For a while, it didn't look like Logan was actually going to happen, but after director James Mangold and star Hugh Jackman found a story they were happy with, work on Wolverine's final adventure finally began. Now, the movie has started hitting theaters across the world, but does it live up to expectations and deliver a satisfying conclusion to the story of this iconic member of the X-Men?
For the most part, yes, though as much as Logan gets right, it definitely makes a few blunders. They're fairly significant ones too as neither the lead villain or Wolverine's fate quite stick the landing!
What you'll find here then is a SPOILER-FILLED look at what Logan does and doesn't do right. It goes without saying that major plot points from the movie are touched on here, so read ahead at your own risk! However, if you're curious about what's to come in Wolverine's swan song or whether the movie is actually worth checking out after so many let-downs from Fox, get to clicking...
Did Work: The Fate Of The Mutants
The reveal that Zander Rice has been chemically altering food to suppress the mutant genome worked really well. The explanation made perfect sense to me and reminded me of the Legacy Virus from the comic books. Uninterested in hearing more of what Rice has to say, Wolverine shoots him in the neck and seemingly kills him, a sign perhaps that mutantkind will be able to recover if he's no longer around to produce those chemicals.
That's a pretty optimistic way of looking at it and the damage may have already been done, but this is a plot point it's actually easy to picture a future set X-Force movie touching on assuming mutants are still very much in the minority in Cable's timeline. The reveal might have worked a tad better had Rice been given more screentime, but as explanations for where the mutants have all gone go, I definitely think this was a strong one.
Didn't Work: X-24
However, my biggest issue with X-24 is the fact he wasn't Sabretooth. X-Men Origins: Wolverine may be reviled, but how cool would it have been to see Liev Schrieber's version return now controlled by Zander Rice (or even as another clone) so we finally got the epic battle between the two we've all waited seventeen years to see since they barely crossed paths in the first X-Men movie This is a real missed opportunity.
Did Work: The R-Rated Violence
There's a lot more to Wolverine than just being a violent badass, but dammit, that doesn't make seeing him unleashed here any less awesome. Fight scenes featuring Jackman's clawed mutant have always been pretty great, but Mangold being allowed to push the boundaries really helps bring the comic books to life. Claws tear through limbs and rip apart skulls, while the amount of blood is just enough to ensure than Logan never becomes overly cartoonish; what we're seeing feels very real and is all the more shocking and compelling because of it.
The fight scenes here are also a step up. While many of Bryan Singer's Wolverine based sequences felt highly coreographed, Logan feels like the John Wick of superhero movies and I just wish that we'd spent maybe one or two fewer scenes on the road in exchange for a little more action (especially as it feels a little overlong). If this really is Jackman's farewell to Wolverine, no one can deny he went out in style, and as much as I disliked X-24, the fight between him and Logan was still suitably cool and brutal.
Didn't Work: The Fall Of The X-Men
One of the best things about the Old Man Logan comic book was the reveal that Wolverine went into hiding because he'd been tricked by a group of villains into slaughtering the X-Men. Logan handles things a little differently with the reveal that Professor X lost control of his powers and accidentally killed them, but the movie never provides a detailed or lengthy explanation and that's really frustrating.
The thoughts of Charles (a man we've followed through decades worth of history in this franchise now) being responsible for the fall of the X-Men definitely sticks with you, but a flashback or something more in-depth really would not have hurt. Why not show Wolverine being forced to kill his friends due to the horrible damage Xavier's psychic attack had done to them? At the end of the day, this is a Wolverine movie and not an X-Men one, but given the importance they've played in his storied history, I expected a little more than what that got here, especially as the end of the team is arguably a moment fans deserved to see on the big screen.
Did Work: Caliban
Going into Logan, I was more annoyed by the fact Fox were using another version of Caliban less than a year after we met a version of the character in the 1980s set X-Men: Apocalypse than I was interested in what he'd be getting up to here. However, all thoughts of that quickly vanished upon realising just how damn good Stephen Merchant is in the role. I've always been a fan of his whether we're talking about his work on TV shows like The Office and Extras or as himself in stand-up and The Ricky Gervais Show, but he really impresses here.
The actor's dry wit is perfectly suited for Caliban and he provides some much needed levity at various points throughout the movie with his sarcastic remarks and peculiar relationship with Wolverine and Professor X. His sacrifice in the movie's third act is also handled well, though I was a little disappointed not to see it achieve more, especially when Rice later points to his body and seemingly indicates that he intends to clone him for his mutant tracking powers. Who knows, perhaps we'll see a monstrous version of the character appear in X-Force or something similar down the line!
Did Work: X-23
As I mentioned in my review for Logan, I fully expected to leave the movie hoping to see more of X-23, albeit as an adult with a new actress in the role. Not any more. Dafne Keene was superb as the young mutant and watching her grow up as the character over the next few years promises to be a lot of fun assuming execs at Fox have the brains to utilise her in movies like X-Force and perhaps even her own solo outing. The ending of Logan leaves Laura in a very interesting place; she's seen her father die and is now on the run with a group of young mutants, so there's really any number of directions her story could go in next.
Despite being mute for most of the movie, Keene's performance is still excellent, but it's when she starts talking that she really impresses. The actress has a tonne of attitude and already feels like a believable badass, and I for one could get behind her essentially being the new Wolverine of this world until Jackman is inevitably recast somewhere down the line. Ultimately, it's going to depend on where Fox goes next with her, but expect X-23 to be a big fan-favourite after Logan.
Didn't Work: Wolverine's Demise
His healing factor may not be what it once was, but comic book fans will know Wolverine has "died" many times only for that power to resurrect him and his wounds never feel significant enough for him not to ultimately heal even if it takes weeks. Who knows, perhaps Jackman will be convinced to return and we'll see him claw his way out of that grave, but if the answer is that his healing factor simply couldn't recover from such significant injuries, I just wish they'd been a little worse as this feels like a huge underwhelming note for his story to wrap up on. Maybe it's just me, but I expected better.
Did Work: The Family Dynamic
The dynamic between Wolverine, Professor X, and X-23 is very much a family one and that works brilliantly here. When Logan introduces Charles as his father, it's surprisingly believable, while his budding relationship with Laura is handled in a very interesting way (and less conventionally than movies which feature similar situations). While I think an argument could be made that the movie spends a little too much time on the road with the trio - shaving twenty minutes or so off the running time would have been no bad thing - these scenes are thoroughly enjoyable and a definite highlight outside of the big fight scenes.
Wolverine's relationship with Charles has always been interesting and after what happened to the X-Men, it's even moreso, though it would have definitely helped if a greater amount of light had been shed on that. Logan ultimately does a lot right and very little wrong and as much as I would have liked to learn more about how Wolverine decided to call himself James Howlett or why Mr. Sinister had no presence here, this trio mostly makes up for what's lacking!
Have you seen Logan? If so, what do you think did and didn't work? As always, feel free to weigh in with your spoiler-filled thoughts in the comments section down below.