[Movie Review] Logan (2017)

Logan is a 2017 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman. The film is the tenth installment in the X-Men film series, as well as the third and final Wolverine film following X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and The Wolverine (2013). It is directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Frank and Michael Green from a story by Mangold, and also stars Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant and Dafne Keen. The film follows a past-his-prime Logan undertaking a final adventure in a dystopian future.

In March 2014, Jackman signed on to star as Logan in what is intended to be his final portrayal of the character after having played the role for 17 years.

Hence if you like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, this is the last time he will be playing this role in the big screen. Likewise, Patrick Steward also announced he will be playing Professor X for one last time in Logan.

After this film, two extremely talented actors who are literally the real-life versions of the comic book superheroes they played will be retiring from their respective X-men roles. A lot of X-men movie fans will be flocking to the theatres just to see these two guys play their favourite superheroes on the big screen one last time. I am one of them.

From the trailer, you can tell that this final Wolverine film is very different from the usual superhero genre movies:

First off, it is dead serious. It is more of a dramatic, bordering on arthouse type of movie than the usual entertaining popcorn variety. At some point, the film even felt a little too draggy and serious for me.

Nonetheless, the final performances from Jackman and Steward were masterful and soulful, carrying the story along. There were actually not many appearances of fanciful superhero or super villain characters in the movie. The characters are dressed like normal people. Wolverine is old, tired and weak while Professor X suffers from dementia. Logan must be the most un-superhero of superhero movies!

There is a lot of very realistic blood and gore in Logan, earning the film a M-18 rating in Singapore for it’s liberal use of coarse language and violence. It is not a superhero movie for the whole family, but for adult comic book fans, much like Deadpool (2016), which also earned a M-18 rating in Singapore.

In fact, there are rumours floating around that there may be a Deadpool and Wolverine crossover movie in the pipeline, but so far, Jackman had been adamant that Logan will be the last time he plays Wolverine.

Unlike the Deadpool movie which is peppered with corny jokes and have various entertaining moments, Logan is serious from start till end. It is not a conventional superhero movie and the critics love it.

The film generally stays true to the characterisation of Wolverine, bringing out the flavours of his mysterious background and savage, moody personality. Jackman is very convincing as an old superhero who is passed his sell-by date. The film will take you on a tremulous emotional roller-coaster ride to humanise Wolverine, one last time.

And what a character he is, beyond just being a superhero.

Logan opens in Singapore cinemas today. Go catch it if you want to see Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Patrick Steward as Professor X for one last time on the big screen!