My highly spoilerific Logan review

By Luke Jones

Spoilers ahead!

I wasn’t a fan of Logan when I first watched it.

The 10^th(!) instalment in the X-Men franchise is a challenging watch. It rejects many of the things we expect from a modern superhero movie; there is no third act CGI-fest, scenes are paced slower, no in-jokes to keep the fans happy. It is a dour, brutal watch, and an understated climax to Hugh Jackman’s 17-year Wolverine career.

I left the cinema disappointed, particularly in the wake of mostly positive reviews. However, it might have taken me a few days but now I get it; Logan is the most revolutionary superhero movie since Tim Burton’s original Batman.

That isn’t to say it’s the best, or even my favourite (the macabre excess of Batman Returns is likely to always reign supreme). Yet Logan has broadened the horizon of what a superhero movie can be. It is the first mainstream superhero film that is unabashedly adult, not just in terms of violence and bad language (1998’s Blade got there way in advance) but in tone. This is a movie that doesn't just feature death and aging; they are placed front and centre, acting as the lens through which some of the most beloved characters in the X-Men universe are examined. It's an Alexander Payne film that just happens to feature a guy with metal grafted to his skeleton.

Director James Mangold rejects superhero cliché, both in execution (the soundtrack avoids thumping symphonia, while CGI is used sparingly) and theme. Superhero films have dealt with aging before; The Dark Knight Rises features a past-his-prime Bruce Wayne, but where that film paid lip service to Batman’s injuries, Logan allows both of its leads to explore the aging process in a way relatable even for non-superheroes. When was the last time you saw a lead character help someone else to the toilet in a mainstream blockbuster?

I was initially distanced by the strong violence, with some scenes coming across as gratuitous (picture Edward Scissorhands trying to unscrew a bottle of ketchup and you’re some way there). With hindsight however, the violence is used to make a statement in the vein of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. Scenes ramp up the tension, inviting the audience to cheer Logan to unleash his Wolverine persona. When the violence does come it is shocking; one memorable scene has Logan slicing his way through a succession of anonymous henchman, each frozen to the spot and fully aware of what is happening to them. The effect is uncomfortable and in stark contrast to other blood-free, yet still highly violent, superhero films.

As for Jackman and Stewart, I fully expected their final runs as Wolverine and Professor X respectively to feature glorious and heroic last stands. Instead their characters are deeply flawed, making mistakes that are often rooted in selfish motivations. Where lesser films would allow for redemption, in Logan the consequences are violent and often fatal. This is most apparent during the film’s midpoint, where Logan and Professor X find themselves staying the night with a mid-Western family. Both characters know this is a bad idea, yet the former is desperate for one night of normality and the latter is willing to indulge his dying mentor. The decision proves costly, resulting in the massacre not only of a main character but the entirety of the host family. The build-up and fallout of this sequence is extraordinary; it’s like if the family of August: Osage County drank too much moonshine and had a shoot-out after dinner. Worse still, Professor X is swiftly despatched himself, his final words mumbled and incoherent and with the knowledge that his actions led danger to the house of his hosts.

Both this death and that of Logan’s are about as far from an ‘heroic’ death as it is possible to get. When Logan’s own death comes it is without fanfare, the result of a fight which he does not win and where, owing to the talents of those he is trying to save, he is possibly not needed. It’s a far cry from the gymnastic Statue of Liberty fight sequence back in the very first X-Men, and again, a highly unorthodox way to treat a character’s death in a superhero movie.

While Logan stands apart from historical superhero movies, it also stands apart from the current trend for connected cinematic universes. The presence of the past X-Men films is felt in Logan, but never to the extent that it would prevent this movie from standing alone and telling its story. This is neither better or worse than the approach taken by Marvel Studios, where part of the joy is seeing how its characters play off one another in a coherent world, but it allows for directors like James Mangold to fully realise their vision and deliver offbeat one-shots. Perhaps this will be the most exciting legacy of Logan, a brave new future where auteurs can use larger budgets to realise their unique ideas without worry of upsetting the apple cart (David Fincher’s Batman, anyone?). Until then, I can just enjoy what will probably be 2017’s best film about a man with metal grafted to his skeleton.