Logan (2017)
Fox has been hitting out of the ballpark lately with bold approaches towards the superhero genre (or concept) with its recent delving into the fourth-wall breaking of Deadpool, and now, a western spiritual journey practically made for a Johnny Cash song. In spite of my reservations towards their superhero movies (Deadpool included), I have to admit that they've been keeping the genre fresh and alive more so than the tiring wisecracking slapstick of Marvel (Civil War excluded... to some extent). Logan is the latest proof that superhero isn't really a genre and can be fitted into any kind of story.
More than anything, it's a difficult movie to watch. The overall atmosphere, mood, and the soundtrack bring with them a very gloomy and bleak world. Without going into too much spoilers, let's just say that in spite of Fox's attempts to mix in moments of humor in-between, you'll probably be grabbing for that tissue half of the movie.
Alas, it's a tale one should be familiar with - loss and redemption - told many times over throughout the ages. Much like his previous work, The Wolverine, James Mangold's style isn't so much about bringing an original and refreshing style to the superhero world, but rather, to tell a story full of character growth and substance, the way great stories should be told. In spite of my concerns about the film being overhyped, given by viewers the title of "The Dark Knight of Marvel", it was quite a satisfying tale I was glad I experienced. When I said that it's a "spiritual journey", I meant exactly that. It's a very slow film with heavy themes worth pondering over by the audience throughout its two and a half hours runtime (yes, you read that right; 2h 21m to be exact). So despite the familiarity and knowing exactly how it would have ended, I think I would've regretted more not experiencing the movie once.
Unfortunately, it is a bit overhyped. Just a bit. There were two points of the movie that I felt jarring or unnecessarily lengthy. The first one was the Las Vegas scene where Logan had to leave Charles and X-23 at the hotel to change vehicle. I felt that scene could've been cut down shorter to tighten the overall pace of the story, which I felt was affected by other minor expository moments as well. Considering that it's inspired by the "Old Man Logan" comic book miniseries, I could see why the story almost felt episodic, like there were different parts/arcs meshed together into one film. Most comic book miniseries have such a pacing problem, where the story is dragged out by "filler moments" to fill in the pages, so I'm not surprised this pacing translated directly into the movie as well.
The second one was the final appearance of Will Munson, part of the family Logan was staying with. There was this incredibly awkward moment immediately right after Will helped take out the bad guy that I won't reveal too much about, but that moment felt weird, and came off as more comedic (in a bad way) than dramatic. Finally, the truth about what happened to the old X-Men was rather badly handled IMO. It was first revealed in the background through a radio broadcast when it should've been revealed to us through an emotional confession. That jarring editing made me greatly not care when Charles finally spilled the beans on what happened back then.
Despite these minor problems, Logan is still a solid movie worth watching. One thing to note about the Munsons is that, I was worried things would have felt way too slow and even boring when these unrelated strangers showed up as our heroes were given chase by the bad guys. But it turned out to be one of the most important arcs in the story as it allowed ample time for Logan and Charles to reflect upon what they had bitterly missed since the old days of the X-Men: a family.
Logan brings a solid closure to the X-Men franchise that Apocalypse probably didn't (I never watched it). There were enough Easter Eggs and nods to the comics to please the fans while maintaining a fresh and somber tone for those tired of the superhero shtick like myself. I'm looking forward to Mangold's next production with Fox. Or rather, Marvel could hopefully buy his talents over and allow him to shine in the MCU as well.
4/5
Next week, the king returns to the big screen as I revisit Skull Island. It's a double-combo release of great movies this month!