Doesn't live up to the hype.

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2017)

I had high hopes going into this movie, and while I wasn't totally disappointed I must brand it an overrated movie. Maybe this is new territory for superhero movies, but it's hardly new territory for movies in general. As someone who's not primarily a superhero fan, I like the X-Men superhero world better than most other superhero movies. The stories are much more engaging because the X-Men are treated like a minority group rather than protectors of humanity. Also the plots are character driven in a really good way, and that made me have good expectations for Logan. This is the first Wolverine movie I've seen, so maybe I shouldn't have expected it to be like the other X-Men movies.
Logan is definitely the superhero that most deserves this sort of grittier story, but I think they pushed it a little too much in the wrong ways. The blood and gore was a little bit much, although it was good that the action sequences actually had people dying in them. The body count in this movie makes up a little bit for the lack of deaths caused by other superhero/super villain fights. But it did get to be a bit much. The excessive amount of death in the earlier half of the movie made it less shocking or powerful when Xavier, Caliban, and even Logan himself died. There was maybe more strong language than there needed to be. It wasn't totally excessive, but having Professor X start dropping F-bombs felt weird after seeing him as so level headed for so many movies. Maybe that was the intent.
There was a decent theme with Logan trying to keep Laura from being exploited and used as a weapon like he was. The theme with Logan hoping for a more normal and simple life was not handled as proficiently in my opinion. I guess it just never connected enough to the plot for it to matter. I think the reason that the themes were lacking was because there were not enough active choices from Logan or really any other character. The plot was motivated by Logan, Charles, and Laura running away from Pierce and his men, which didn't leave a lot of room for the characters to make active decisions. Yes, there are a couple, but in a movie that seems to be centered around the character of Logan more than anything else, there should have been more focus on his arc.
I also noticed that the action choreography and special effects weren't that good for this kind of movie. That's not exactly a good thing, but at least somebody felt like it was okay to save money and have Laura's jumps look a little fake. There was also practically nothing in the set design to suggest that the movie took place in the future. This is definitely an area where Logan sets itself apart from the effects-heavy comic book adaptations. We still get plenty of action, but it is a brutal kind of action rather than the fantastical supernatural sequences that superhero movies typically feature. Maybe that is what people are talking about when they say that it "transcends the genre".
I won't say that you shouldn't watch this. Comic book fans will probably see it anyway, but for those who are speculating over the hype I'll say this: it's not bad, but it's really nothing special. Overall Rating: 7.5/10.