Hugh Jackman Patrick Stewart Dafne Keen Boyd Holbrook Stephen Merchant Richard E. Grant
Wolverine (Jackman) looks older and has become
a grumpier version of his earlier gruff persona. He has a persistent cough, but refuses to talk about it or
any of the other troubling aspects of his life. His whole intention at this point is to keep his beloved
Charles Xavier (Stewart as Professor X) functioning and get enough money for
them to sail away from everyone and live on a boat in the high seas. The mutant Caliban (Merchant) serves as
a houseman for Charles and Wolverine in their temporary bunker-like quarters,
and complains about the fact that they are likely to leave him behind.
Charles has apparently become demented and has
visions of mutants. Logan
dismisses these, and just wants Charles to take his medicine that controls
seizures that are strong enough to make all the surrounding area around him
shake like an earthquake. But
there are those who are tracking Wolverine and appear out of nowhere
asking/begging for his help, whom he impatiently and brusquely dismisses.
The first person to approach is a Donald Pierce
(Holbrook) who represents an illegal bio-engineering company in Mexico named Transegen, which is trying
to round up as many mutants as they can find, particularly some recent escapees
who were being trained to be soldiers.
Wolverine definitely wants no part of this. Then there is a Mexican woman with a young daughter
desperately seeking his help, but he feels no responsibility and walks away. You sense his complete weariness and
burning desire to get away.
When he does acquire the money for the boat he
arrives home only to find a young mutant girl there, warmly greeted by
Charles. “She’s the one I’ve been
telling you about”, he says to Logan proudly. Logan will soon find out more than he wants to know about
the girl, Laura (Keen), and why she has turned up at his house. He will also discover that the
Transegen Company is determined to capture as many mutants as they can, no
matter what it takes to do it.
They are enraged about the soldiers they’ve “grown” in their facility
refusing to fight.
Director James Mangold’s Logan is in the tradition of fine X-Men films with suspense, intrigue, action, and fully developed
characters, still with a little humor sprinkled in. Dramatic elements are more apparent this time; for instance,
Charles’ pleas for Wolverine to enjoy himself more as a normal human being are
touching. There is a melancholy
feel to this one, the third of the Wolverine series, because Jackman says it is
the last Wolverine film he will make.
Apparently, he put his heart and soul into every scene and is pleased
that everything about the film that was important to him has been included.
Fight scenes are choreographed artfully; but as
in many action movies, I find my sense of logic and reality tested, as when a
group of mutant children with special powers are being chased by Transegen’s
men, they’re able to use their powers at some times but not others.
Jackman and Patrick Stewart have a lot of
chemistry in Logan, showing the older
man trying to counsel the younger, only to get a curt comeback. Yet, it’s clear
that the two characters have deep affection and loyalty to one another. Dafne Keen’s Laura becomes a central figure
in the film, and she carries it off beautifully, exquisitely portraying herself
as a mutant with a penetrating, knowing stare, ferocious countenance, and
immeasurable fighting skills. She
very likely has a bright future ahead of her. Boyd Holbrook and Richard E. Grant deftly portray sinister
characters, one with brute force and the other with a chilling demonstration of
a researcher gone rogue.
An intriguing and fitting end to the
third and last of the Wolverine series.
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