Logan

Prior to the making of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the record for most movies in which the same person played a specific superhero was four – Christopher Reeve in the original Superman series. At this point that almost seems like a quant number. Anyone who’s played the same character in all the Avengers movies plus at least one other film has topped that. Robert Downey, Jr. played Iron Man in all three of his own movies, all four Avengers movies, Captain America: Civil War, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. When you include his cameo in The Incredible Hulk, he has the record with 10 appearances.

Initially it was Hugh Jackman who broke Reeve’s record though, and he kept breaking his own record until, pushing 50, he voluntarily stepped down after his ninth film as Wolverine.

His decision to leave led to Logan. Wow. What a haunting flick.

Patrick Stewart returns as Professor X, but to say the least it’s very different from his previous appearances. Charles is now a frail old man who previously had a seizure that, coupled with his ability to connect to all minds, led to the extermination of the entire mutant race, except for the ever-healing Logan.

Even Logan’s healing power is fading at this point though, and in this movie he’s essentially a dying man who has no companionship other than his father figure who needs constant care. I wish I could say that they’re the only people who suffer in the film, but there’s plenty more darkness.

There is some hope though, maybe. A new race of child mutants is being bred, and the former Wolverine wants to get them to safety. Many compared this to Children of Men, which I haven’t seen but I heard is incredible. Logan reminded me of The Omega Man, and that’s definitely a compliment.

Unsettling classic.

Logan is a step or two darker than that even. It feels so surreal seeing the title character and Professor X interacting and accepting that they’re the same guys we saw in that gorgeous, brightly lit mansion in previous films.

Not the golden years they envisioned.

That’s to say nothing of accepting that this Professor X is the same character as the charmer played by James MacAvoy in First Class.

His game is long gone.

Of course, some want to believe that they’re not really the same characters. Although the film is inspired by the Marvel Comics Old Man Logan series, that’s supposed to be self-contained and in a separate timeline from everything else. You can argue this movie is too, if you would rather not accept that the beautiful Days of Future Past ending is meaningless and that all your favorite mutants died off screen in one horrific incident, leaving the whole X-Men saga a long “shaggy dog” story. Heck, even within the definitely canonical parts of the film series they’ve changed the stories of characters like Cyclops and Jean.

Whether you want to believe this movie is canonical or not, you will believe it’s amazing. It got the highest rating on the Tomatometer of the whole series, and it became a rare comic book movie to get a major Academy Award nomination – Best Adapted Screenplay. Also, it became the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time, except for one of the Matrix sequels and the original Deadpool. Later Deadpool 2 was one of the movies to top it, but I’ll get to that momentarily.

For now I’ll say that, although I’ve been looking lately to actually unload physical discs instead of buying new ones, I might want to buy Logan’s loaded Blu Ray set. The film is worth watching repeatedly, especially in black and white. Such a cut is one of the bonus features included, because Logan indeed deserves to be compared to classic film noir.

Edit: Right after I wrote this, my dad and I bought a new TV and as a reward for my convincing him to get the better of the two models we were considering the salesman gave me a free Google Chromecast and a free copy of Logan!

Bottom Line: Masterpiece.

Up Next: Like I said, Deadpool 2.

Questions? Comments? Feel free to write below.