Logan

From the first announcement of its title alone, we could tell that we were in for something different from the norm in the comic book genre. Logan is a title that exhumes such confidence, and treats its audience with a level of respect not often seen in this day and age in which such mouthful, hand-holding movie titles as "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" and "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" exist. Logan. It's simple, tells us everything we need to know about the movie on a tonal level before it even begins, and has faith in the movie going audience to know that this is a movie about the X-Men character Wolverine. So already, this movie had won a level of respect from me before I had even seen it. And as to the actual movie, that respect for the audience prevails all through the movie itself, and it more than earns its audience's respect back in return.

I initially wasn't sure if I even wanted to write a review for this film, as I feel that most everyone already appears to be more or less on the same page about it, so I wasn't sure that I really had anything unique to add to the discussion that hadn't already been covered everywhere else. But while much of what I have to say does mirror what you've likely read elsewhere, after pondering over this movie quite a bit, I think that I've come up with a number of interesting points that I feel are worth mentioning, and that I haven't really seen brought up anywhere else, which I'll be getting to in a little bit. But I've seen the movie twice now, and have taken the time to really allow my thoughts to settle on it. And honestly, the more I think about this movie, the more I grow to love every single thing about it.

All of the major studios producing these comic book films have had their landmark movie for the genre thus far. Sony had it with the first Spider-Man, which was the comic book movie that made people take the genre seriously again, after it had become a joke for about a decade by that point. Then DC and WB had theirs with Nolan's The Dark Knight, the movie that made people not just take comic book movies seriously, but see the potential they had to transcend the genre and be looked upon as genuinely great films in and of themselves, as opposed to merely great "comic book movies".

Then I'd say Marvel Studio's contribution came with The Avengers, which was an accomplishment in the genre that really paved the way for how studios would produce these sorts of films moving forward. And while things in the genre may have mostly become stagnant and complacent since then, Fox has finally come out swinging, with the rated R Deadpool last year opening the door for their big groundbreaking film that's bound to raise the bar once more in the form of Logan, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if this is the next movie that leaves all the other studios taking note.

This is a movie that's really more of a hard drama than it is a superhero flick, and is almost entirely performance and character-driven. And every single detail, from the raw and gritty way that it's filmed, to the dirty and somewhat post-apocalyptic setting, despite not actually taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, are all reflections on Logan's mindset and world view, after having endured a life of pure hell that has lead to all of this. It's such a perfect package of a character based movie, with every single element really contributing to the whole in such a way that removing even a single aspect would unravel the whole thing.

And even the R rating really adds to the full package. At first it's a bit shocking seeing so much blood and brutality and hearing so many f-bombs being dropped in an X-Men movie like this, but as the movie proceeds, you can see that all of these instances are a necessity, and not the least bit gratuitous. It adds to the character, to the sheer dark place in his life that he's come to, and all of the pain and anger and grief and torment and regret that he's had to live with for such a long, miserable time. And this material would honestly feel neutered if it was being presented without the rated R aspect, which makes it feel more like a real human story, as opposed to a typical comic book fare. And while I don't necessarily think this approach needs to be adopted for all of the X-Men movies moving forward, it was more than appropriate here, so much so that I honestly can't see this film working any other way.

I do think that a lot of this film's success can be attributed to Deadpool being such a runaway hit. After all, if it weren't for that film's success, I have a hard time seeing Fox greenlighting this project and allowing it to be told in this manner. But Fox tried something new with Deadpool, not only in making it a hard R mainstream comic book film, but also in allowing their filmmakers to make the movie they wanted to make with relative freedom, with very little in the way of studio interference. And so that gave way to the creation of this film, which fully benefits from those looser studio constraints.

With Fox apparently allowing their filmmakers free reign to just make a film with their rated R division of flicks, and not be so constrained by typical studio mandates, we're finally seeing actual films being made within the genre, as opposed to the boring, monotonous, conveyor belt cinema that we've become so accustomed to. And if The Dark Knight was the first big step in taking comic book films seriously beyond the genre itself, then this movie feels like the next big evolution beyond that. This is a movie that truly feels genuinely mature and has a real gravitas to it, and is so consistent with its tone and approach throughout that even when the more comic booky stuff does rear its head in, it never feels silly or out of place, like it has in so many other movies. And the movie incorporates it all in such an organic way that compliments the themes of the movie and maintains its weight the whole way through.

This film feels like the ultimate culmination of everything that had preceded it, and so much of that is conveyed to us solely through the performances. Both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart are absolutely incredible in this, and both give career best performances that really touch on a deeper level, and are so good that it will be a damn shame should they go overlooked come awards season. And newcomer Dafnee Keen is similarly excellent as well as X-23, showing great range, all while not even speaking through most of the duration of the movie.

