Logan is one hell of a film, a modern day western with tortured soul of a character who happens to have claws. Hugh Jackman once again gives it his all and thankfully this time around, the writing was far superior over the previous solo films.
Logan
(2017)
Genre(s): Drama, Adventure
Fox | R – 121 min. – $39.99 | May 23, 2017
Date Published: 05/26/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 4.0/5 |
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Note: This review contains MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS, so reader(s) beware. Again, there are MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS. My first viewing of Logan was a couple weeks following its March release. First impressions were that it was good but hardly great and didn’t move me on an emotional level. This second time around, my rating increased slightly (3.75 to 4.0) but admittedly I did find the journey for Logan aka The Wolverine was an poignant one, to the point I’m in the camp Hugh Jackman is deserving of an Academy Award nomination.
The film is set in 2029. The mutant species has been all but eradicated and Logan (HUGH JACKMAN) makes his living driving drunk partiers in a sleek limo with, as shown in the opening, buck shots in the rear door following a takedown, earning its much anticipated R-rating right off the bat, of gang members attempting to take the rims off his (leased) car. Logan has a property just across the Mexican border where he is taking care of an ailing Charles Xavier (PATRICK STEWART) whose mind is slowly deteriorating and if he’s not given shots and taking pills, is dangerous to humanity. Staying with Xavier while Logan is away is an albino mutant named Caliban (STEPHEN MERCHANT) — a character who appeared in X-Men: Apocalypse — who has the ability to sense other mutants but has deadly sensitivity to the sun. Although Logan wants nothing more than to lay low and build up capital to buy a boat so he and Charles can live life in some peace out on the open ocean where Charles is not a danger to others. But all good plans go by the wayside when a woman looking for The Wolverine; of course he’s none too pleased and tries to blow her off. Eventually she reveals that men working for a experimental facility are after her a girl named Laura (DAFNE KEEN) who, we eventually discover, escaped from the facility and has special gifts, of the same variety of Logan himself, and offers $50k to drive them to North Dakota where they, and other escaped children with abilities, await for safe passage into Canada. On their trail is Pierce (BOYD HOLBROOK) and his boss, Dr. Rice (RICHARD E. GRANT)
Logan more or less is part road trip, part western (even showing a scene from 1953’s Shane) and on both fronts, it works. No, the plot isn’t exactly intricate and the villains aren’t really all that interesting which is nothing new for comic book movies but instead, and unlike X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine, the focus is almost solely focused on characters and far less spectacle. James Mangold returns to the director’s chair following The Wolverine which had its good parts before devolving into familiar territory in the third act. Here, this is a much smaller movie both in story and scale. While I can’t say Jackman ever gave a bad performance in his larger roles, this is easily his best displaying a wide array of emotions from bitterness to acceptance and eventually, sacrifice.
Patrick Stewart also delivers as he always does and he and Jackman share such great fatherly-son chemistry; and the young Dafne Keen marks her feature film debut and she does good considering 85%+ of the film she doesn’t have a line, has to act with her eyes and at most grunts. The relationship between Keen’s Laura and Logan was emotional and really well done, tragically paying off in the end. I don’t believe Logan is one of the best superhero movies ever made (I have it ranked #13), however it is undeniable that it is one of the more unique ones, much like The Dark Knight, at its core, was a crime-thriller as Logan is a modern western. It features some great performances led way by Jackman and makes a fitting finale for a beloved character that finally gets a proper solo outing. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.5/5 |
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This release comes with a slightly textured slip cover. Inside is a DVD Copy, a redemption code for the Digital HD copy and a Blu-ray of the black and white Logan Noir version. Audio Commentary – Co-Writer/Executive Producer/Director James Mangold. If you follow his Twitter feed, you know he’s an interesting, and confrontational dude, and his knowledge of the character really comes through making this a compelling track taking viewers inside the various scenes, story elements and more. Deleted Scenes (7:45; HD) – There are six scenes, including one alternate referencing Jean Grey, that adds a few extra character moments but they were probably rightly removed. An optional commentary with Mangold. Making Logan (1:16:05; HD) is a six-part making-of documentary that delves into just about every aspect of the movie as told by a variety of participants including Hugh Jackman, Patrick Wilson, James Mangold and many others and behind-the-scenes footage. Chapters Include:
Theatrical Trailers (6:32; HD)
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VIDEO – 4.75/5 |
| Fox unleashes Logan onto Blu-ray and is presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. This looks great in HD with a nice array of colors from the darker elements in keeping with a bleak story but there are flashes and pops of color here and there while skin tones appear natural looking. Detail is relatively sharp and there were no noticeable or major instances of artifacting, aliasing or other flaws while blacks look fairly stark. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The movie comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 channel track and while no doubt the UHD version received the Atmos treatment, this still sounds fantastic. There’s a fair amount to judge from this movie; sure there aren’t major explosions or over-the-top action sequences, what is there, such as the forest chase scene toward the end, boosts out of every available speaker while dialogue levels sound crisp, clear and clean mostly outputting through the center channel. In addition, Marco Beltrami’s score sounds rather good. |
OVERALL – 4.5/5 |
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Overall, Logan is one hell of a film, a modern day western with tortured soul of a character who happens to have claws. Hugh Jackman once again gives it his all and thankfully this time around, the writing was far superior over the previous solo films. This Blu-ray released by Fox offers great video/audio transfers to go along with an excellent set of bonus material. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.