Logan is a much different “superhero” movie than any we’ve seen before. In fact, it is hard to even call it a superhero movie. It is a movie about old, tired men trapped in a world in which they no longer belong. It is a movie about Logan, not about the Wolverine. It gained a lot from the R-rating, building a bleak world that Logan is trapped in. He’s wracked with pain, scarred and broken from hundreds of years of fighting and killing. He’s taking care of Charles Xavier as they live on the run, the world around them now devoid of mutants.

It is the best comic book movies that I’ve seen in a long time. The young girl, Laura (Dafne Keen) does a fantastic job, something I can rarely say about child actors. She’s almost bestial as X-23, and watching her discover the world feels like an animal released into a new habitat. She wants to touch everything, play with everything, and learn as much as she can. But brimming underneath this is an undercurrent of unbridled rage eager to break out. She’s vicious and acrobatic, just as capable as Logan at dishing out punishment in a more nimble package.

Logan has slowed down. He’s covered in scars and wounds, pus leaking from the holes his claws leave in his hands. His claws are pitted, almost corroded next to the gleaming metal of Laura’s claws. He swings and stumbles, fighting brutally, far from the clean acrobatics of the earlier movies. He doesn’t feel invulnerable anymore, far from it. He’s weak and scared and tired. He doesn’t heal like he used to, and his body doesn’t move the way he wants it to.

But he still takes care of Charles as best as he can. It is sad to see these once superhuman heroes brought low, a genius trapped within his own mind, having to be carried around by one of his oldest friends, unable to even use the bathroom by himself. Logan is trying to tackle his own rage, his failing body, and his powers which keep him alive against his own will.

The only really weak point of this movie is the villain. They’re a little too omnipotent, a little too charismatic, a little too capable to make the struggle here believable. It raises more than a few questions that it chooses to never answer. Is the company they work for backed by the government? If so, then many of their actions make no sense whatsoever.

It is a character movie with a villain forced in to keep the plot moving forward. The fights are bloody and cool, but what I really like about this movie were the quiet moments in between. There were a few pieces here where we got to see what a younger, more capable Logan would be like, and it is amazing. To contrast, there are an abundance of moments where he struggles, hands shaking as he puts on a pair of reading glasses, Logan takes The Wolverine and makes him back into James Howlett, from a superhero to a man, reclaiming his humanity as he tries to throw his life away. It’s bleak, angry, sad, and tender, and not only is it a good comic book movie, it is just a good movie.

4/5

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Tags: Logan, X-Men, Super Heroes, Comic Book Movies