After playing Wolverine for 17 years, Hugh Jackman is finally pulling out of his signature role. “Logan” allows the iconic character to depart with a bang while delivering a dark and gratifying look at his inner struggles. Rather than setting up a massive epic of good versus evil à la “The Avengers,” “Logan” works best as a character study. In turn, it’s the perfect send-off to viewers favorite brooding clawed figure.
The movie is never shy about its R rating — especially in an opening half hour filled with more F-bombs, decapitations and topless bachelorettes than a viewer could shake an adamantium claw at. These opening sequences feel gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous. Thankfully, though, the film soon catches its breath and quits trying so hard to prove itself as a “mature” Wolverine movie. The pacing improves, the swearing and bloodshed feel more naturally placed and the character development starts working in tandem with the carnage.
This cast of heroes is one of the strongest aspects of the X-Men series. Everyone knows what to expect from Jackman’s tough and distant Wolverine, but the other real stars are Patrick Stewart’s reprisal of Charles Xavier and child star Dafne Keen’s debut of new mutant Laura. With Xavier no longer being the always-in-control professor who could wreck the world with his mind on a whim, Stewart reinvents the character as a dying millstone around Wolverine’s neck who struggles to remind him of his roots. Meanwhile, Keen’s lack of dialogue masks a surprisingly versatile performance as she alternates between a stare colder than Medusa’s and a fierce shriek during action sequences.
In spite of these wonderfully nuanced characters, it’s a shame that the actual plot feels contrived. The bad guys are still government officials looking to use mutants as militants. Wolverine is still hesitant to come out of retirement and is constantly tormented by his notorious “Claws don’t kill people, I kill people” conundrum. In short, the movie reuses many of the tropes past Wolverine spin-offs relied on.
However, these contrivances end up working in the movie’s favor, as they provide a superb execution of its character explorations rather than a strive for originality. It differs from “The Avengers” — a film that forces viewers to try to piece together some incoherent mythos behind the main villain’s lore. On the other hand, “Logan” thrives on its complex characters and fuzzy morality lurking in the shadows of every scene.
“Logan” offers no respite from its darkness, unlike the hilarious “Deadpool,” Marvel’s other flagship R-rated film. However, the film is just as daring in its own right. Once the movie gets comfortable with its rating and starts thoroughly examining its characters, it pans out as one of the most memorable superhero movies in some time.
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