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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