Hugh Jackman Can Act?!
Iliked Logan. I truly did. However, in all honesty, it may not deserve the reverence it has been receiving. I’ve seen reviews comparing it to The Dark Knight, which is an insult to probably the greatest superhero movie of all time. Logan is the gritty, R-rated story of Wolverine, taking place in 2023. You can see the age on both Logan and Professor X, which was fresh and interesting, because I’ve never seen those characters as powerless as they were in this movie. The film is not a feel-good, light hearted endeavor. There are almost no moments in the movie where I felt comfortable in my seat, no time in which I felt complacent or safe with the character’s situation. I thought this was a nice way to put the audience in the character’s position of uncertainty, in a world where being a mutant was uncertain.
What I didn’t like about Logan was the absolute lack of explanation for any part of the film. Although there were some nice subtleties in how the film introduced topics, I thought that the blatant lack of information provided to the audience was a bit frustrating. There are things introduced in the movie that just felt like unnecessary plot devices. For example, a green drug was used, no explanation was given, and it had a bunch of impacts on the plot.
This movie is very obviously rated R, a rating necessary for the gritty, hardcore, not-so-comic-book feeling of this movie. The acting was shockingly good. If you told me after the previous Wolverine movies that the best X-men movie acting-wise was going to star Wolverine and a child actor I wouldn’t believe you, but I must admit the child actor was good, and Hugh Jackman can actually act. He challenges himself and imbues every scene with the past experiences of a person who lives forever.
Here’s how to enjoy this film: watch the trailer for this movie that uses Johnny Cash’s song Hurt, or just listen to that song on repeat until you’ve memorized the lyrics. Watch it in the movie theater while humming it in your head the entire time or wait for it to come out on Blu-ray and have that song playing in the background.
Most superhero movies try to go bigger. First, it was the town that needed saving, then it’s the city, world, universe, etc. It’s fun, but exhausting. This film however, switches it around, by focusing on individual characters. The focus on individuals is something found in more artful films, and I believe that’s why everyone is worshipping Logan as a great film.
The film is not a feel-good, light hearted endeavor.