One of the things I love so much about the movie is how most of the conflict in the film is internal, and how that's portrayed here. And that actually somewhat mirrors one of my favorite movies in Spider-Man 3, which I have written a full blown defense for in the past. A lot of what made that a favorite of mine has to do with the themes of inner-struggle that were tackled there, and I loved this movie for a lot of the same reasons that resonated so well with me in that one. However, while Spider-Man 3 feels more like the teenage angsty version of this story, Logan definitely feels like the more grown up, mature, and adult version, so it's fitting that its come out so much later, where I myself am at a more adult stage in my own life, and can appreciate it more on that level accordingly.

But one of my arguments in defense of Spider-Man 3 was in terms of how the villains in that movie were incorporated. And for much of the movie, I argued how Spider-Man himself was the main villain, how his internal struggle was the main conflict of the movie, and that Venom was used as a means for Spidey to have an actual one on one encounter in the end on a physical platform. And this movie does something a little similar, with the use of the villain X-24, who is an evil clone of Logan. And while that does sound a bit silly in writing, and is the one aspect I've seen the most complaints about, this film treats this character extremely seriously, and I honestly believe X-24 may well be the most genuinely terrifying villain in a superhero movie since The Joker in The Dark Knight, not just in execution, but also in what the character represents from a more thematic standpoint as well.

Thematically, X-24's inclusion not only fits here, but it completes the movie, and our main character's journey. After all, the real villain in this film was Logan's internal struggle, his fight against his own demons. And by including this character, it really brings that fight to life and makes it a real, tangible entity. In this film, we see how all of the years and years of this relentless life has taken its toll on our leads, only for them to be forced to finally come face to face with all that they've been dealing with and fight back against those demons that have been haunting them for so long. And that is the real villain here, is Logan's emotional state of mind itself. And that's why this is such a striking and powerful film, because it's not just a comic book film about good vs. evil. It's a movie about characters, about facing oneself and finding a way to overcome and become a better person.

Another thing that I noticed in this movie was how it explicitly references events from the very first X-Men film, despite that film technically being retconned out of existence by the time we get to this movie. But then I started thinking about it, and how many other elements from the earlier movies still happened as well, despite Days of Future Past changing history. For instance, Logan still goes by the nickname Wolverine, and in Apocalypse, we see that he still underwent the adamantium operation. And then you consider that the whole purpose to changing history in Days of Future Past was because the mutants were all being wiped out, and yet despite their efforts, by the beginning of this movie, the mutant race has still managed to be wiped out anyways.

So much that was changed had come to pass all the same. And I think that might be yet another telling element to this movie, is that no matter how much it may haunt you, you can never truly run away from your past. Rather, you have to learn from it, learn to live with it, and learn to move on, which is something that Logan struggles with all throughout this film. Logan has endured so much, and has even tried to change things from his past for the better. Yet, despite his efforts, everything still happened anyways, just in another way. And this element only adds to the frustration that Logan must be living with on top of everything else, is the knowledge that all of his hardships in life were an inevitability, and that there was no diverting from this path that he's walked. But even so, no matter how hard it may be, he still has to find a way to move forward and keep fighting.

In this way, despite that the movie totally works on its own as a standalone entry, this movie truly feels like the natural culmination of all of the films that preceded it. And it makes it all the more fitting, too, that the characters we follow in this story happen to be Logan and Xavier, as they are the only two in the series who have retained all knowledge from all of the timelines in this series. It feels like a closing chapter not just on Logan's story, but on this current iteration of the X-Men franchise as a whole. And honestly, before this movie, I would've been pretty annoyed by the prospect of Fox rebooting the X-Men, as has been rumored. But after this film? Yeah, I can't see them ever topping this, and it's always best to go out on top, so I say if the X-Men must continue, then sure, let's do a full franchise reboot, 'cause this is just too good and too fitting a send off to just go ignored.

The Academy Awards increased their possible Best Picture nominee slots to 10 films in response to The Dark Knight getting snubbed. And seeing how Logan is by far the best comic book film that's released since then, it would be a complete waste of that change if this somehow didn't come away with a nomination next year, as this is precisely the sort of movie that change was made to accommodate. This wasn't just a great superhero movie, it's one of the greatest ever made, and was a phenomenal film even beyond the genre itself. From the filmmaking and the production design, to the performances and the writing, everything really came together to produce one of the finest works that the genre has ever seen, a real human story and a truly emotional journey, and it will take a lot to ever top this one.