Logan

Logan is a film about what it’s like to get old. It’s gory, brutal and realistically portrayed, which makes it uncomfortably hard to watch. It’s not like a sci-fi laser is ripping through a house. Instead, it’s realistic and gritty. Watching an old man struggle to go to the bathroom is scarier than anything from the science fiction realm  simply because: it’s real.

Let me back up here.

Hi there! A few nights ago I watched the new movie, Logan. I have a lot of thoughts on the film. There are MANY things I think the movie did well and I wanted to take some time to discuss them.

For those of you who don’t know, Logan takes place in the X-men movie universe in the year 2029, that’s a few years after one of my favorite X-men movies, Days of Future Past. In this setting, all of the X-men are dead. Few mutants remain alive. The reason – a bit of a spoiler, so I wont’ get into that here (it’s revealed in the film very subtly, but well done).

Logan is getting old, which, for him is not something that should be happening. He is immortal after all, or supposed to be. Watching him get old is difficult as a viewer. We know him to be amazingly powerful to the point of being unstoppable, so watching his downfall is hard. He gets shot, bloody, damaged. He limps, he falls unconscious, he gets brutally injured and it all takes a toll. Part of what makes it so hard to watch is the brilliant makeup and effects, but I mainly attribute it to Hugh Jackman’s ace acting. You feel pain just by watching him. His eyes are red, really red from pain and crying, no easy feat for an actor to just pull out of thin air. He gasps for breath, limps, shrieks in pain, struggles to stand and it all seems so realistic, so well-executed.

Also getting old is Charles Xavier. His scenes are almost even harder to watch. Seeing someone struggle to remember where they are, struggle to move around, even struggle to go to the bathroom is hard. It’s hard because it’s real, it’s something that can actually happen to all of us.

Even some of the side characters, for example, a newly-introduced albino mutant character, seem so decrepit and dirty. The grittiness of it just makes everything seem so depressing. It’s also filmed entirely on location. I don’t think there was a single shot on a green screen that I can remember, which definitely gives it a different feel for a movie set in this universe.

On that note, this movie is rated R, which we have not seen yet from Wolverine. The R rating really works here and helps make the movie so horrifying. People are BRUTALLY dismembered. Every single stab tries to win the “goriest death” award. It’s visceral, but awesome.

I also think there are times when the R rating was abused a tad. There is absolutely no reason for a scene early on in the movie where a drunk woman reveals her boobs to the camera. This just seemed weirdly out of place. Part of me feels like they included that just because they could. It’s like saying “look what we can do that now that we’re R rated!”

But overall, as I mentioned, I think the R rating works in the movie’s favor. A lot of the grittiness and darkness wouldn’t have come through as well if the film was limited to what it could put out with a PG-13 rating.

My only real gripe with the movie is, surprisingly, when it tries to appeal to its base and offer something more X-men-ish. The main adversary is… well, a bit corny, though does provide for a  good and terrifying surprise. It’s a creative idea I suppose, and one I did not see coming, but I’m not sure it was the best choice, especially because this villain was introduced so suddenly and so randomly.

If you want to bring your kids to see a good movie about Wolverine, don’t choose this one. Definitely don’t choose this one. Not only is it too brutal, but I honestly don’t even think kids would enjoy it. The pace is slow and there isn’t as much action. As much as I hate the film, take your kids to see X-men Origins: Wolverine instead. That movie has a lot more explosions and fighting that kids like.

Overall, Logan is an awesome movie. It’s a smart movie, for sure, and scary to watch because of its realism. I don’t know if I would call it “the Dark Knight” of X-men movies like some other reviews have said, but it’s certainly a quality film.