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LOGAN
Starring Hugh Jackman (Logan / Wolverine), Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier / Professor X), Boyd Holbrook (Pierce), Stephen Merchant (Caliban), and Dafne Keen (Laura / X-23) with Richard E. Grant (Dr. Zander Rice)
Directed by James Mangold
Produced by Simon Kinberg, Hutch Parker, and Lauren Shuler Donner
Written by Scott Frank, Michael Green, and James Mangold
Music By Marco Beltrami
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 2 hours and 17 minutes
World Premier: February 17, 2017, Berlin, Germany
Opening Weekend Box Office: $88 million (United States)
Worldwide Box Office: $619 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
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Fun Logan Facts
In the Spring of 2014, James Mangold, who directed The Wolverine officially signed on to direct a sequel, which would be the third film in Fox’s Wolverine trilogy. Hugh Jackman signed on to star in the film soon thereafter in a reprisal of his role as the Wolverine character, though he began publicly acknowledging that his time as the character was nearing its end.
In early-2015, actor Patrick Stewart’s involvement in the film in a reprisal of his role as Charles Xavier / Professor X began to be reported, with Stewart confirming that talks were ongoing. That Fall, Mark Millar suggested that the third Wolverine film would be a loose adaptation of his Old Man Logan comic book story. The name of the film was also confirmed as Logan. In the Spring of 2016, Producer Simon Kinberg announced that Logan would be Rated-R.
Old Man Logan was written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Steve McNiven and released in the Summer of 2008. The series takes places in a dystopian future that is ruled over by supervillains. The Red Skull is the President of the United States. Superheroes are a thing of the past, with most of the beloved heroes that readers know having been killed off. An elderly Wolverine has settled down in Sacramento, California in a territory that is ruled over by Hulk’s. He is married to a woman named Maureen and they have two children: Jade and Scotty. Logan has sworn off fighting after inadvertently murdering his X-Men teammates after being caught up in a complex illusion cast by Mysterio that made Logan think that his friends were actually invading supervillains. This mentally and spiritually crushed Wolverine. In desperate need of money, Logan ends up hooking up with an elderly (and blind) Clint Barton, who has covert hopes of changing the proverbial game. Logan’s family is killed by the Hulk’s while he is gone and he when he returns to discover the fate that has befallen them, Logan completely snaps and declares war on the Hulk’s and vows to take down all of the supervillains in power. Old Man Logan generated a lot of critical acclaim within the comic book industry. I believe it is completely fair to say that it was a story unlike anything that Marvel had ever published. It was dark, and violent, and gory sure, but it was also jam-packed with over-the-top concepts and weird new takes on characters. There were incestuous hillbilly Hulk’s, Venom-bonded dinosaurs, and The Red Skull parading around in Captain America’s mask. It was different, and that made it memorable, and it was violent and shocking and that allowed it to generate a lot of headlines. I mean, if you want to see The Hulk eat Wolverine and discover that there are dire consequences, then this story is for you! Personally, I thought it was a fun and entertaining read, and Old Man Logan is probably my favorite incarnation of the Wolverine character.
Logan marked Hugh Jackman’s ninth time portraying Wolverine on film following previous appearances in X-Men, X2: X-Men: United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and X-Men: Apocalypse. This was a record at the time.
Logan was one of four Marvel films that were produced in 2017, but Logan was made without any input from Marvel Studios, as the working relationship between Marvel and Fox ended with 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, with Marvel Entertainment promoting Kevin Feige to lead the Marvel Studios team that would birth the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios produced Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two, Spider-Man: Homecoming (with Sony), and Thor: Ragnarok in 2017. Spider-Man: Homecoming ($880 million), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two ($863 million), and Thor: Ragnarok ($853 million) all outperformed Logan ($619 million) at the box office, but Logan was immensely successful, both financially and critically! Logan‘s 94% Approval Rating on Rotten Tomatoes was (and still is) the highest for any Fox X-Men film, and Logan was also Fox’s third highest-grossing X-Men film (behind Deadpool and X-Men: Days of Future Past) at the time of its release. On top of that, the general critical reception to Marvel characters on film was at an all-time high, with Logan, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok all eclipsing 90% on Rotten Tomatoes in 2017.
