A True Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2017)

LOGAN is one of those films that, when it ends, you immediately want to watch it again.
As far as X-Men films go, LOGAN is the most brutal, violent, and bloody (I do not count DEADPOOL as an X-Men film simply because it isn't at all essential to the X- Men/Wolverine films & it really is it's own thing), in a lot of ways it's the Wolverine film that people have always wanted. X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE was a let down to many (it's a good action flick but that's about it), while THE WOLVERINE was received much better (with the exception of the film's final act). LOGAN is truly the Wolverine film that everyone has been looking for and, in many respects, the Wolverine that Logan himself looks for throughout the film.
Directed by James Mangold (3:10 TO YUMA, WALK THE LINE, THE WOLVERINE), LOGAN itself is a Western; technically a Modern Western, but a Western nevertheless. It's not just the western settings (Mexico, North Dakota, Nevada, etc.) that set LOGAN apart as a Western, but also the content of its characters. Logan was a hero, much like the Civil War heroes who come back home to find that they don't belong (I'm looking at you Uncle Ethan...), Logan was formerly one of the X-Men, superheroes that the world counted on and looked up to (depending on the X-Men film that is), as Wolverine. He's a classic example of "don't meet your heroes" as he's merely a shell of the man he once was. Sure, this isn't only a characteristic of the Western, but it is one of the common traits of Classic Westerns. The hero who has no place in society, yet fights, and even gives his life, to defend it. This is Logan.
And let's not forget that the basic plot of the film is the group traveling from Mexico to, eventually, Canada to run from a group of Reavers after a young girl and her friends. Sounds very Western to me...
Along with all that, the use of the film SHANE, a Classic Western from 1953, not only serves as a bridge for us to take a closer look into Charles Xavier, and the title character himself, but it also gives a clear picture as to what LOGAN is supposed to be. LOGAN shows Logan, Laura, and Xavier what it's like to have a family, much like SHANE does with it's title character. LOGAN creates a bond between the Western hero and the child he's sworn to protect, another clear characteristic of SHANE. And of course that ending scene, which I won't spoil one way or another.
All this being said, LOGAN is not only very clearly a Modern Western, but also just a phenomenal display of the character of Wolverine in a way that none of the other X-films have been able to fully grasp (although some have come awfully close). When watching LOGAN, I immediately compared it to two of my all-time favorite films that often fight for their place as my fourth favorite on in my Top 10: THE DARK KNIGHT and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY. It's not really the content of these films compared to LOGAN that stuck out to me, but instead the implications that come along with them. LOGAN is Marvel's THE DARK KNIGHT, it's the one big and important film that separates it from anything else the company has done before or will ever do again. LOGAN will become a standard for all X-Men, Wolverine, Marvel, superhero, and comic book movies out there, much like THE DARK KNIGHT is for DC, Batman, and the superhero/comic book genre now. Similarly, TERMINATOR 2 changed action and sci-fi films forever. In fact, outside of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, I can't name a single action film that has had the impact on the genre and film industry as a whole in the same way TERMINATOR 2 has, until now.
If LOGAN is Marvel's THE DARK KNIGHT, then it is also certainly the comic book genres TERMINATOR 2. Like the title of this review says, LOGAN is a masterpiece.