Rating: 4.5/5 stars

In today's video, I review the movie Logan, or more accurately, give my impressions, thoughts, criticisms and accolades (where deserved). But as I say in the review, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly and thought they did a very good job with it. By far the best that's been done with respect to the X-Men intellectual property. So if you're a big fan of those characters, and especially if you're a big fan of the character, just go see it and watch my review after. You won't regret it

X-23

One thing I didn't discuss in the video was the character X-23 and how well they handled her as well as how they handled paying sufficient tribute to the original source material. My two biggest critiques of movies based on comic books has been that they do not sufficiently leverage the hard work that had been done by the writers and artists that spent decades building the characters and the stories they inhabit and are too willing to disgard aspects of that work in exchange for a PG-13 rating. It's not just that I feel this is disrespectful, but I think it creates a creative deficit that is difficult to make up. X-23, for example, is a very violent character and had they chosen to go with a PG-13 rating they would have struggled to convey that violence visually because they would be literally prohibited from showing it to us. This was a problem that I believe plagued the Wolverine franchise from the start. Violence, murderousness, and rage were all important and intertwined facets of his persona. By not being able to show the violence and murder, the rage wound up feeling pointless and inauthentic.

Flirting With Horror

Fortunately, they didn't make the same mistake this time. Not only was the brutality of both characters accurately translated from paper to screen, the action was well choreographed and shot, another common failing of comic book adaptations. I was skeptical about whether they would be able to find the sufficient talent, both in the performer and in effects, to render X-23 sufficiently threatening. After all, even with Hugh Jackman's imposing presence and sick physique, his action sequences in the past generally looked like wild arm-flailing. But they did a much better job with both characters in this movie. It reminds me of the choreography from John Wick, you feel as though you are watching someone who isn't as much superhuman, but just a critical 10% faster, more skilled, and more talented human. It makes the stakes feel higher (as the hero isn't unbeatable) and more relatable because it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility for us mere mortals.

My only criticism

...is that while the script and the movie were both quite dark, the movie might have benefited from going even darker, possibly flirting with the "horror" genre. While X-23 was done well, we still saw too much of her when she moved, which made it difficult to always pull off. I am reminded of how Christopher Nolan shot the fight scenes in his Batman trilogy. When he wanted Batman to seem as threatening and superhuman as possible (mainly in Batman Begins), he made it difficult to even see Batman. He would erupt out of the shadows in a blurred fury of movement only disappear again. Those scenes would be right at home in a horror movie and gave them far more impact.

In the later movies, especially when he wanted Batman to appear weak (like when he fought Bane) we see the whole fight unfold very clearly. We see every punch and kick which reveals just how human Batman is which makes it more believable that Bane could so thoroughly "break" him.

While Logan was very good, great even when compared to most Superhero Movies, I think that introducing more horror elements could have taken it to the next level.

Conclusion

When evaluating genre films, the metric I care about the most is whether it's a good movie. Whether the story, acting, directing, etc. can stand on their own ignoring whether the characters can fly or shoot lasers out of their eyes. Logan definitely fits the bill. The story felt like the same one that was told through the comic books (thanks in no small part to well-placed homages like Logan's wrapped hands due to his diminished healing factor). They used the source material to guide the creation of a good story that is appropriate for the medium, then leveraged the work product generated by all of the creators who built that character into what it is today to compliment their own talents thereby creating a highly entertaining finished product.