There’s much to be said about an actor playing a particular role in film nine times.
In a way, he/she must’ve done?something right and even made?that particular role nearly iconic. Hugh Jackman has done that, to my dismay (or dislike, however you want to call it). It’s not that I’m not a fan of his. It’s just that I’ve never been a fan of his portrayal of Wolverine. Only twice have I?felt that the character that I grew up admiring and loving was captured as he should be, but most of the time it was someone else. This is probably more on the studio and scripts than it is on Hugh. After X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I completely gave up on them. (In fact, it wasn’t until two weeks ago that I finally saw The Wolverine because there was nothing else to watch on TV and, even then, I found myself playing games on my phone rather than watching the movie.)
So here I am, I paid to see the film on a Thursday night for two reasons: It was Hugh Jackman’s last hoorah and it was the live action appearance of my second favorite Wolverine…X-23 (aka Laura). When I first heard she would be in the film, I cringed. I felt that, not only had?they ruined Logan, but now they were going to?ruin Laura as well. When?the trailers came out, I felt a little more optimistic yet still apprehensive. With all this, I bought my tickets, went to the theater, leaned back the comfy recliner and, finally, I saw the real Wolverine.
Logan is set in a distant future. Mutants are basically no more (as was said in the trailers) and Logan himself is a mess. Running away from a life he wants to forget, his life is turned upside down with the discovery of a young girl just like him. Throughout the film you see a man that has taken everything life has thrown at him and quite frankly doesn’t want to live anymore. Yet, even in a broken state, there is the kind, good man. I felt previous films failed to show Logan’s brokenness but this film finally captured it extremely well. He isn’t the prototypical hero and, even with healing factor, he isn’t invulnerable. Logan is a multi layered character that basically has dealt with crap his whole life and has always survived. In this film, we finally see that Logan: the one that wentthrough hell and back and yet still?shows why he is the best at what he does.
However, Logan really isn’t the highlight of this film. X-23 gets the origin story in film that Wolverine never really got. I won’t sugar coat it, she is extremely violent, she is hurt, abused and, later, redeemed. She is everything like Logan, and if you know her history then you know why. Throughout the film, she is trying to fight what she is while also trying to figure out who she should be. She’s chasing freedom, but discovering something much more. Her life has been nothing short of awful, yet the hero she is meant to be runs through her blood. She is the one that helps Logan find his way back and remind him just who he is and she also finds out who she should be. She’s Laura and she’s not a mistake. She’s her father’s daughter and she’s the best at what she does.
In such a bloody film (yes, it’s bloody, that’s why it’s rated R), it’s amazing to find so much heart. ]Logan is a film that teaches us that life is rough and no matter how hard it gets, we need to remember one thing, the importance of family. Family is the rock we can lean on to get us through this journey called life. It’s no wonder Jesus calls us His brothers and sisters, because He desires us all to be family and He understands the importance of it. The Lord created family for a reason because without it we are nothing. Logan and Laura discover it and in their way teach us what truly matters.
Logan is a great film that was well done in every way. I would say I only had two complaints that I won’t spoil since they serve major roles to the actual film, but I really felt on those two parts they should have expanded a little more.
Furthermore, there is an amazing short film (if we want to call it that) right at the beginning, so don’t miss it. However, there is no end credits trailer, so don’t bother staying till the end. All and all, I will again say that, even though it took nine attempts, the real Wolverines did stand up.
And they were amazing.
Man! Spoilers! Sheesh!
I feel that the first 2/3 of the film was everything you said for the most part. But that last third (and it felt loooooooong) was less than. Several plot threads (which were given much emphasis) were left dangling with no resolutuon. I’m not sure if it was done to tease future films or if it was just sloppy editing. Either way, I wanted to like the film more than I did. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my fave X-Film. The performances (Patrick Stewart!) were great and yes, finally seeing Logan’s claws on full, violent display was thrilling. The ending just didn’t quite satisfy.