Jean-Paul’s rating: 5/5 stars
Bottom Line: A gritty, depressing look into the future of our beloved X-Men. Combines a well crafted story with some great action scenes. It is also a lot of fun to watch a little girl kick all sorts of ass.
The X-Men universe has never been a happy universe. The main theme has always been mutants vs humans and how the two can learn to live peacefully. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to think of all the ways that can go sideways and believe me it does. Even by those standards, “Logan” may be the most depressing entry into the X-Men universe. It begins with Logan (Hugh Jackman) driving a limo for a living and basically drinking himself to death. Not an easy accomplishment when your superpower is quick regeneration. He’s basically a modern day Prometheus, but Logan’s liver is being eaten by alcohol instead of an eagle and instead of being chained to a mountain, he’s become chained to Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) who is slowly losing control of his psychic powers due to old age and dementia. As you can see, the future is fun!
Do things get better? Of course they don’t, they get worse. Into Logan and Charles’ live steps Laura (Dafne Keen), the ass-kickinest girl who ever kicked ass. Oh, the ass she kicks! I was in absolute awe of every fight scene that Laura was in. Violence is bad and we shouldn’t teach children to solve their problems with violence, but man did I get a thrill out of watching a girl of 10 dishing out a whirlwind of mayhem against those that got what’s coming to them. And, boy, are there a lot of people that need their comeuppance! *squee*
“Logan” is a movie with a story wonderfully told. There is no beating around the bush and no watering down of a truly depressing tale. That is a rare thing to see from Hollywood. Besides a few minor story complaints and not being thrilled with their choice of a Big Bad, I loved this movie. It is well worth your time and I believe it will hold up well to repeated viewings. Sadly, this will be the last time we see either Hugh Jackman or Patrick Stewart in their respective roles, but they could not have gone out in finer style.