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The Fox X-Men film Universe is more than a little complicated, and some have suggested that Logan takes place in a completely Alternate Timeline than all of the previous films. It is my understanding however, that Logan takes place in the New Reality that was established in X-Men: Days of Future Past when Logan’s consciousness was sent back in time in an effort to change the future. Days of Future Past suggested that this was successfully accomplished with the pleasant reunion sequence with Logan and members of The X-Men that he knew previously to be dead (such as Jean, Scott, and Beast). Jean’s death at Logan’s hand is referenced in Logan, and that seems to be a contradiction on the surface, because that was changed … a careful study of the characters and Timelines will however reveal that even though this was changed, it is something that both Logan and Xavier would still remember, as Logan has memories of both Timelines because it was his consciousness that traveled back to the past from the future, and Xavier read Logan’s mind during the 1970’s and saw everything that was to come, so he too has memories of both Timelines. Logan is set in the future year of 2029, so obviously, some terrible things went down after he reunited with Xavier following his trip through time; one specific event that is only referenced that served to break both Logan and Charles, mentally and spiritually, leaving them both at the place they are in when we catch up with them in Logan. It would seem that in the end, changing the future only managed to change one possible dystopian future and that The X-Men were destined for tragedy, no matter what Logan or anyone else did. This was even mentioned by Beast in Days of Future Past when he compares attempts to change the past to one throwing a stone into a stream … ripples will occur, but the flow of water will eventually correct itself.
On December 17, 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced that an agreement had been reached with 20th Century Fox that would see Disney acquire Fox’s television and film divisions, among other things. Disney had acquired Marvel Entertainment at the end of 2009, and Marvel Studios with it. The lucrative Fox deal therefore landed the film rights to Marvel’s mutants under the Disney / Marvel Studios umbrella. Fox shareholders unanimously approved the transaction on July 27, 2018, and the deal was finalized on March 20, 2019.
Actor Richard E. Grant, who portrayed Doctor Zander Rice in Logan, would go on to be cast by Marvel Studios in the role of “Classic Loki” for the 2021 Disney+ series Loki.
2022’s Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw Marvel Studios cast actor Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X 5-years removed from Logan. Stewart had portrayed Xavier in X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Logan. The version of the Xavier character that Stewart portrayed in Multiverse of Madness however, has been described as a Multiversal Variant (from Earth-838) of the Xavier seen in the previous X-Men films. Even though this version of Xavier was not from the 616-Universe, the inclusion of Xavier in the Doctor Strange sequel was historically significant, as it marked the first appearance of a mutant character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Furthermore, the Xavier from Earth-838 was not only the leader of The X-Men, but also a member of the esteemed Illuminati which consisted of Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), Captain Carter (Peggy Carter), Black Bolt, Captain Marvel (Maria Rambeau), and Karl Mordo (who replaced Earth-838’s Doctor Strange), and the film treated longtime Marvel movie fans with a unique opportunity to see Xavier share the screen with MCU veterans such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Hayley Atwell, and Elizabeth Olsen.
Logan was marketed as being Hugh Jackman’s final time portraying Wolverine on film. Despite persistent pleas from Ryan Reynolds and despite Disney’s acquisition of Fox, and despite Patick Stewart returning to the role of Charles Xavier for Marvel Studios, Jackman remained insistent that he would not ever again portray Wolverine on film. On September 27, 2022, all of that changed when Ryan Reynolds publicly announced that Jackman would be returning to portray Wolverine in Deadpool 3; produced by Marvel Studios and set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Deadpool 3 is scheduled to be released in 2024.
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My Logan Review
So, a lot of fans – myself included – were intrigued by the notion of an Old Man Logan adaptation on film, but make no mistake, Logan isn’t really an Old Man Logan adaptation. The film in fact has very little to do with the comic book that it is “loosely” based on, aside from one key thing: Old Man Logan himself. What Logan really is, is a cinematic story revolving around the Old Man Logan character, and in terms of the spirit of that specific character, everyone involved got it right! Logan features a Wolverine that is old, broken, and defeated. He has had enough of his life, he has become disillusioned by the idea of heroes, and he longs for death. He is somewhere around 200-years old in real time (197 if my math is right), his healing factor is failing him, he seems to have most of, if not all of his memories (from two Timelines at that), and he has been shot, stabbed, blown up, and left for dead countless times. He has also lost time and time again, watching helplessly as people that he loved were taken from him, usually in horrific fashion. Taking in Logan’s life; the wars, the heroics, the tragedies, really makes him one of the most compelling characters in all of fiction and having him end up in such a place of despair and hopelessness and outright hatred for life makes Wolverine a superhero unlike any other. It is these things that are best adapted from the Old Man Logan comic book story, and it is these things that were probably the darkest part of that story. No one wants anyone to be able to relate to what Logan is feeling here, but suicide and depression rates let us know that there are plenty of people that do. This is sadly, a part of life for a lot of people and as dark as it is, I appreciated that this gloomy aspect of human existence was tackled on film within the medium of superhero storytelling. It makes Logan a superhero film unlike any other.
