Wolverine – Are You Not Entertained?

“What’s Wolverines costume? The guy wears a fucking tank top and a pair of jeans”. – Deadpool

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As I live and breathe, the Wolverine. That Hugh Jackman, he making me cry. Logan, written and directed by James Mangold is one for the record books. Logan is more than just a comic book movie; it transcends the genre and should be an example of what a comic book movie can be. I’m going to go pretty light on the plot details, because there are a few surprises in the movie, and FOX did an incredible job at marketing this movie without giving too many things away. Ultimately Logan has to cart this girl around, and he’s not to sure about who she is and what her background is. Him and Professor X must keep this girl save, but the thing is she doesn’t really need much protection. She’s the one protecting them at certain points in the movie; she kicks all sorts of ass in this. This little ass-kicker is Laura played by the new comer Dafne Keen and she is simply marvelous. For this being her first role, she really knocked it out of the park. Essentially these three go on a road trip, to a safe place called Eden where the remaining Mutants are staying. As Logan finds out more about this young girl, he starts to learn more about himself, as she teaches him to reach out to the people you care about and it’s never to late to start a family. Think of it as Thelma and Louise meets Unforgiven. I loved it from start to finish, and actually watched it twice in 2 days before I wrote my review.

Logan is all sorts of brutal; from almost the opening frame the violence in this movie is gruesome. I loved everyone second of it, it wasn’t over the top or felt out of place or unnecessary either, it felt just right. Fans of Wolverine have been waiting 17 long years for a movie like this, to see him slicing and dicing this way through each enemy. There is so much blood and limbs in this movie, oh my god. The action sequences are very hard hitting, fast paced, violent, and masterfully crafted pieces. It’s unlike any action we have seen in the X-Men universe so far, well really any comic book movie that has come before it. James Mangold manages to do what Christopher Nolan did for the Batman franchise. This is a very grounded movie; it has a western style vibe to it. It’s a very serious, dark and somber drama that has incredible action bursts throughout the movie. You really don’t feel how savage the action is until it’s all said and done, and we are left in a quiet setting seeing Logan’s wounds, as for the majority of the movie he is beat to shit. This isn’t the Avengers, bright lights and jokes every few minutes, where you feel like nothing is ever at stake. Yes there are funny moments sprinkled into Logan, and our heroes are not walking around sad and depressed throughout the entire movie but there is a lot of emotional baggage that comes with it. Our heroes are seriously broken in this movie; there is almost zero hope in their eyes. Logan and Professor X have gone through so much and lost so many friends and loved ones that it’s hard for them to see any good in the world they are now living in. It’s not until they meet this new mutant Laura that a little flame of hope sparks inside of them. As they learn how to become heroes again, in a world that seems to have lost most of them. They learn how to help one another again and be part of a team and more importantly care for one another. Logan is seriously such a broken human being in this story, he’s old and beaten down and it was fantastic to see the Wolverine we have come to love over the past two decades reappear when the right emotional buttons were pushed. The action wasn’t forced either, these intense and brutal action scenes were always because our heroes found themselves in dire situations and they were always fighting for their lives. It was warranted and fit so naturally in the story.

Everyone really gave it their all in this. They were all in for their roles and the acting was all around exceptional. Dafne Keen really blew me away. Chalk it up to another strong and silent but deadly little girl. With the success of Stranger Things, X-23 really had an Eleven vibe to her, she doesn’t say much but her facial expressions alone were worth a thousand words. For a little kid to step into a role like this, in a movie like this is so impressive. She was honestly Hit-Girl mixed with Eleven, and in a movie as brutal as this she really held her own. I’m curious to see where they take this character, or if they will even expand on her. When you’re stealing scenes with Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman, and it’s your first major role, that’s insanely impressive. Speaking of Patrick Stewart he gives an Oscar worthy performance. Such a raw and gut wrenching portrayal of the leader of the X-Men, he’s on his last leg in Logan, having lost control of his powers and becoming more and more dangerous to everyone he loves. He’s fragile and senile and wants Logan to find his inner peace, as he doesn’t have much time left to enjoy the simple joys in life. Just like Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart has been playing this character for 17 years now, and this was his last time doing this role, so it was an emotional performance to say the least. Now let’s talk about the man himself. Hugh Jackman, this obviously is sadly his last kick at the can. First things first, without Hugh Jackman there is no X-Men franchise plain and simple. He helped build an empire of movies, and is the reason why these movies have been so successful, when you think about X-Men, Wolverine is usually what comes to mind first. They give him the proper send off that he deserves and there is some really strong symbolism at the end of the movie that sums up everything I just mentioned. Flat out after watching Logan, I don’t think it’s smart to recast this character for at least 5 solid years. That’s hard to do, because like I said Wolverine and even Professor X are so synonymous with this franchise this puts FOX in a very tricky situation. It felted like comic book pages were being ripped from their book and being put onto the screen. Hugh Jackman is the embodiment of Wolverine in Logan, and I left the theatre really upset that he can’t continue on after this incredible performance. There are some serious gut wrenching emotional beats, which just leave you almost breathless. This is a very human story, it’s about losing hope and the feeling of being alone and forgetting what it’s like to be loved and to give it.

At one point of the movie Logan notices that Laura has some X-Men comic books in her book bag and I thought this was a really cool concept to actually have physical comics about the X-Men existence in this universe. Wolverine went on to say that they were all “bullshit” and the majority of the stuff that happens in the comics didn’t even happen in the real world. It was interesting that they decided to put something like this in the movie, that the X-Men had become so beloved in the world that people were writing fictional stories about them. One gripe that most people have about Marvel movies is the villain but I thought Boyd Holbrook was one of the better bad guys yet, as Donald Pierce the head of security at Transigen the company that is trying to hunt down and eliminate any mutants. He was a compelling villain and they really didn’t need to have a big baddie in this movie because we just really wanted to see Wolverine cut though a ton of idiot henchmen and that’s exactly what you get. Stephen Merchant plays Caliban, a Mutant friend of Logan’s who helps care for Professor X as well, he serves as sort of the voice of reason in the movie, and I thought he did a fantastic job, so he deserves a shout out.

In terms of how everything wraps up, I found it to be satisfying, I might have wanted a few more little emotional beats towards the end, but overall I think life long fans will be happy with how things shake out. Watching everything play out throughout the entire movie was kind of heart wrenching, this is an emotional journey that our characters go on. Finding out things about themselves that maybe they didn’t know they had in them. It’s a beautiful movie, it’s shot and edited so well and James Mangold really made a masterpiece. This is in the upper echelon of comic book movies and it will redefine the genre, because at the end of the day I think this is more of a drama piece with super hero elements tied in. I haven’t enjoyed a comic book movie like this since The Dark Knight, I will miss Hugh Jackman but he gave us fans 17 wonderful years. Hearing Wolverine whisper, “so this is what it feels like” was very chilling and it was the kind of human emotion that was even more powerful than the extraordinary powers these people had themselves. Something I’ll never forget.

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews — Logan =97/100

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.

Tag: Wolverine

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