The Send-Off Wolverine Deserved

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2019)

After many years and some disappointments, X-Men fans finally have the R rated Wolverine movie we always wanted. And it's all we could have hoped for. Logan is not only graphic, gory, and action packed, it's also a work of surprising depth and thoughtfulness that does as much as the best comic book storyline to show us the real Wolverine.
The last two installments covered his past, to mixed effect. This film instead takes us to his future. And what a future it is. The X-Men are long gone, no mutants have born in years, and Logan can barely remember a time he thought of himself as hero. These day's he's just a down on his luck driver; renting out Professor X's limo by the hour to pay for food, booze, and the medicine keeping the old man alive. Until a seemingly random encounter with a desperate woman and a very special girl forces him to embark on one last adventure.
Marvel has given us many interesting takes on the superhero genre in recent years. They've done it as Hero's Journey, pared down revenge tale, ensemble spectacular, shoot 'em up spy thriller, and riotous self-parody. This is the superhero adventure as Man with No Name western. A visually desolate, slowly intensifying tale of a lone grizzled hero on the edge of society taking a stand to protect the vulnerable, even knowing what it will cost him. There's no happy ending waiting at the end of the line, but there may a measure of absolution and chance to truly feel alive once more.
Hugh Jackman is masterful in the title role. He's played Wolverine so many times in the last seventeen years that he's practically become the character, and he channels all of his experience and talent into bringing him to life once more. This version of Wolverine is far removed from the rage fueled, semi-feral monster we glimpsed in Origins and Apocalypse. But the anger is still there deep inside. Anger that the dream he fought so hard for is dead, along with all his friends. Anger at his own failing powers and declining health. And anger at himself for being unable to stop it. He's keenly aware that he's become a shadow of his former self, and it's eating him up inside.
The anger shows though in his bitterness, cynicism and disillusionment, his near endless stream of curses, his insistence that he doesn't owe anyone anything or care about their problems. But the anger is overshadowed by an even deeper emptiness. Jackman's every line and action radiates a profound sense of tiredness. It's clear that he's barely going through the motions of life. He doesn't want to fight anymore, or run, or maybe even go on living. But he keeps fighting because he doesn't have a choice and because at the end of the day it's all he knows. This version of Logan is so complex, compelling, and deeply flawed, and Jackman and the writers should both get an Oscar for it.
For his part, Patrick Stewart is sometimes profound, sometimes pathetic, but always tragic as the ailing, addled Professor Xavier. Once of the world's greatest thinkers- and its most powerful telepath- he's now reduced by dementia to a confused and often barely lucid old man. His introduction will make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. And the scenes of him bickering about having to take his medicine will be all too real for anyone who's seen Alzheimer's firsthand. Then in his occasional moments of clarity he's once again the wise mentor and psychic we know and love; a paraplegic Yoda.
Yet in a way it's almost worse then, because that's when the weight of reality comes crashing down on him, reminding him of what he had and who he was. And it's then that the seizures are closest. Seizures that can kill everyone for miles around, and maybe have. Even with this sci-fi twist, Stewart's portrayal is almost stunning in its realism. He probably deserves an Oscar too.
So Logan is obviously grim and somber, but not to the point of being overwhelming. Believe it or not this movie actually has a sense of humor, albeit subdued and rather dark. And rather than a maudlin tearjerker or a brooding emo-fest (like a certain other superhero blockbuster) it feels like an elegy to what might have been. Throughout it there's a profound sense that something went very, very wrong at some point, and that ever since the people in this film have barely gotten by, surviving among the remnants of their shattered dreams. On some level this could be an allegory for rust belt America.
But of course, this isn't just a brooding meditation or intimate personal drama; it's a hard-boiled action movie too. And Logan takes just the right balance between these elements. The slower sections, in which the story unfolds and characters develop, mostly retain enough suspense to keep the film from dragging. And the action scenes are frequent and long enough to deliver thrills and keep things moving, but not to the point of becoming boring or repetitive.
Plus they're really good. The fights are fast paced, expertly shot, and brutally visceral. The gore is a bit less than in DeadPool or Django, but there's still plenty of severed limbs and skewered heads. I particularly enjoyed the car chase battle, which was more than a bit reminiscent of Mad Max. And the final battle against Weapon X's latest creation was impressive in its brutality and sense of desperation. But the best fights are the ones with the girl.
The young Dafne Keen is captivating and downright awesome as a younger, Mexican version of X-23. When we meet her she's shy and unassuming, but when things get hot she turns into a whirling dynamo of claws and feral energy. Seeing her lunge, flip, and hack her way through dozens of opponents, latching on to larger enemies and stabbing them again and again like a homicidal monkey, one feels awestruck and perhaps unsettlingly amused by her athleticism and ferocity. It's like someone crossed Wolverine with Dora the Explorer, and it's absolutely brilliant.
This doesn't mean Logan is perfect. The filmmakers could have cut about 10 to 15 minutes without losing anything, and I was a bit disappointed that they didn't come up with anything more creative for the final enemy. But these are minor qualms. On whole it's a brilliant and breathtaking twist on the genre, a graphic meditation on aging, masculinity, and the intertwined nature of heroism and violence. It's grim, gory, profane, and sometimes profound, and it's absolutely the sendoff that Wolverine- and the fans- deserve.