I believe Logan was a masterpiece.
Because it is dark, and sad, and juggles so many heavy things, I never call Logan my “favorite movie” when I talk about such things with people. It’s not something you just throw on and play in the background while you do chores, or host company, or even just want to pass the time. Logan isn’t funny. It isn’t lighthearted. It isn’t even a good time.
But it is a masterpiece.
It is a very well-made motion picture with incredible action sequences, drama, and a series of amazing performances by an immensely talented cast that stand out as some of the best in genre history to this day. Everyone takes the story and their characters seriously in Logan. This isn’t popcorn, quips, and explosions … it isn’t even about saving the world. It’s about a guy that wants to die getting his wish and that isn’t exactly a “feel good” type of deal.
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There IS heart in Logan though. A ton of it in fact, and there are things to be entertained by in this movie. If you are a fan of Wolverine for instance, Logan allows you to at long last see what a real-life Wolverine would look like in live action without having to rely on your imagination to fill in the blanks! This is Adamantium claws vs human flesh in vivid glory, and you don’t have to guess which one wins! This is a visceral and violent film that features a lot of bad people doing terrible things and then suffering some bad consequences! If you’re into that sort of thing, there’s a lot to like here, but again, it’s just window dressing for the real core of the story, which is the end of the cinematic journeys of Wolverine and Charles Xavier.
Logan takes place in a world where the mutant gene has been eradicated. No new mutants have been born in a couple of decades, and this has been due to the poisoning of food supplies. Logan is working as a limousine driver in El Paso, Texas, and he and the mutant tracker Caliban are the caretakers of a 90-year-old Charles Xavier that has certainly seen better days. Xavier is a physical shell of his former self. He is suffering from dementia and is prone to falling to victim to debilitating seizures that are immensely destructive due to his psychic abilities. We eventually learn that one such seizure resulted in the deaths of The X-Men. When Xavier suffers one of these seizures, he afflicts his victims with a painful and paralyzing aneurysm, and this is how The X-Men died. Logan, because of his healing factor, was the only X-Man that managed to survive the ordeal, and he now keeps Xavier in a drugged state to suppress his seizures and his abilities, as well as the memory of what happened to The X-Men.
Charles Xavier killed The X-Men. I cannot imagine a darker fate for that character, who did SO very much on behalf of mutants for his entire life. You think back to the bright-eyed young optimist that worked with the CIA in the 1960’s and campaigned so relentlessly for hope and then you look at the crippled, rambling old man in the wheelchair; alone and absent minded … it’s jarring and if you’re one of those people like I am that gets attached to fictional characters, it’s heartbreaking.
As we get caught up with these characters in 2029, we soon discover that Xavier is hearing the voice of a new mutant calling out to him. Logan believes this to be the ramblings of an old fool, but also realizes that this could be a warning sign that his medication is more imperative than ever. Logan has dreams of buying a yacht and trying to give Xavier a sort of serene end to his life. Logan is forever indebted to Charles because of what Charles has done for him and what they have been through together. Logan sees Charles as a father who took him in when he had no place left to go, saw the best in him, and gave him enough hope to see the best within himself. Logan loves Charles, for Charles was the first person to ever show him unconditional love. All of that hope however, has long since been lost due to where their respective journeys have landed them.
