Gordon Brennan gets his claws into Logan.
It was four years after Weapon X’s last solo effort in The Wolverine (2013) that Hugh Jackman returned to our screens, unsheathing claws like we’d never seen before in Logan. The year is 2029. Mutants, as we have come to know them since X-Men in 2000, have seemingly disappeared from the gene pool. In a world without mutant warfare, Logan’s sole purpose is the protection of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), whom he hides in an abandoned water tower somewhere beyond the Mexican border.
Logan’s intention is to stay incognito long enough to save up to purchase a boat for himself and the ailing professor, on which they can live out the rest of their days on the high seas. Logan’s plan to escape a world where mutants have all but ceased to exist seems to be going according to plan. That is right up until a nurse seeks him out and entrusts him with the life of an exceedingly capable little girl named Laura (Dafne Keen). Charged with her safety despite his reluctance, Logan soon discovers Laura’s special gifts and must prevent her from being apprehended by mechanically enhanced mercenaries led by Narcos’ Boyd Holbrook.
Written and directed by James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line), Logan appears as a futuristic ode of sorts to the great westerns of the 20th century: a battle-hardened warrior, thought long gone by his enemies, embarks on one last journey across the American heartland as the forces of evil nip at his spurred heels. The film even contains a scene where Professor X and Laura sit and watch Shane (1953) - the tale of a weary gunfighter attempting to settle down, only to be forced to act after being inadvertently embroiled in a rancher’s conflict. I’ll stop there and allow fans to draw their own comparisons before I risk a spoiler.
It would appear that the financial and critical success of 2016’s Deadpool paved the way for the R-rated superhero. By alienating a large chunk of the standard superhero audience, Logan has been given a unique licence to provide fans with a gritty and unapologetic depiction of a well-established character such as James Howlett’s adamantium-clad alter ego. Bloody, without being gratuitous, and comically vulgar without being crass, Fox has once again capitalised by braving waters the DC and Marvel cinematic multiverses. At one point, Logan offers a fearful vision of the future as jingoistic drunkards chant ‘U-S-A’ while their limo passes a towering section of the U.S./Mexican border. Moments like these elevate Logan to the realm of social commentary - another previously unthinkable element in a truly envelope-pushing comic book movie.
It’s been a long and winding road along the lead X-Men character’s path to cinematic justice, but fans of the clawed crusader need look no further. Logan is arguably the most original and convention-shattering film of its genre since Christopher Nolan’s seminal The Dark Knight in 2008. Since then, comic book fans have had very little to shout about in terms of dramatic content and storytelling.
Logan is the abrasive, emotion-evoking antithesis to all that has come before it. From the most devoted Marvel fans to those seeking a hark back to the simpler days of Shane, there’s something for everyone here in this genuine game-changer.
Logan is available to stream online now.
