Fishing in the Discount Bin - Logan

Time to roll out Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I blog about one of the movies I own, because really, I've got nothing better to do.  We start moving on to films that came out a year ago with Logan.  This is in my notes at May 28. 2017.

I can't believe we're here.  Back in the year 2000, we were all so excited at the prospect of an X-Men movie and we were introduced to a dashing young Aussie named Hugh Jackman to play everyone's favourite X-Man, Wolverine.  And here we are now, 17 years and 9 films later, Hugh Jackman has decided to call it quits.  And Logan is one hell of a way to go out on.

This is very different from other superhero films  Firstly, that R-rating means we can get the violent Wolverine we've always known.  There's blood.  There's decapitations.  I mean, when you're talking about a hero who's best known superpower is retractable knives in his hands, of course things are going to get bloody.  But you know what?  It's not gratuitous.  It just makes things a little more realistic. 

But what really got me is how 1970s this is.  From the washed-out colours to the score, everything feels like an action thriller from the 1970s. 

Takings its cues from the comic Old Man Logan, we open in the year 2029.  Logan is now broken and battered.  Something's wrong with his healing factor, and he doesn't heal as quickly as he used to.  In fact, we're pretty sure he's dying.  (We learn near the end that he's being poisoned by his adamantium bones.)  He makes his living as an Uber driver.  There have been no mutants born in years, and it looks like mutants are dying off.  Logan lives just south of the Mexican border, caring for an old and frail Professor Charles Xavier.  Xavier is suffering from Alzheimer's and seizures, and with his powerful psychic abilities, that makes him very dangerous. 

And then, into their laps, drops a little girl, Laura.  A new mutant, born and grown in a lab.  But not just any mutant...Logan's DNA was used to create her, so she's got claws like Logan's...and an equally bad temper.  After escaping from the lab, and pursued by shadowy forces, Logan, Xavier, and Laura begin heading towards a mythical safe haven called Eden.  Will Wolverine survive his final journey? 

Not only is Hugh Jackman good as Logan, but Patrick Stewart also shines as our elderly Professor X.  Just seeing him, and his interactions with Logan, all I'll say is that's a very accurate representation of dealing with an elderly parent. 

As with most Marvel movies, the villains are kind of "meh," but you know what?  Who cares.  This is Logan's story. 

All in all, Logan is a very fine sendoff to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine...well, until Fox and Marvel get something worked out and he can fight the Hulk.