Movie Review: Logan

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!!

Running into the cinema at exactly 1:40 PM last Sunday just in time for the last commercial before the movie begins, I was out of breath and grinning like an idiot. The movie house was not as jam-packed as I expected it to be but there were only a few empty seats, so it's not that bad.

When the opening scene played, all I can think of is that Logan is old, very old. He looks sick and tired and working a blue-collared job. A few screens after, we are introduced to Caliban and Professor X. Great! The remaining mutants living together and waiting to die all in the same place, in an abandoned warehouse in Mexico. Add to that the dementia that Professor X is suffering from, it could never be more difficult of a life. No wonder Logan looked old.

The antagonist, Pierce, in this movie is an asshole with a robot arm. And that's not the only thing remarkable about him. He is persistent in his quest to hunt down all the mutant kids, so that's a plus for him. But he does not really face them head-on in confrontational battles and lets his henchmen do the job. A wise decision because he has more time to babble until the end.

Then there's the girl Laura, whose face shows an anger to the world. She does not speak and only stares balefully at Logan when introduced. When Logan failed to show up on time, the lady Gabriela died. She was escorting little Laura to the Canadian border and hires Logan to drive them there. Thinking that Laura was taken, Logan returned to Charles, only to find that Laura hitched a ride and meet Professor X.

Now that all the key characters are in one place, we can move the plot along. A fight ensued in the warehouse with Caliban taken as hostage and Laura was revealed to be X23. A mutant child with Wolverine powers. Then a chase from Mexico to North Dakota with Charles dying in the hands of X24, a Wolverine prototype with speed, agility, and power surpassing our dear old Logan. The suicide of Caliban right after that sealed the deal that this is indeed Wolverine, I mean Hugh Jackman's last Wolverine movie. He will die, I can feel it.

I was not disappointed. This is how it happened.

The mutant kids have gathered at North Dakota to cross to Canada. They were followed by Dr. Rice, Pierce, and all the henchmen and were being corraled like cows. Logan waking up from his sick-induced rest, checked on the direction the kids were taking and saw the ongoing hunt.

Sensing that the kids are in danger, he ran at full speed to go after the kids, you know that what's running on his mind is, "I am too old for this. I am too old for this". But you still cheer him on. His daughter is in danger and he needs to rescue her if it's the last thing he'll do. He said goodbye, after all, to keep her safe.

A mutant battle followed with Dr. Rice decapitated, henchmen blowing up or freezing or electrocuted, and Pierce dying at the hands of the mutant children. Their powers showcased one by one as Pierce lay dying taking all the pain. An excessive death at the hands of the children he haunted and hunted all through their young lives.

Then the finale, a fight between Logan and X24. X24 showing his prowess while Logan is barely keeping up. He impaled Logan to a tree and was shot in the head with an Adamantium bullet by Laura. the same bullet that Logan kept all these years, in case he could not take it anymore.

He was buried, and the kids hurried on to Canada.


Now for the review.

The plot was simple, the mutant kids that can't be trained to kill are being exterminated and replaced with new mutants that are fully controlled. The kids are to be smuggled across the Canadian border to escape to Eden, a safe haven depicted in the X-Men comics. Logan was caught up in this because X23, a kid with his powers is brought to him for protection. And that's that. No other fanfare needed.

If you want to watch an action-packed Wolverine movie, this does not make the cut though there were impressive fight scenes. The fights were brutal with lots of blood and violence, justifying its R rating, but they are not as many as I want it to be. They had to make time for the melodrama, after all.

If you want closure with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, then this is a must-see movie. It will give an explanation why there are no more mutants and why the school no longer exists. And it is a chance to say goodbye, finally, to Professor X and Wolverine. This is Patrick Stewart last appearance as Charles Xavier, as well. So it's really an ending to a chapter, we have been hung up on since we were children.

The ending also created a lot of avenues to explore, especially with the new mutant kids. They may or may not create movies of this in the future. But for now, saying goodbye to well-loved actors that played iconic characters in movies is more than enough.


Daghang salamat sa pagbasa!!!