Old Man Slo-gan

Rating: 6/10 (5 April 2017)

Early reviews of "Logan" had the film labeled as Marvel's Dark Knight. This brought me much excitement to hear such great things from a very anticipated movie. Then that excitement quickly turned to disappointment as I didn't come to think this film was anywhere near the excellence of "The Dark Knight." "Logan" was quite unconventional for a superhero movie as in it wasn't a superhero movie but an antihero action drama. An antihero action drama that had a hollow story, slow pacing, frustrating ambiguity, redundant action, and ineffective emotional resonance.
"Logan's" standout selling point from previous X-men/superhero films was its R-rating. The R-rated action and grittiness was cool and badass through the whole first act, then it became excessive and redundant as you watch Logan continuously slice through the same bones and limbs over and over again. "Logan" did have similarities to 2015's best film (in my opinion) "Mad Max: Fury Road" in how certain characters are forced to work together to find sanctuary from pursuing bad guys. I don't think Logan had a shot at ever being as good as "The Dark Knight" but it could have been close to "Mad Max: Fury Road" with badass no-nonsense characters, insane and brutally entertaining action, road-trip-like plot with danger looming at every corner, and maybe even some emotional gravitas. "Logan" had the potential to match Mad Max but came up short in all of the previously mentioned areas.
The thing that probably bothered me the most about "Logan" was how bare, slowly paced, and empty the story was. The first act did a good job of setting up the story; Logan had to help a women and her daughter escape from some government agency experimenting on mutants with the help of Professor X and another mutant named Caliban. After the first act it seemed as if the story was going to be full of thrills, gore, emotion, interesting reveals of backstory and maybe even some twists. Yet, NO. What we got was a slow burner filled with the same slice 'em up action, no backstory or explanations to certain events, little to no humor, no grand set pieces, underdeveloped characters (like the main villain), and ineffective emotional appeal.
Let's start with the backstory. First, all the mutants are dying and this is never touched upon thoroughly as to why. There is a scene at the end where a scientists says he is the one who is responsible for the earth being eradicated of mutants. And that's all; they don't bother explaining how or why. Then there is the Westchester incident, which director James Mangold was going to shoot but decided not to as it was implied that Xavier's seizures killed all of the X-men. Wouldn't that have been an interesting, gripping, and sad start to an already planned emotional movie if that scene was filmed? The counter to that is that it would've taken away from Professor X and Wolverine's emotional send offs (more on that later). Also why is Logan dying? Is the adamantium really poisoning him or are his healing powers just weakening? The movie has no interest in explaining this. And I won't even get started with the timeline as who knows what all preceded this movie.
Then there was that ineffective emotional resonance. That basically means the movie didn't get me emotionally involved with the character deaths. First of all everyone knew that this was Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart's last outing in their respective roles. So them dying is not much of a surprise. And the way Professor X died was just so out-of- nowhere and dreamlike that I didn't feel anything when it happened. I didn't even know for sure if he was dead because the way it was filmed gave a pretense of a dream. Logan's death was also anticlimactic in how I didn't really feel any sadness for him when he died, although maybe some relief for the character for all the trauma he was going through. So instead of feeling sadness for the departure of these characters I felt relieved because they were so broken, lost, lifeless, and without purpose.
"Logan" did have some redeeming qualities like the lead acting which was as good as it gets, its badass first act, the lead villain (Pierce) who was cool yet underdeveloped, and how it was a standalone movie not concerned with sequels and spinoffs. I said it earlier and I'll say it again "Logan" was disappointing, nowhere near "The Dark Knight," and just bereft of quality storytelling, consistent thrills, and emotional grip.