Directed by James Mangold. Written by Scott Frank, Michael Green and James Mangold
The arc and existence of Wolverine, a superhero with incredible healing powers and knives coming out of his hands, has always been one of suffering. In a world where his foes manipulate matter and shoot bullets, he’s had to run straight at them, taking a great deal of punishment before he gets to dole out some of his own. But as great as the physical lashings have been, the emotional licks of Logan, as he’s known to friends, were always greater.
Friends, lovers, confidantes are all dead and gone, and Logan’s been left behind to wallow in the ostensible misanthropy that was a coping mechanism for his bleeding heart all along. With Logan, James Mangold wants to roll away the stone and offer an iconic character a redemptive conclusion to a story that has seen an outsider prove to everyone but himself that he is worthy of someone’s affection.
Hugh Jackman returns as Logan in a bleak near-future. Most mutants are no more, and he’s not long for this world either, resembling a bag of onions wrapped in far-gone roast beef. He’s scratching together a living as a limo driver trying to support Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) through his twilight years, with the legendary mutant all-father stuffed inside a turned-over water tower in the Mexican desert.
Logan wants to run out the clock with his alcoholic regrets, but Charles says he’s in contact with a young mutant by the name of Laura who needs Logan’s help. She’s an awful lot like him, angry and wild as the wind. Logan grumbles in remonstration, but you know where it’s going.
On their tail is a cardboard cutout paramilitary man who’s sent by a shady organization to catch Laura, because of course. He’s a villain of the week, that is to say uninteresting, and nothing more than a chance for carnage and an incentive for Logan and Laura to get to know each other, because tomorrow’s never promised when men of violence are out to get you.
Logan offers few surprises and would have done well to include some. The genre dictates the necessity of an evil force to shape the story, but Mangold’s movie is so concerned with one person’s relationship with the world around him that the generic villainy that pesters Logan feels like a distraction. I know a superhero movie must feature wrecks, fights, and explosions, but to watch Wolverine shred faceless mercenaries in gruesome fashion doesn’t thrill as much when the movie aspires to be some kind of kitchen sink drama about a man forgiving himself so he can be there for others.
It leaves this softer element a bit hamstrung as well, and the central relationship never develops to provide the emotional payoff it wants. If you want an engaging, wrenching story of a grizzled combatant who finds renewed purpose in another person, watch The Last of Us.
In the middle, Jackman is excellent as the titular character he’s played for 17 years. To make a mutant superhero a relatable human being is no small feat, but Jackman manages. If you took away the hand-knives, he wouldn’t seem all that out of place in a gritty but heartwarming dramedy about a dysfunctional working class family trying to find its feet. His performance, along with his chemistry with Stewart, is Logan’s insurance, because when the dramatic essentials are in place like they are here, you’re already halfway there.
Combine it with gnarly, well-orchestrated violence, and you’re not bored for more than a minute at a time. Logan is an almost great movie of its kind, but Mangold and writers Frank and Green want this to be more than just a good superhero movie, aspiring to be a good stand-alone movie without the tights-wearing qualifier. It accomplishes the former, providing an emotionally satisfying send-off for fans of the character. Beyond that, it doesn’t quite scale its self-imposed heights with a predictable story and unfulfilled ambitions of giving a restless soul a soft place to land.
Mikkel Frederiksen 