Part I: Intro
Logan serves as the end of an era. It was intended to be Hugh Jackman’s final performance as Wolverine. The story puts Wolverine though his greatest trial yet. A possible conclusion to the timeline undoes the happy ending that Days of Future Past established with the extinction of most mutants. Logan tells the story of Wolverine regaining his last piece of humanity to help the future generation gain some hope. It is a great finale that is fitting for the character but has some negative consequences for the pop culture landscape. I will use the names Wolverine and Logan interchangeably to refer to the same character.
Part II: Plot Synopsis
In the year 2029, Charles Xavier and Wolverine are on the run after an accident. Xavier had a stroke which unleashed a psychic shockwave. It accidentally killed most of the mutant populace including the X-Men. Only Professor X, Caliban, and Wolverine remain. Wolverine takes the job of a limo driver and takes care of Xavier. Logan’s healing factor was diminishing because of poisoning from his adamantium skeleton. He rescues a young girl from a group of marauders who work for the Alkali Corporation. The girl is named Laura a.k.a X-23 and she is Logan’s clone. Wolverine takes her in as his daughter and discovers that the corporation wanted to monopolize the mutant populace. They were partially responsible for wiping out mutants by poisoning their food. They also made a perfect clone of Wolverine dubbed X-24. X-24 killed Xavier and wounded Logan. Logan recuperates and has one final fight against his clone to save the children. The children escape after burying Wolverine.
Part III: Wolverine’s Last Stand
It is nice to finally have a standalone Wolverine that can go all out on the violence. This was the movie that people wanted to see. An “R” rating allows the scenes to be even more brutal than before. Blood can be spilt and even limbs can be chopped off. The movie does not hold back in how bloody everything is. Over-the-top spectacles are now a thing of the past. Every action scene is an intense fight for survival. The grounded scope makes the danger feel real.
The villains in this movie are more symbolic rather than active characters. The Corporation represents how American companies monopolizes the pharmaceutical and food industry. A lot of food is genetically altered to push them off the assembly line. The movie has a hidden drug that humans are immune too but are deadly to mutants. It is in every part of the food they consume. The real-world equivalent to this would be high fructose corn syrup. A lot of processed food has an ingredient that could increase the rate of Type I Diabetes. They also represent white supremacists stopping people from crossing the border. It is a political statement that was especially needed at the time since it was one year after Trump was elected president.
Considering my dislike of undoing the accomplishments of legacy heroes, I should not like how the movie handled Logan. It does work for Wolverine though. Wolverine has always been a darker character so the gritty finale fits him. Some would think that I am being hypocritical considering my dislike of Luke Skywalker’s character arc in The Last Jedi. It didn’t work for me in that movie because the character was reshaped into an archetype that wasn’t fitting for him. The grizzled old man archetype makes sense for Wolverine. He never fully gotten over his issues so him regressing makes sense.
His character arc reminds me of Old Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4. Like Snake, Wolverine’s body has been fighting against him. The adamantium skeleton that once gave him extra power is now poisoning him from the inside out. It is a symbolic way of showing how Logan is ashamed of his past. He couldn’t even bring out his claws without having to manually pull them out. He decided that survival is the only thing to strive for after losing everything. Xavier’s power has also turned against him. Despite his deterring mental state, he never lost hope. His death at the hands of X-24 was a devastating because he was killed by a soulless assassin who share the face of his friend.
X-24 and Laura serve as the two contrasting symbols for Logan’s character. Part of me wishes that Sabretooth was the final opponent but X-24 fulfills that role well. He represents the past that Wolverine tried to run away from. He is the soulless animal that Logan tried not to become. Wolverine defeating him symbolized how he finally defeated his demons. Laura represents the positive traits that he lost. She is also more powerful than Wolverine with her innocence and desire to help people. What makes this passing of the torch better than other legacy sequels is that they are on equal grounds. One is not depicted as being superior to the other. Wolverine serves as a proper mentor figure and Laura can carry on his legacy. Wolverine’s death was foreshadowed in The Wolverine. Yukio told Wolverine that he would be impaled and his heart will be in his hand. His heart is represented by Laura. HE died on a tree stump but he managed to look into the eyes of someone he loves. He died with peace and was finally able to have the peace that he needed.
Part IV: Negative Consequences
In the intro of this review, I state that the movie had negative consequences. Hollywood does what it does best by learning the wrong lessons from a film’s success. Many movies copied the same story beats that Logan had to varying results. Even James Mangold re-did this formula with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It was done decently in that movie but other films copied it when it didn’t fit the character. The Last Jedi wanted to accomplish what this movie did but the subject of the fallen hero didn’t fit the character of Luke Skywalker. It may have been a coincidence but my point stands. Other legacy sequels like Bill and Ted did the same thing. Studios are having legacy sequels follow this story because Logan made a lot of money. This type of story is not a “one size fits all” deal.
Part V: Conclusion
It is rare for the third movie of a trilogy to be the best. It serves as a finale for Wolverine and the X-Men movie franchise. It is a sad yet beautiful story that shows Wolverine’s final outing. This is where the X-Men movies should have ended. Unfortunately, Hollywood learned another wrong lesson from this movie. Instead of ending the series on a high note, they decided to make more. They had to squeeze more money from a dying cash cow.t The true big finale ends the movies on a low note. At least we have some more time before that happens as we go back to Deadpool tomorrow.
The Linden Hour 