Logan
Review: Though not my personal favorite, this is easily the best film in the ‘X-Men’ franchise. It was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 90th Academy Awards and I really think it also could’ve gotten Best Picture & Best Actor noms as well. This is by no means a hot, or even warm, take, but this is Hugh Jackman’s career best performance. The culmination of him playing Logan for 17 years. There are a handful of specific things I’d like to mention. Firstly the villains aren’t very memorable, but that’s okay. For those who don’t remember, the villains names are Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant), & X-24 (Hugh Jackman). One memorable thing for me is Logan telling Rice that he killed his father and Grant’s reaction to that makes me crack up. All 3 villains play the roles they need to, but it reminds you the story isn’t about them. It’s about Logan & Laura. And Dafne Keen is phenomenal as Laura. This is one of the best child acting performances I personally have ever watched. Patrick Stewart’s performance is so powerful and the tragedy he gives Charles in these films is like nothing we see from Stewart or McAvoy in any of the other films. And him dying while thinking it was Logan (his de facto son) killing him is so heartbreaking. I also want to shoutout Stewart’s delivery of many lines including referring to the institute as a ‘special needs school’ and saying about Logan, ‘he was there too.’ It’s crazy how the filmmakers can insert just an ‘X’ into the monumental moments in these films and it works every dang time.
Hugh: Yes this is the Hugh, not the High. The Hugh is Hugh. And the beautiful sendoff he gets (that is NOT ruined by ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’) was perfect for this character. Him being a reluctant father figure up until the very last moment was very on brand. Him going absolutely primal & berserk in the final act was stellar and 10/10. I also love how Laura quotes the lines she watched earlier and how well they fit the moment. They’re from that one Western I can never remember the name of. (Look it up if you don’t know and you’ll get my joke)
Low: I feel like this has been my low for like 6 different ‘X-Men’ films, but it’s the timeline. This is said to take place after Wolverine change the timeline in ‘Days of Future Past’ and the timeline still went to crap for mutants. But there are so many inconsistencies from dates and timetables to references to movies that’s events no longer occurred after he altered time. Another low is that this wasn’t the final film. I don’t mind ‘Dark Phoenix,’ but ‘The New Mutants’ is bad, and everyone could’ve gone without both films. Fox should’ve stopped when Hugh Jackman stopped.
Rating: 9/10
