Warning: Spoilers for the X-Men films follow.
For the past few years, I have been an earnest consumer of comic books, one of the nebulous forms of entertainment. Specifically, I have taken a liking to Marvel comics, bland as they may often be. I have always been partial especially to the Marvel’s X-Men, especially as written by Chris Claremont back in the 80s. Recently, some of Marvel’s releases have been absolutely dismal, exemplified by works made during Chuck Austen’s tenure as writer; others, like Brian Michael Bendis’s works, have been simply mediocre. As a result, I have been less excited for X-Men related releases in the recent past, and I have so far declined to read the famous story on which Logan is based, Old Man Logan.
Its comic inspiration aside, this film gets at the heart of the X-Men mythos. X-Men stories have always been about the oppressed, in realistic situations and losing, kept down by a force that fears and misunderstands them. James Mangold, director of Logan, understands this well, and has crafted a heart-wrenching tale of abject misery and despair punctuated by splashes of exciting action and great character.
A few minutes into the film, the scene in which Logan is forced to fend off a gang of youngsters attempting to steal his rims is a clear demonstration that this film is far different from those preceding it in the X-Men series. From the outset, the film does not hide Logan’s age or futility, showing his loss of quickness and his slowed healing with the scene, featured in the trailer, of him at the sink. It was refreshing to see this take on the character, as all too often it seems Wolverine (Logan’s superhero name) is too powerful, warranting a contrived plot point to take him out of the action. Here, his age works well as a check on his abilities, and it makes sense how he can both survive for most of the film and still constantly be outmatched by many lesser opponents.
Logan is aided by Laura, a young child with very similar abilities to his own. He is originally reluctant to aid her, but is egged on by an aging Charles Xavier, played brilliantly by Patrick Stewart. For that matter, most performances in the movie are moving, delicate portrayals of characters all too often reduced to one-dimensionality by the demands of the modern superhero film. Hugh Jackman, as Logan, flaunts the same depth that he did in Les Miserables, adding true angst and a strong sense of character to a man who has been long defined by his meaningless brooding and random acts of violence. To be sure, the acts of violence are still present here, but they fit much more organically into the plot than in previous X-Men films, providing even more fodder for the sadness and hopelessness present in the 2029 setting. The character who most stands out during these sequences is without a doubt Laura, the young mutant who displays shocking amounts of agility and fighting chops, bolstered by a stellar performance from young actress Dafne Keen. Keen’s best quality in this film is her ability to portray emotion through solely facial expression, as Laura is silent for much of the film. The strengths of the film are without a doubt in the areas of acting, action, and character development.
The main qualm I had with this film was its lack of an impressive villain. In fact, I would be reluctant to identify the main villain of the film if asked, as there are multiple characters who could be considered to occupy this role. What the film does do well in this area is to delegate each task of villainy to separate beings, but on their own each is not well-developed enough to truly add to the gravitas that the film most certainly has. I will not go into great depth here for the sake of not spoiling the entire plot, but the villain situation seemed jumbled. This has been a problem for the X-Men franchise in the past, as it has relied on Magneto as a villain; this plot point was used in X-Men: The Last Stand, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse, and while Magneto helped the heroes at the end of First Class and X2, he returned to his villainous ways afterwards.
As I’m sure many readers know, Logan is the last X-Men film for both Jackman and Stewart. Mangold and the writers do a fantastic job of sending them off, and pay homage to the comics in both subtle and obvious ways. I did indeed enjoy the brief glimpses of comic books within the film, and the new art by Quesada was well done, harkening back to the glory days of Marvel and the X-Men. I was very pleased with the refreshing decision to include only Logan and Charles from the X-Men franchise: this choice allowed the film to focus effectively on their respective characters as well as Laura. In truth, this is by far the best X-Men film to date, and should be seen by all who can stomach violence and tragedy.