"Logan" review

The Old Man finally gets his due.

It has been seventeen years since Hugh Jackman first suited up as the Wolverine, but in all the X-Men films that followed, one crucial element was always missing from his character: the guilt.  Logan has long been haunted by remorse for all the carnage that he has inflicted not only on his enemies, but also on his friends.  At his lowest point in this latest entry, Logan tearfully pleads with another character to not follow his path because bad things always happen to the people that he cares about.  While Logan’s mutant healing ability has greatly extended his lifespan and made him nigh-invincible, it has also utterly isolated him.  All Logan’s friends are now either dead or missing in action, so he has severed the emotional ties that time inevitably wears down and destroys.  Logan can no longer tolerate the wounds that never fully heal.

The weight and depth of Logan’s outcast existence suffuses every scene of this film with pain and regret.  The world seems to have largely forgotten about mutants, and Logan would appear to be just fine with that.  Yet he drinks relentlessly, and the decades of mental anguish and alcoholism have etched deep creases into his now craggy face.  This is because Logan's healing ability is failing, and he is barely able to care for Charles Xavier, who is also tormented by his own advancing age as his telepathic powers are spiking wildly out of control.  The perpetually setting sun and the lengthening shadows surrounding Logan’s decrepit desert hideout signal more slaughter, for some humans have not forgotten mutants, and seek to weaponize their powers regardless of the obliteration of the innocent.

Though Logan claims to be past caring about the lives of others, he gets pulled back into the final fray when he learns of a diabolical new plan to make literal super-soldiers by harvesting mutant DNA and then injecting it into children.  Logan also discovers that he has a crucial connection to this killer-from-a-crib program in the form of a young, seemingly mute girl named Laura who has powers much like his own.  Their lives become inextricably linked as Logan repeatedly leaps to Laura's defense against the ruthless mercenaries now pursuing them both.  Logan desperately desires to also rescue Laura from the misbegotten life that he has endured, while she finds in him the only positive paternal influence that she has ever known.  Thrown together in turmoil, they both rise to meet their fate with a familiar ferocity.

The R rating of this film has been much ballyhooed, and while there is certainly more blood and violence than in all previous X-men entries, it is not overindulgent.  To the contrary, the spurting jugulars and shattered bones are actually eclipsed by the lean, kinetic storytelling, the stunning cinematography and the superlative ensemble cast.  The vast majority of the film’s running time is instead devoted to investing the audience in the lives of these characters, which makes the brutal action scenes convulse with the kind of galvanic excitement that had me whooping and clapping at the intensity of the psychological catharsis rather than the physical butchery.   It must also be stressed that amidst all this chaos, there are a few terrific belly laughs to be had.  While much of the story is indeed harrowingly grim, it is not without a few precious moments of joy.

“Logan” is one of the best X-men films and also one of the best superhero films ever made.  This character’s sojourn across the silver screen mirrors his course through the comics: a long and lonely road fraught with continual peril, with only the solace of a few friendships and cold brewskis to set against the unrelenting assault of a mean and mistrustful world.  The final scene packs a serious gut punch, because it is not only a heartbreaking farewell, but also a stark and beautifully visual tribute to the duality of the Wolverine.  Logan is a tremendously tragic character, and yet the resolution of his story is so damn well done that I told my wife as we walked through our front door that we had just come home from a really good wake.