Hugh Jackman will be playing the Marvel comic book superhero “Wolverine” for the final time in the upcoming movie “Logan” which will be released in theaters on March 3rd. A character that he has portrayed in the movies for close to two decades.
As you all should know by now, I love superhero movies. As a young kid growing up in the 90s the X-Men played a big part in my life, from the comic books to their Saturday morning cartoon on Fox. Wolverine was always one of my favorite characters. Not only was he a badass but also one of the leaders of the team and had a very deep backstory.
As you can imagine I was so happy back in 2000 with the released of the first live action X-Men movie and like most people at the time, very surprised with the casting of a fairly unknown actor, Hugh Jackman, as Wolverine. But Jackman nailed it and became a fan favorite. This led to Jackman appearing as Wolverine in 9 movies, almost 18 years in the making.
Logan is the third and final solo movie (outside of the X-Men movies) of Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine. First was 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine and 2013’s The Wolverine.
I have been anticipating this movie for a long time, not only because this movie is the first of a ton of superhero released for 2017 but I wanted to see if Hugh Jackman will end his run playing the iconic character with a bang.
For anyone that doesn’t know Wolverine’s real name in the comic is Logan, hence the title. The movie takes place in the future and uses a lot of elements from the old man Logan comic book storyline (don’t worry if you never read the comics you will still understand this movie).
I want to keep this a non-spoiler review, so I will avoid major plot points.
Unlike previous Wolverine movies, this one is Rated-R and from the first act we see why. It’s very brutal and violent. I think because of the success of 2016’s Deadpool, Fox felt it was okay to make another superhero movie that was Rated-R. This is the Wolverine movie we have been waiting for. The whole time I was watching the movie I kept thinking of AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood (You Got It)” because I love how accurate this movie was about a guy with metal claws cutting up anyone who got in his way.
There is quite a bit of swearing and I was worried that since it was Rated-R they were going to go over the top with the language but instead it was nicely spread through out the movie and seemed very natural in the characters conversations, including some humorous moments. I think if you like superhero movies or not, this movie does a great job appealing to the masses with the story of family.
The bad guy in the movie was not a huge key to the story, as I mentioned before the movie is about family, which is something we have grown to understand in previous X-Men movies. The growing bond between Logan, Professor X and Laura is a very powerful one to watch, but don’t worry, if you have never seen an X-Men movie before, you won’t be lost. This story is clearly a standalone movie.
The choreograph fighting was amazing. Watching Wolverine and the little girl Laura fight the bad guys was awesome.
While it is a superhero movie, the presentation of the movie helps the genre evolve for the better. It expanded the boundaries of what viewers can expect from a superhero film. The movie was made with a lower budget and feels more like an independent movie and/or classic western. Logan proves you can do a dark and gritty superhero movie with out being over the top.
What I love about this movie is how much we get invested in who Wolverine has become since we last saw him on the big screen.
I’ll grade the movie 9 out of 10.
This movie was bittersweet because we finally get the best portrayal of the Wolverine character but it’s the last time Hugh Jackman will be playing him.
This is arguably one of the greatest superhero movies of all-time. While it’s only March, the rest of the superhero movies coming out this year have big competition if they want to be critically acclaimed in the same conversation as Logan.
Thank you Hugh Jackman for nearly 18 years of playing one of the most popular comic book superheroes of all time.
Check out the first trailer below.
Check out the second trailer below.
Here’s Variant Comics explaining the history of Wolverine.
Here’s Variant Comics explaining the history of X-23.
Here’s what you need to know before seeing the movie courtesy of Collider Videos.
Here’s CineFix explaining the X-Men movie universe timeline from 2000’s X-Men movie to 2017’s Logan movie.
Spoiler Alert:
Here’s Looper explaining the end of Logan.
Here’s Emergency Awesome Logan review along with explaining the X-Men movie timeline and explaining the ending.
Here’s Mr. Sunday Movies explaining all the easter eggs in Logan and explaining the X-Men timeline.
Here’s WatchMojo listing off 10 actors they think should be cast as the next Wolverine.
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