DIRECTOR: James Mangold
WRITER: Scott Frank
ACTORS: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook
No doubt about it, superpower movies are thrilling fantasy adventures. They engage the adrenalin surge. This movie, however, is more about engaging the heart than the adrenalin.
Little did I realize “Logan” was a Wolverine story. Nevertheless, I was immediately engaged because, from the beginning, it was evident to me this movie was more about the human condition than human superpowers. We see Logan struggling to survive undercover as a mere human on the road to ultimate death. We witness his gruff reluctance to save his mentor, Charles, now fragile and broken by the aftereffects of his own superpowers.
Disillusioned and bitter, Logan’s love and respect for his mentor renders him a vulnerable fragility which we can’t ignore. The tenderness which cannot quite overcome the sharp ruthless edge of his metallic claws is heartbreakingly real.
He knows nothing else but that he must protect his loyal friends who are all quite overcome by their own superabilities which now betray them at every turn. When a new child mutant enters his life, one which possesses his own Wolverine traits, what choice does he have but to protect her too?
My journey in this movie was more about the challenges which arise because of conflicting emotions: compassion vs. hatred; forgiveness vs. anger; vengeance vs. love. Sometimes the opposites co-exist. What then do you do? I absolutely identified with Logan’s dilemma.
Does he use his hated savage power for the good of others? To save an innocent child’s life? To guide that child to a gentler, more normal existence despite her Wolverine powers?
In the end, at great cost to himself, Logan has no choice but to allow his monster-self to prevail in order to defend those he loves most. This is an excellent movie, directed with nuanced sensitivity.
GEN: 9; JUST: N/A HUVA: 6
TAGS: James Mangold, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Wolverine, X-men, Logan
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