum, which temporarily boosts his strength and enhances his healing. By the time it wears off, he meets Rice who admits he’s responsible for mutants going extinct after he developed a virus within food supplies. The Wolverine quickly shoots him but before he could get to Pierce, he fights X-24 again. The other mutant children bury Pierce alive with their respected abilities whereas another child named Rictor (Jason Genao) attempts to bury the clone with one of the Reaver vehicles, as his power is to manipulate & control all forms of rock and earthly substances (Geokinesis). This doesn’t last long as he quickly breaks free and continues going after them. He impales Wolverine on a log and before he could keep stabbing him, Laura takes his life by shooting him with the adamantium bullet. Before Logan draws his last breath, he tells his daughter to not be the weapon she was made to be. Before she departs with her friends, the film ends with Laura marking an X on her father’s grave out of honor that he was the last X-Man standing.
THOUGHTS
If there is anything I regret in life as a cinephile, I would say how I failed to see this in theaters during its theatrical run in 2017. However by the time I got around it, I was left speechless. Director James Mangold spectacularly concluded the arc of an iconic character just as we wanted. He knew how special Wolverine was throughout the franchise since he directed the 2013 predecessor, but it was here where it felt that it was done just right. The X-Men franchise remained PG-13 for the sake of getting younger viewers invested but after the surprise success of 2016’s Deadpool, it set the tone that those young viewers from 2000 grew up and it was time for the franchise to do the same. So when seeing every violent action sequence from beginning to end, it was amazing to see and impossible to ignore because it was exactly what we wanted for so long. Even if you watch the Noir version of it, it’s just as investing. I can’t say who was the best composer for this franchise because it'd be hard to decide, but Marco Beltrami is a close call because he helped us feel every emotion the characters were feeling, while also finding a way to excite us. What is making this film so memorable as years progress is how it fits in as a western. The genre normally has the kind of protagonist that can be a semi-nomadic wanderer who has a weapon as an everyday tool of survival. In a way, our titular lead can be just that. The franchise's main message throughout most films focused on equal rights/diversity, while this film gave us something different this time. What struck me is how Logan taught: how to accept responsibility, the power of self sacrifice, finding wisdom and owning up to mistakes. These messages are all taken notice due to a great cast depicting it through these incredible characters. This particular portrayal of Wolverine by Hugh Jackman will forever be his best of all within the first seventeen years he played this character. Inspired by the Old Man Logan comic, we see him at his most grizzled and emotionally distant due to the hell has been through in his lifetime. When he looks after his mentor Xavier, I see it as the right example of how it is right to help people who have helped you in the past, something that everyone should be emulating. The sacrifice of his life to save the children also had me understand how a self sacrifice can be gratifying, but it's something that won't ever be regretful. His death is going to remain heartbreaking because as he catches his last breath and holds onto his heart (Laura's hand), after hundreds of years of living, he finally understood how important it is to love a family. Hence his last words, 'So this is what it feels like'. Seeing Jackman also play X-24 was terrifying to witness because he is just Wolverine who lives only off of rage. It is a common trope where a superhero must fight a foe with similar abilities but in a way, it made me realize that sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. Sir Patrick Stewart gave us a shocking depiction of Charles Xavier that we've never thought we'd see in one of his last outings. His illness has made him fragile but unintentionally dangerous. Despite this, he still found a way to be wise. He knew how alone Logan was because of the burden he became and wanted him to find joy again. He insisted on joining the Munson family because he wanted him to feel life again and in a way, he did. His death is also heartbreaking to witness due to the fact that he couldn't reconcile with Logan as he hoped for and when the latter is unable to say much after burying him, he knew it too. Breakout Dafne Keen is phenomenal as Laura or as famously nicknamed as X-23. I always knew what a badass the character would be in the big screen after debuting through the animated series X-Men Evolution. It satisfies me that the actress succeeded in displaying her as a confused child, one who can be full of rage like her father but still creates maturity. Seeing her bond with the Munsons gave such warmth because they're the first to truly see her as an equal without knowing who she is. It was interesting of her to quote the movie Shane to honor her father because in a way, she is like the characters from the respected western. Logan and Charles were hoping she would live peacefully like Shane told Joey to grow to be strong, but Laura went from Joey to Shane. She was trained to be strong physically and by the end of the story, she is now mentally strong as she must ride off into the sunset on her own. I loved Stephen Merchant as Caliban because he accurately portrays the mutant as highly humble, whereas the version from X-Men: Apocalypse is plain greedy. Seeing him try to defend his friends proved how selfless he was. The actor was a whole different persona compared to other comedic roles, and it's amazing how he delivered. Boyd Holbrook was fascinating as Donald Pierce because of the charm he brought to the antagonist. He is someone who has his own fascination towards mutants but hunting them down is still his job and must not hesitate with it, which leads to hating his ruthless actions. So it goes without saying that seeing him getting killed by the kids he tortured was satisfying. Last but not least, Richard E. Grant surprised me with his given time of the sophisticated Zander Rice. He may have not lived by the end of the story, but he stood out for being a villain that succeeded in the long run because the fact that he basically wiped out mutants and no one figured it out is shocking. He in a way is a lot like Stryker because of the idea to control mutants, but he still remained intimidating due to how smooth and collected he spoke in comparison to the other antagonist. I will never stop loving this movie but despite all the praise I've given, there are things I can't stop thinking about. First off, I know Logan is depressed at the beginning of the story but why the hell would he drink at the cemetery? The people he was driving for could've noticed and he'd be fired, losing the Sunseeker in the progress. And how come he didn't take precautions coming home after meeting Donald? The guy mentioned he knows where he lives, so he should've circled the area after opening the gate. I get that Gabriela begs him for his help because if he's involved, they have a better chance of getting there safely but if she had 20 grand on her, why didn't she get a new car? She said Donald recognized her car so had she bought it, she likely could've made the trip without Wolverine. I thought that the documented videos by Gabriela was misplaced for me not because of how no one stopped her from recording based on what's shown but how it looks like she edited the whole thing as if she was gonna blow the whistle. Maybe it was meant to say how Logan was browsing through various recorded videos but we don't know that. Also, how did Donald not find her phone? I get that he left quickly to look for Laura but he should've looked harder because that was so amateur of him. If he didn't do it, then his goons are amateur. What was definitely unrealistic was how he was able to get the drop on Caliban without the latter hearing him. I know you want to raise the stakes if the villain gets back up, but it would've been realistic if Donald concussed him before getting the gun back. What doesn't make sense to me is how no one recognizes Charles at the casino when he is labeled a weapon of mass destruction. For someone as dangerous as him, someone should remember the guy who founded the X-Men. Another scene that felt misplaced for me is how Pierce says 'flank them farmers' when X-24 already killed them. It looked as if it was originally intended to come slightly early on before the said carnage but got put where it doesn't make sense at all. And lastly, why and how the hell did one of the Reavers find the serum bottle Logan dropped? That was far away and he went out of his way to find an answer to find an answer on why the Wolverine caught up, I mean that just makes no sense. I'd prefer hearing Pierce jinx it than see him get actual confirmation. However, I do think you can still enjoy this movie for what it is once you ignore all of these flaws. In short, Logan will remain one of the best superhero movies ever due to being a definitive conclusion to a respected franchise and being smarter than one would think. If you loved the past X-Men movies, watch this one now.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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