No Pun Intended

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2017)

There seems to be permeating trends for comic books coming from ink and word-bubbles to being thrown up on the big screen. One of which, is to add a darker theme to an adapted, comic film. The Batman appeared more cynical than usual in his last flick, and the comic book company, Marvel, recently release Deadpool, the film about a foul-mouthed ninja slicing through hordes of bad guys to meet the end. The film itself was the first R-rated comic book film -- the 2nd R-rated comic book film being Logan.
Before viewing the film in theaters the other night, my only understanding about the movie is what I saw from 2 different trailers. I felt the same impression from the both of them: the main character is older, worn, and beaten, there is a young girl with physical abilities similar to him, and his mentor is even older, more worn, and more beaten. Furthermore, it appears the 3 of them are traveling somewhere for some reason. The whole thing was ambiguous for me.
So, there I was -- sitting there not knowing what to expect. The intro scene immediately caught me off guard in a way that said, "Tighten the harness". The first act took configuration to see the inherent story for why these characters are in the position that they are in. Not long into the film, the main theme of the movie was established and continued to pull me through the story-line. The acting was remarkable, and facilitated my journey with these characters. It was as if I was with them traveling to our destination in hopes of finding what was needed. I coveted more angles for fear of not seeing what was around the characters: danger or a shred of help.
As this movie is a 3rd installment, I expected to see familiar ground from its predecessors. Certain actions the characters make and the outcomes could have been originated from scratch rather than refreshing an old scene. At the same time, they were parts that seem natural in the real world – so it's hard to see them happen any other way. Next to that, the theme about a few people traveling great distances with pending death chasing them day and night, and no outside help has been an occurring one throughout media. Logan is a great example of a collaboration of artists using ideas from other artists, incorporating in their style, and coming up with something fresh and innovating. Again, you might see unoriginal moments, but sometimes the old is required to provide the new. The action scenes make no surprise for why is has an R-rating, and the profound story-line will grab your attention, intrigue you, and then pull you to the end-credits of Logan.