By Mac Spain
Logan is a rather special film for two reasons… One because it’s supposedly Hugh Jackman’s last ever outing as Wolverine, a character he’s played now for almost 17 years! And two because it’s the first ever film to have a 15 rating, of which Hugh Jackman actually took a pay cut for. I’ve often thought to myself that a film which is centred around such a dark and brooding character as Wolverine should embrace that, and now with a 15 rating it can do exactly that.
The film begins by revealing to us a Wolverine that time has not been kind to, he’s broken down, physically and emotionally. He’s doing back alley drug deals to help get pills for Professor Xavier, who’s also seen better days. Circumstances unfold which end up forcing the two of them to transport this young girl across the US, it’s clear that there’s something important about her from the get go, and as time goes on the plot only begins to thicken. Logan is nothing at all like what we’ve seen from the X-Men films before, it’s deeply personal and brutally violent. Credit is most definitely due for the likes of 2016’s Deadpool, which seems to have proved that there is in fact a market for these darker and more adult friendly superhero films.
I can tell you now that when it comes to the fight scenes, it won’t just be the sight of limbs being torn off that makes them hard to watch. Wolverine is really starting to show his age and is by no means the unstoppable powerhouse he once was. I mean just imagine your dog getting sick and you pay for it to have treatment, but once you bring it home it’s never quite the same again. You get exactly the same kind of feeling with this! Without spoiling too much though, I will say that there is one scene in which Wolverine is pushed beyond breaking point, he sums up every last ounce of strength from within and the result is jaw droppingly awesome!
Logan is directed by James Mangold who’s most well-known for his work on the 2005 biopic Walk the Line, which chronicles the life of country music legend Johnny Cash. Mangold brings a very nice aesthetical touch to Logan and he almost has it feeling like a western, there’s even one scene where Professor Xavier and this little girl are sat down watching the film Shane from 1953. I’ve never been a massive fan of X-Men, although with that said even I found myself getting all emotional by the end of Logan. Hugh Jackman did a fantastic job reprising his role one last time and it’s true what they say…all good things must come to an end, but my what a perfect end it was 7.5/10
