Logan Review: Dyed In Western Archetype, Logan Marks Hugh Jackman's Best As Wolverine

Logan marks Hugh Jackman's best outing as Wolverine and probably sets a new benchmark in the superhero movie genre.

By Monojit

Rating:
4.5/5

Logan written and directed by James Mangold is the third and final instalment of the solo Wolverine series. This apart from being Hugh Jackman's last outing as Wolverine also marks the end of Wolverine as a character in Marvel movies.

Therefore do not expect to see this clawed mutant in all his glory as he has been projected much old and weary with problems of diminishing superpower. He earns his living as a driver and stays drunk all the time.

Hugh Jackman

Professor X, on the other hand, is in his late 90s, suffering from physical and mental health and stays seated all the time trying to keep his uncontrolled massive psychic powers under check.

There comes debutant Laura Kinney or X-23 played by Dafne Keen, an 11-year-old girl, with mutant superpower much alike Wolverine. But things get messy when the girl is being chased by a group of mercenaries led by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook).

Logan and Professor X unwillingly get involved in the trouble and then the trio sets on a dangerous adventure which ultimately forms the matrix of the film.

Plenty of bloodshed and action comes naturally with Logan's adamantium claws, but what shines through this movie is the emotional bond between these characters which makes this movie quite distinct from the rest.

Logan is probably the best Wolverine movie you would ever see! Not just because the film showcases one of the most compelling performance of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Patrick Stewart's return as Professor X, but because of its treatment of the theme.

Logan is something extraordinary emerged from the Marvel brand. The theme isn't entirely superhero all the way, it has subtle hints of realism along with a blend of Western Classics. It isn't about the type of heroism beyond the magnitude of the subject.

This Logan is quite similar to Alan Ladd's 1953 classic Shane, where the protagonist indulges into the trajectory of someone else's fight, which gradually turns out to be ineluctably personal.

This films also echoes in the voice of classics like the Unforgiven and The Shootist in a way it draws the connection between a superhero and a legend. The character of Logan played by Hugh Jackman has been projected in the light of western archetype.

He is similar to a retired celebrity or sportsperson, someone who is well-known but not really essential or wanted in the societal glamour. He is a loner, which he had always been but more human this time.

Logan's plot takes its protagonists out into some distant time-frame of future America, where a young mutant girl named Laura (Dafne Keen) surfaces suggesting a resemblance of philosophies with another hit classic Children of Men.

Mangold has been brilliant in knitting down his nerve-stiffening composition and framing for this film as the actions sequences seem much organic, fluid, reasonable and realistic unlike any other super-hero movies; more like James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Logan is certainly the rarest gem in the crown of superhero movie genre. It changes the way we are accustomed to look at superhero movies and also it sets a benchmark, which I doubt can be touched by any other.

Read more about: hugh jackman

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