Logan reluctantly ends up taking a job to escort a former Alkali-Transigen nurse named Gabriela and her young daughter Laura to Eden; a supposed mutant refuge near the American-Canadian border. Logan soon discovers Gabriela dead however, after which he is confronted by Transigen’s Head of Security Pierce, who boasts cybernetic enhancements. Pierce insists he has merely come for the girl, but Logan refuses to cooperate, insisting he doesn’t have Laura, not knowing that she covertly hitched a ride with him back to his place. Laura soon makes herself known in violent fashion (she too has Adamantium claws … two in each hand and two in each foot). This leads to a car chase with Logan in a panic and Charles babbling on about how Laura was who he’d been trying to tell Logan about. Caliban is captured by Pierce during the carnage.
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Xavier and Logan go on to learn the true extent of who and what Laura is after accessing Gabriela’s phone. Laura was one of several new mutants created by Transigen via the combining of previously extracted mutant DNA with the children. This was done in yet another effort to create perfect weapons. The children proved too challenging to control and were ordered to be exterminated, but Gabriela and other nurses helped arrange for their escape. Laura was created through Logan’s specific DNA, making her his daughter. Laura was X-23.
While laying low at a hotel in Oklahoma City where a perturbed Logan flips through Laura’s treasured X-Men comic books, Pierce and his Reavers end up locating the trio and Charles suffers another seizure. Logan survives the torturous ordeal and gets Xavier his medication and they flee, ultimately landing at a family ranch which ends in tragedy when Transigen’s X-24 (Logan’s clone) arrives and kills the kind family en route to killing Xavier.
After burying Xavier, Logan blacks out from the injuries that he suffered fighting X-24 (also portrayed by Hugh Jackman) and is taken to a doctor who stitches Logan up. Logan then defiantly agrees to accompany Laura to North Dakota where he is surprised to discover a band of Laura’s young mutant friends.
Transigen soon arrives and Logan overdoses on a serum that temporarily speeds up his healing factor, returning to him some of the speed and strength that he knew in days long gone. Logan mows through Transigen forces before being detained and encountering Doctor Rice, who reveals that his vendetta against mutants was caused by Logan, who murdered his father years earlier at the Weapon X facility (as seen in X-Men: Apocalypse). Logan ends up shooting Pierce, killing him, while the mutant children overtake Pierce and presumably torture him to death. Logan then squares off against X-24 again and is overpowered by his clone, ultimately getting impaled on a large tree branch. Laura then shoots and kills X-24 with an Adamantium bullet that Logan had been keeping in the event he ever decided to attempt suicide.
Dying, Logan urges Laura not to be who she was made to be, and she acknowledges him as her father, holding his hand as he dies. Logan, just as Yukio foresaw in The Wolverine, dies while holding his own heart (Laura) in his hand. Logan is then buried, and Laura turns the two pieces of wood that formed a cross to serve as his headstone into the shape of an X.
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Let the tears roll!
Seriously, I cried so many times the first time that I watched this movie, and again, it is not a movie that I revisit as often as I do the traditional MCU films from Marvel Studios, but I really believe this movie had a place and I’m thrilled that it exists. This is great film. This is in fact one of the best superhero movies that I have ever seen. I’m more likely to watch Deadpool on any given day over this, so I call Deadpool my favorite Fox X-Men film, but Logan is number two, and honestly, it is the better movie.
Hugh Jackman. Patrick Stewart. Daphne Keen.
Those are the three reasons this movie was as good as it was. They each delivered the types of performances that define careers.
What more can I say about Hugh Jackman as Wolverine that I haven’t already written in previous reviews? He defined this character for a generation, putting together a body of work that spanned 17-years! His commitment to the role in terms of going to conventions and interacting with fans and familiarizing himself with the source material and keeping himself at peak physical conditioning is damn near unrivaled! He loved playing Wolverine and he campaigned to get Logan made! Hugh endured a lot of crap over the years with the X-Men franchise. There were some hits and there were some misses, but he was never the problem, and I see Logan as his personal love letter to the Wolverine character! I loved the raw, gritty, and vulnerable performance he gave throughout this film. You could feel his pain and you could see the sorrow in his eyes! His chemistry with the supporting cast was flawless and let’s not forget that he also portrayed X-24 in what was a very, very different take on the Wolverine character; one without remorse or empathy or emotion. Logan was a testament to Hugh Jackman’s immense talent and passion for the Wolverine character.
