Some five years ago when James Mangold was announced as the director of “The Wolverine” (2013), the second standalone feature starring Hugh Jackman’s mercurial X-Men character, the fit sounded perfect. The director of “Cop Land” (1997), “Walk the Line” (2005) and “3:10 to Yuma” (2007), not only understands loners, but unlike so many filmmakers today, he actually understands what it means to be a man. The result, however, was a massive misfire. Other than a stunning Bullet Train chase, Wolverine: Samurai was a tedious and lumbering affair.
Thankfully, Mangold was given a second chance (and the chance to work off his own story instead of someone else’s) because “Logan” is about as good as a superhero/action movie gets.
Set just 13 years in the future (2029), America is already a Dystopia, a country that looks as though Barack Obama never left office. The South resembles Mexico in all the wrong ways, the government worships science to a brutal degree, and through the abuse of eminent domain, large corporations have pretty much squeezed out the American middle class.
Still suffering from the adamantium poisoning he received in Tokyo, Logan is now well into his middle age and very slow to heal. All that’s recognizable from the Wolverine we were introduced to 9 whole films and 17 years ago, is his rage, which now burns even hotter thanks to a lifetime of loss, guilt, regret and whiskey.
One of the last of his kind in a world that has successfully aborted the mutant gene, Logan works and sleeps in his limo, and saves every penny as a means of buying a yacht so he can live out the rest of his life all alone in the middle of the ocean. This stupid and unrealistic dream is all he has.
Just across the border in Mexico, an aged and increasingly senile Charles Xavier (like Jackman, a never-better Patrick Stewart) waits to die in a collapsed water tower used to protect those around him from the deadly psychic attacks that come with his seizures. Logan is his caretaker.
The arrival of 11-year-old Laura (an Oscar-worthy Dafne Keen — trust me, this kid is amazing) upends everything. She’s mute, mysterious, stubborn as hell, and being relentlessly hunted by Donald Pierce and his gang of Reavers. Laura needs to get to a place named Eden, and can only get there with Logan’s help. Fat chance. He doesn’t want to go anywhere, help anyone or do anything other than drink and drive.
The best way to illustrate the tone and feel of “Logan” is “Rocky Balboa” (2006). All the Hollywood, all the sheen, all the razzle dazzle-CGI has been stripped away to the bare essence of a lonely, gritty, aging, down-and-dirty man. Gone are the Ivan Dragos and Magnetos. We are back in a very real world, back to the study of a character we have spent decades with, back to a place where the laws of gravity apply, where people get hurt and regularly use the word “f*ck.”
“Logan” is also the first R-rated “X-Men,” and all the better for it.
At 137 minutes, my only complaint is a runtime that could have easily lost 10 or 15 minutes. Nonetheless, when the credits rolled, I didn’t want it to end.
Part “Mad Max,” part “Shane,” “Logan” is a worthy successor to both and one filled with a number of grace notes. My favorite being a rare moment of normalcy for Logan when he spends the night with a Christian, gun-toting family in Oklahoma City — one of the few able to hang on in Obama’s America, and only able to do so thanks to the Second Amendment.
“Logan” is plenty violent, action-packed (but grounded), and extremely moving in places. This is supposed to be our goodbye to both Jackman’s and Stewart’s role in the franchise. In this day and age, that is never a sure thing, but if it is, both the Wolverine and Professor X could not ask for a more fitting farewell.
Nor could we.
P.S. I am well aware the Christian film “The Shack” hits theaters this weekend. But I have long made it a policy never to review films or documentaries made by or for Christians and/or conservatives. If I don’t like them and say so (which I would), everyone hates me. If I do like them, no one believes me. There is no upside for anyone, most especially me.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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