Logan -2017
Let me start this write-up with a bold, unsubstantiated claim: THIS film is as groundbreaking in the genre as Nolan’s Dark Knight was years ago. Yes, it is THAT freaking epic. It is that brilliantly schemed and executed. And it’s absolute BS that Logan was not nominated for Best Picture. No excuse. Piss poor. Just…wrong.
Anyway, on with it. In the world of superheroes and mutants, there are dozens of “What If” scenarios which make for gleeful comic fanboy talk in shops and nerd forums the world over. Who would really win in a fight between Thor and the Hulk? How does one superhero really kill another? What if the Hulk had Thor’s hammer? What about Superman and Batman? What is Batman’s actual superpower, besides sick gadgets? How have film studios and owner rights managed to jack up the original iteration of the Avengers and somehow downplay the magnitude of the Civil war? (You can tell I’m not very good at this.)
Director James Mangold absorbed the fantasy world which birthed these and much better questions, shelved them, and somehow found the most profound one of all: What happens when superheroes begin to die? Or, put differently, what becomes of superbeings when they are subject to the decay of all living things on Earth? What a brilliantly high-browed concept! Then, he grabs the two best mutants of all (yeah, it’s debatable) – Wolverine and Professor X – and shoves them into the trappings of a contemporary Western along the Mexican border. This is just mind-blowing stuff.
For all his one-liners and smartass-ery, we loved Wolverine the most not just because of his sick blades, but because of his beating heart. It is, in fact, why we love all the best cowboys. Beneath the hard exterior, long stares, and terse words lie real men. Cowboys’ loner status are always betrayed by their hidden care, and so they get sucked into the plights of the women and children (the Duke’s Big Jake, The Cowboys, or True Grit) or less fortunate communities (Eastwood’s Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter, or, yeah, Gran Torino) in which they find themselves. This manifests itself ultimately in the greatest Western trope of them all – the hero’s last stand. And that is EXACTLY what we find in the exceptional final 20 minute sequence of the film.
Yes, you heard it here. Logan. It’s that good. Is it ultra-violent? Absolutely. Is it executed to near perfection with panache? You betcha.
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