Thursday, March 9, 2017

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: LOGAN




The Quick of It -
Truth be told, I am a DC fan.  I will choose DC over Marvel in most cases.  But I am also a Marvel fan, crazy as it sounds.  They have their good moments.  Most of the X-MEN movies for me would not be among those ‘good moments’.  You see, I am partial to the darker, grittier elements of storytelling, and DC delivers.  Marvel likes to keep things on the lighter side, which is fine and perfectly acceptable.

For LOGAN, the beginning should be where this starts, the first sightings of Jackman.  X-MEN (2000) was a ‘promising’ beginning.  Hugh Jackman cast as Wolverine was out of left field for most fans but proved to be an excellent choice.  And, no one would dispute Patrick Stewart as an older Professor X was a perfect casting.  They became the centerpieces to the X-Men Universe.  But I had one problem.  If you have read past reviews, you may have heard I was not a fan of Ian McKellen as Magneto.  Great Gandalf, just not Magneto.   


The following two films began the swirling spiral down the pooper drain.  X-MEN 2 was a bump in the road, one that almost derailed the franchise by itself.  If it were not for the introductions of Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford), the movie was barely edible for me, a very bland delivery.  Then you have X-MEN: THE LAST STAND.  I was thankful for the title, as it indirectly showed they knew they screwed the pooch.  Only the special effects carried the film to any semblance of quality.  Finally of the X-Men group films, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, his insertion into the new guard was just not fulfilling to me, as he was there to help raise the level of interest to make money.  His role was minimal as an individual as character growth goes, just a driving force to move the story along.

Then, to make all my readers cringe, I liked X-MEN ORGINS: WOLVERINE.  I didn’t mind the Deadpool blunder, just went with the flow and enjoyed the action.  The cast and the script alone made the film worth watching at least once.  Yes, I will say things that will piss you off.  Then, THE WOLVERINE was the first opportunity for the studios to start branding that R Rating on Marvel projects.  This was director James Mangold’s first encounter with the Wolverine.  Another movie that divided fans, but I was still onboard and enjoyed the film.  An R Rating would have made it much better, though.


Now we have LOGAN.  This was a step in the right direction, letting the story dictate the rating.  I could not have been more thrilled with the results.  Based on box office, seems the consensus.  The writing is tighter, and they made the right decisions along the way.  A major example was the choice not to film the ‘Westchester Incident’ (for those that have seen the film).  Mangold decided to leave it as a background thread for character development.  Congrats on making the right decision. 


The casting could be summed up with just one individual, Dafne Keen (from ‘The Refugees’) as Laura.  This little girl may be forever branded as the little Wolverine but she crushes it.  Her intensity and subtle delivery makes this film climb to an epic level.  I am trying to avoid spoilers, so can only highlight so much here, but she imparted a particular maturity and intelligence you wouldn’t expect.


The rest of the film is nothing more than a full augmentation of the core material being delivered (a Wolverine inside joke).  The cinematography of John Mathieson (GLADIATOR, 47 RONIN, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN) and soundtrack put together by Marco Beltrami, a composer who has branched across genres, leaves nothing wanting.  Everything feels in sync, no one trying to overshadow another or the story.  The sets were limited by the story, thus they avoided the temptation to make everything appear on a grander scale, and the music had the opportunity to be more distracting than complimenting the characters and scenes.  Instead, you have the sense that everyone was on the same page, and in the end makes for better storytelling.

The one problem I had continues to be the Achilles’ heel of Marvel - bad guys.  Sorry, there was nothing here to impress me.  Boyd Holbrook as the main antagonist Pierce did little to amp up a sagging Universe when it comes to villains.  He does a fine job and his haughtiness was faultless.  But, this and the ‘other’ added baddies just were copouts and stereotype insertions.  There is a whole Universe to pull ideas from, and they failed me.


As blasphemous as it may sound, LOGAN could be considered the lovechild of Marvel and DC.  This formula now has a proven track record, grittier (DC) and with heart (Marvel).  You only have to reference the Marvel Netflix shows – ‘Daredevil’, ‘AKA Jessica Jones’, and ‘Luke Cage’.  The real tragedy here is they final get on board with the R Rating a little too late in Jackman’s run as Wolverine, which was the only way you should do it in the first place.

Grade: A

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