A Good Film with A Few Things Off

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2017)

Basically, "Logan" is about an older, washed-up Wolverine now working as a chauffeur... and the whole X-Men thing apparently disbanded. Logan, while confronting Charles in their Mexican hideout in one point, seemed to offer a clue as to what happened to the others. As we watch on, the film's soon revealed to be about Logan now dealing with the fact that he can no long self-heal as before, while trying to escort lab-raised mutant kids to Canada for safety.
But, with escorting the kids to safety, that also means Pierce, leader of the security wing of the said lab, "Transigen", chasing everyone, even kidnapping and killing Logan's affiliates, Charles including. The kids were meant to be raised as an "X-23" mutant army by Dr. Rice, son of the infamous scientist who enhanced Wolverine in the past. Learning more about Dr. Rice by the climax was a plot twist I didn't expect knowing.
So to clarify, the whole misadventures start off when Gabriela, a Transigen staff taking care of one of the escaped mutant kids, Laura, tries hiring Logan to escort the two to Canada before Pierce catches up to them. Logan returns way too late, but manages to get Laura to his hiding place in Mexico... only for Pierce, who spoke to Logan earlier, showing up expressing his disappointment over Logan not tipping him off on Gabriela sooner. This, since he's very aware that Laura is around, turns into a full-blown confrontation, and Laura revealed to have the same capability as Logan: retrievable knuckle claws!
Outnumbered, Logan, Charles, and Laura are on the run, even hiding in hotels, and even accepting a family's invitation to sleep over for the night... with us audience wondering if Charles is stupid not worried about Pierce catching up, as opposed to not making unnecessary stops. This leads to what seems to be a Wolverine look- alike killing off Charles, kidnapping Laura, and killing off the entire family that took the good guys in for the night! It's made worse for the good guys trying to hide when their colleague, Caliban, was kidnapped to reluctantly share information on their whereabouts.
As it is, there are a lot of things I liked about the film.
With the conflict between Logan and Transigen's sides, there are action scenes. As mentioned earlier, Transigen has a Wolverine look- alike, or maybe a clone, thus that means that he's hard to kill. The same is true with Laura, which is why Transigen is careful when trying to catch her. But, with the R rating, expect bloods, deep wounds, and decapitations.
X-Men comics can be seen in select scenes of the movie. Apart from dissing their premise, they played an important role in pointing out where Logan should be heading to... even though, up till the climax, he doubted the area's existence, even fighting with Laura and Charles over it. Although, that same area was also written down on the money envelop Gabriela handed Logan.
And ultimately, I like that this is Hugh Jackman's farewell letter to his long-time Wolverine fans. It's an open secret that "Logan" would be his final movie as Wolverine, after years of service, as it is also implied with Logan's failing health, then death, by the end of the movie, as the kids make it to safety, with Laura re- positioning his grave's crucifix to resemble an "X".
But....
...That's not to say that there were some things that didn't put me off, although not greatly to hate the film.
Firstly, ignoring Charles' desire to put everyone in danger by making unnecessary stops, some of us accepted that Charles was killed off in "X-Men 3", despite that film not feeling as memorable as "X-Men 2". Charles felt like an extra who's too stubborn to take his medications to keep his psyche under control. I honestly thought that the movie's stronger strength would have just been concentrating on Logan and his personal struggles as an old man, and his illegitimate daughter.
Speaking of which, Laura, Logan's illegitimate daughter. After she and her friends escaping from the mutant facility, and moving into Canada, what's next for them and Transigen? Like "Assassin's Creed", the movie ended with little to no clues on a sequel, or, at least, what happens next.
And also, I think the movie got too much praise for being "R-rated", which ultimately alienated this film from the past X-Men movies. I don't mind R-rated films, but I'd seen better ones since when I was a kid like "Terminator" and "Die Hard", since, as I'd pointed out above, they got nicer resolutions. (Not to forget, changing the rating sort of left teen viewers in the dust. It's a shame, because I wanted my younger cousins to check it out.)
And finally, the movie is surprisingly depressing, from poor Charles accusing Logan "waiting for him to die" by keeping him sealed up in their hideout, to watching Logan's failing health... and, ultimately, death.
But, overall, it's a movie I was glad to watch. Sure, Stan Lee is absent here, and there wasn't any tease after the credits but, instead, note on how many jobs the movie created, but it's an X-Men spin-off that is better than even some of the X-Men origin and prequel movies in recent years. If you're interested in seeing how the Wolverine copes with old age, R-rated fight scenes, with a story of hope for younger mutants... and ignoring the lackluster ending, I recommend you guys watch "Logan".