Logan The Wolverine - Movie Review

Desi Rating : 4/5 stars

Directed by: James Mangold
Produced by: Hutch Parker, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner
Screenplay by: Scott Frank, James Mangold, Michael Green
Story by: James Mangold
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant

Logan is yet another brilliant film from Marvel universe. It’s not the usual super hero flick where we see high on moral super heroes fighting epic battles with super villains with cities being destroyed, instead Logan takes you to that side of the super hero world which we don’t get to see often. Last time we got something similar, was in “Watchmen” but Logan is much more mature and evolved treatment of the subject. Logan is the third installment in the wolverine series and is inspired from the graphic novel "Old Man Logan", by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. Here we see Logan past his prime. Our super hero is no longer in flashy costume and there are no super high tech facilities where half of the people talk in may believe scientific gibberish. For once we see human element of our super human heroes.

Logan is old, tired, financially struggling and living an ordinary life. He with the help of albino mutant Caliban is taking care of senile Charles Xavier with only one goal in mind to save enough money for a boat to live life on the ocean. His world changes when responsibility of protecting and transporting a young girl who has same super human abilities as him, is forced on his shoulder. Script deals with the ordinary human element of Wolverine with such excellence that at times one forgets if the movie is based on super hero comic book character. We get to see simple moments like a family conversation about hopes and dreams on dinner table especially dialogues between Logan and Charles Xavier are heart wrenching. But this is a Marvel movie so off course there are super hero moments. Storyline has a balanced equation between drama and action, whenever heavy dramatic scenes start to impact the pace of the film we get an action sequences to get things back on track. However, I believe second act of the film could have been more crisp and I was also confused regarding where does it stay within X-Men timeline.

Action sequences are raw and gruesome mainly because of Logan’s don’t care attitude. He is not on a mission to save the world any more, he cares about himself only and therefore we see Logan cutting limbs and using his blades in every possible manner. But the best action comes from 11-year-old Dafne Keen who is playing Laura or X23 in the film, which is disturbing because of her age yet entertaining as she is strong with high survival instincts resulting in limbs and heads being chopped off un-apologetically.
Hugh Jackman is great as Logan; he has delivered one of the best performance of his career, he breathes the character. I cannot imagine anyone else as Logan. Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier gives a performance that has power to give you a teary eye and Dafne Keen as Laura/X23 is ferocious yet innocent. Their chemistry together as a family work well aswell. Boyd Holbrook as Donald Pierce has just the right amount of menace and arrogance that makes him stand tall in front of Logan, which is a big achievement. Rest of the cast is good in their respective parts.
It’s hard to believe that this movie is coming from James Mangold who gave us “The Wolverine” in 2013 (second installment in Wolverine series) which was a disaster on so many levels. With Logan, he seems to have hit jackpot. His story and direction along with every other element like acting, action, script etc. is spot on. I absolutely loved the dark mature western treatment of the film.
After 17 years and 9 movies, Logan-The Wolverine is a befitting goodbye to Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of iconic Wolverine. I go with 4 stars.