The supposed-last Hugh Jackman X-Men film is receiving high praise from critics and fans alike, many saying that it is the best superhero flick since The Dark Knight. Others are clamoring for Logan to receive Oscar nominations for best picture and best male actor. Unfortunately, I left the theater Friday night feeling disappointed that the 10th installment to the X-Men film franchise didn't live up to the buzz surrounding it.
The first half of the movie I was all in. I was loving the ride that Wolverine and Professor Xavier were taking me on, excited to see where it would lead me.
X-23 (AKA "Laura") is introduced and immediately she garners my respect. When a main character in a film is a kid with superpowers, it's risky. It hinges on the child actor's ability to deliver and the director's ability to make it believable and something the audience wants to invest in. I can think of a number of films where too much has been invested in to a child with crazy powers and it doesn't work well (most notably Looper- but that's another story). X-23 is fantastic however, and the whole premise involving her and her complicated relation to Logan, as well as their chemistry together worked very well.
This is the first X-Men film to receive an "R" rating, another facet that added excitement to the film. It provided some newer layers and depths to be explored, but I think the writers ultimately got lost in their new freedoms, which led to a big turning point in the film, which is where I stopped loving the direction the film was going.
This comes as a result of the introduction to X-24; my biggest gripe with Logan. We get a very nice, touching family scene. Heart goes a long way in creating quality superhero films. Moments later however, the film forcefully shifts from a sweet, road-trip story to a jarring horror film. I don't think it was a very smooth transition, and I didn't like what it did with the story.
Forget the fact that a kind, innocent family gets slaughtered for no apparent reason, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Charles Xavier dies for the second time in the film's franchise, this death being even worse than the first. How many times do you have to kill Professor X?
I didn't like the way that Professor X went out. I don't know why the film franchise felt the need to bring him back, just to kill him again. And if he had to die, I think they could have utilized his death better in the film's story-telling. I didn't feel that the death helped the story and instead, we lost an interesting element to the story's fabric.
So we lose Professor X and enter in one of the most generic, plain villains we can find: X-24. The hero-fights-a-clone-of-himself thing happens a lot in movies, and in many cases comes off as lazy. Wolverine has already fought a number of villains that possess similar qualities to his. In X2, he fights "Lady Deathstrike", a mutant controlled by Stryker that has the same healing powers as Wolverine as well as claws. She's basically a female version of Wolverine. As if that weren't enough, X-Men Origins: Wolverine features Wolverine fighting other members of 'Weapon X' such as Sabretooth and an unofficial Deadpool, who each have the same regeneration powers.
Now we have an actual clone of Wolverine that's being controlled by a similar group that is trying to control mutants. Ho-hum.
I would have liked to see a new villain, a new challenge! A new enemy. Donald Pierce made for a much more interesting villain, but he wasn't developed well. Instead, we get the same old thing. Having a good villain is key to a superhero movie's success.
In some ways, the plot felt similar to that of Iron Man 2, in which Tony Stark has something inside of him that is slowly killing him and he fights a bunch of rogue suits similar to his Iron Man suit. This time around, we're aware that something on the inside is killing Wolverine, but I think this could have been better explained. It's never addressed why, 20 years in the future, he's aged more than he ever has in his centuries of existence.
Also, what happened to all the other mutants? There are hints thrown that they all were killed off, but why couldn't this be more clear? Jean Gray and Scott Summers were resurrected at the end of Days of Future Past, potentially setting the series up for a new trilogy featuring the mutants at Xavier's school. These films can still be made, considering this story takes place in the future, but if a future film culminates in the mutants all being killed, I don't have much interest in seeing that movie.
Another question: what's with the adamantium bullet? X-24 is presumably dead after getting shot with the alloy, but when Wolverine gets shot in the head with it in Origins, he just loses his memory. There are some significant continuity issues here (which isn't unfamiliar to X-Men).
There are some big plot-holes that shouldn't be excused.
In the end, we see Wolverine finally die. After two decades of discussing with your friends how you could kill Wolverine, I find his death to be anticlimactic. Nevertheless, it truly is heartbreaking to not only see Wolverine die, but to know his story arc; to know that he never finds peace or joy in anything in his life. It finally appears that he's found something he genuinely cares about and wants to invest in- Laura. But then he dies.
This didn't have to be the story for one of my favorite superheroes. It could have ended differently. But it appears the writers wanted to create something ultra-dark. Not every movie has to have a happy ending, but I wasn't 100% satisfied with the way this film ended. I think there was more potential with this one.
Whether it's actually the end for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, time will tell. Technically the studio can always make films that take place prior to the year 2029, so there are some possibilities there. The film set itself up for a future with X-23 and her mutant friends. X-23 has a bright future in a the X-Men universe, but that future would be even brighter if it included Wolverine.
Masterpiece? No way. Logan is an alright superhero movie, but not one of the best, and not even the best X-Men film up to date. I'd give this film a 6.5/10. It wasn't bad by any means, but it did have its flaws. Logan was in my eyes, overrated and I don't think it will receive any Oscar buzz. I think this chatter comes as a result of it only being March, notably a time when there isn't a lot of great stuff out there in theaters.
What did you think of Logan? Did it live up to the hype? Comment and let me hear your thoughts!
it's not even a superhero movie-it's just a mess.
ReplyDelete