My Love Letter To Logan

I wonder when Hugh is legally going to change his last name from Jackman to Jacked-Man? Just a thought.

So people we are finally here, it took 17 years but we finally made it! Logan is fast approaching and I couldn’t be more excited. Remember the year 2000? I was still a young pup, I hadn’t even hit puberty yet, and we had to listen to music on a Discman. Where you listened to the same 13 songs over and over and over again. Actually now that I think back on it, it makes total sense that I know like every boy band song ever written in the 90s. But I’m not here to gush over BSB; I’m here to gush about the Australian badass that is Hugh Jackman. He’s been playing Wolverine ever since the very first X-Men movie debut all the way back in the year 2000. Since then he’s been in 9 total X-Men films. Simple math would say that’s a movie roughly every 2 years, and the shape he needs to be in for this role, probably made the last 17 years of his life a living nightmare. I couldn’t imagine the dedication it must take to always be in that kind of shape, and the level of commitment Hugh put into playing this beloved character. Apparently the guy is just tired of eating egg white omelettes, so he’s hanging up his claws for good. Not before giving us one last performance, a performance we have all be waiting for, a rated R Wolverine movie! It’s going to be one for the record books, and I know I will be sad to see him go, but he’s already gave us some many incredible Wolverine moments that we as the human population couldn’t have asked for a better Stocky Canadian Killer. Well there is one thing I want, but we aren’t ever going to see it and that’s YELLOW SPANDEX.

A lot has happened in my life since Hugh Jackman took center stage as the leader of the X-Men. A lot has happened in the world to be honest. Its crazy to think that Hugh has been playing this character for about 3/4 of my life. Doing any job for 17 years straight is a daunting task, and no one in Hollywood plays the same role for that long anymore. Not even close, most actors don’t want to be tied down by long contracts, or have to worry about being typecast. You could always count on Hugh to be in the next movie, and there was never any doubt that he would walk away from this role. Now is just the right time, and with recent health issues, now is the best time for him to step down and take a much needed break. But there’s always one thing you could count on every two years, and that was muttonchops and claws. Yes, not all X-Men movies have been Citizen Kane kind of material, but that didn’t matter. All we needed was a little Wolverine sprinkled in to make things better. Wolverine is a top 5 comic book character of all time in my mind, so whenever he was on screen it was a real treat. It just so happens that FOX casted the perfect human being to play him. We’ve had 3 Spider-Mans, 2 Batman’s, and 2 Superman’s and countless other Superheroes appear on screen since 2000. I think it will be damn near impossible to replace Jackman as Wolverine. I can’t think of anyone that could take over this mantle, it’s easy to think of any other character and say to yourself, “Oh so and so, could be the next Batman or Spider-Man or whoever,” but not Wolverine. I’ve been wrapping my brain around this question for weeks now I just don’t have an answer. I know people will say that these are just movies, and he’s just an actor and this is just a fictional character. But I’ve grown accustom to having this man play this character, and I hold him so close to my heart. I will speak for more than just myself, when I say, when March 3rd hits and Logan gets released, a lot of people will be saying goodbye to an old dear friend.

When you love movies as much as I do, and come to appreciate what they can do, and the joy they can bring people, you don’t want that feeling to ever stop. The worst part about it, this being his last kick at the can, knowing it will be his best performance ever and without doubt the greatest X-Men movie ever made. I can’t help but stop and think we could have had this Logan in our lives from the very get go. It’s almost like I will be leaving the theatre on Thursday night with permanent blue balls, something no man wants.

From what we’ve seen far, it looks like Twentieth Century Fox is keeping the faith with the Old Man Logan storyline from the comics. Which we find our guy, Wolverine finding himself unable to heal like he once could, living a life of seclusion after all of his mutant pals have been killed off. Professor X is still kicking as well, and it’s up to the pair of them to protect Mutant, X-23 from falling into the wrong hands. This promises to be the most intense, violent and brutal Wolverine yet and with the success of Deadpool last year, it was only fitting to make Wolverines last outing rated R. These movies are changing the game in terms of how Superhero movies are being made. Small budget but telling good stories, and focusing more on the characters rather than the CGI. I just don’t want to walk out of the theatre wanting more, and being unsatisfied with the ending, because if any character deserves a grand finale ending, it’s this one. He’s giving so much to this character and to it’s fan for almost 2 decades, the least the studio could do for him, is make this movie one to remember.

So I’m going to go grab some butter knives, go smash some pumpkins and pretend to be Wolverine one last time. In the meantime sit back, relax and watch these awesome clips of Wolverine kicking all sorts of ass in X2.

Check ya later.