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I may be in the minority, but before I saw Logan, I preferred James McAvoy over Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier. I just felt that McAvoy gave the character a lot of depth and made him more relatable in a down to Earth sort of way. I think it’s fair to say that a lot of what McAvoy did, built off the foundation that Stewart laid, but in Logan, Stewart built off the foundations that McAvoy laid! More so than in any previous X-Men film, this version of Xavier felt like the James McAvoy version as an elderly man! We saw raw emotion and tragic vulnerability, and we saw nobility and hope and compassion in the face of all odds … and we saw the last flicker of light in Xavier’s eyes go dim as well. The fact that Charles thought Logan was killing him is so very tragic, and that whole sequence with him acknowledging the unspeakable thing that he’d done, and that Logan had so desperately tried to help him forget was so moving. He sees Logan as a true friend in those last moments and you can hear his love and appreciation for Logan come through in his voice, which was nice, considering how often he insulted Wolverine throughout this movie. It was beautiful until X-24 killed him, and ugh, what an awful way for the story of Professor X to end, but I loved Stewart’s chemistry with Hugh Jackman in this, and especially with Daphne Keen! Logan was a testament to Patrick Stewart’s ability as an actor and to his passion for Xavier as a character after being fan-cast for the role all those years earlier.
Daphne Keen may have been my most favorite part of Logan. Daphne was just 11-years old when she filmed her scenes as X-23, and to do what she did throughout this film as a child is just spectacular. It’s the greatest performance by a child that I have seen in a comic book movie! I loved her energy, her defiant attitude, and I loved the innocence in her eyes. The way she just casually kills and maims people made her a very fun character in a movie that wasn’t very fun. Amongst all of the slicing and stabbing are the little moments with comic books and cowboy hats and sunglasses and these really grounded the character in a special way. She was not X-24. She had feelings and emotions and wants and needs; she just didn’t know how to express herself. I thought she was adorable and likable and absolutely brilliant in complex emotional sequences such as Xavier’s funeral and Logan’s death. I thought it was a genius creative choice to make her seem mute for most of the film, and the scene with her and Logan in the truck after the doctor visit when she starts talking is my favorite in the movie with them yelling at each other and all. I just thought she was great and the whole fulfillment of Yukio’s prophecy in The Wolverine gets me to this day. Such a beautiful end to such a tragic story!
Logan shattered superhero stereotypes and moved audiences in several fresh and exciting ways. I was so happy for the success that it achieved, because I felt it was well deserved. I do think it sucks that neither Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, nor Daphne Keen were even nominated for Oscars, because I really believe each of them deserved it.
I’ll go ahead in closing here and address my feelings on Hugh Jackman’s return to the role of Wolverine for Deadpool 3. Am I mad about it? No. Not even a little bit. Logan was what it was, and what it was, was a fitting end to Jackman’s journey as that character, but him coming back doesn’t cheapen anything about Logan at all. Maybe, if he crawls up out of the grave Laura buried him in, it will cheapen it a little, but they’re not going to do that. Deadpool 3 is going to involve Time Travel and Timelines and the Multiverse, and it’s going to be fun and chaotic and violent. We are going to get to see High Jackman as Wolverine on-screen with Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool getting into all kinds of trouble and creating all kinds of carnage, and it’s going to be wonderful! Let’s take it for what it is and have fun with it and look forward to seeing what Marvel Studios can do with these iconic characters! I can’t wait!
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Highlights of Logan:
Dafne Keen as Laura / X-23
Hugh Jackman is Wolverine
Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier
Chemistry Between Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keen
Chemistry Between Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart
Chemistry Between Patrick Stewart and Daphne Keen
Old Man Logan
Plenty of Blood and Gore
Loads of Heart and Emotion
R-Rating which allowed for a Level of Violence that enabled one to see just what Wolverine was capable of without having to use one’s imagination
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Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
Logan serves as a sequel to pretty much all of the Fox X-Men films released from 2000-2017; films that feature various versions of a Universe of characters that are rumored to be set to be formally introduced in Marvel Studios’ upcoming film Deadpool 3, including a purported Variant of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Along with Wolverine, Logan also concludes the story of Charles Xavier / Professor X (portrayed by Patrick Stewart in Logan), a Multiversal Variant of which (existing on Earth-838) was later seen in the 2022 Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that looks nearly identical to the version of Professor X portrayed by Stewart, with the Multiverse of Madness version of Xavier also being portrayed by Patrick Stewart.
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