I like comic book movies. I prefer Marvel to DC and I prefer smaller comic book houses to either. I quite like the X-Men series, although, on the whole, I think I find the Avengers series more fun. Anyway, usually, I’ll go along when any new comic book movie comes along just to check it out.
Logan, I wasn’t sure about. Wolverine is a compelling enough character but I can’t help feeling he gets an unfair amount of focus compared to the rest of the X-Men. Surely they all have interesting stories? I’m starting to get Wolverine exhaustion.
So I guess I went in with, if not low expectations, then medium ones. The story follows Logan and Charles Xavier long after the events of the previous films. I’m not sure exactly when it’s supposed to be set, but at one point Charles declares himself to be in his 90s. So they’re all getting on a bit. They’re concerned that no new mutants are showing up until Charles hears about a young girl and persuades Logan to help him help her.
Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart both give solid performances as Wolverine and Prof X and I was very entertained by Stephen Merchant as the mutant-finding Calabash – honestly, I’d have enjoyed more interaction between Logan and Calabash, with Calabash’s whinging and sarcasm the perfect foil to Logan’s gruffness, but maybe that’s just me. The young mutant girl, Laura is played by Dafne Keen who also does a great job.
The problem for me was that the story was just a little overly bleak. It felt gratuitous. By the end of the movie if any character was even introduced I was convinced that something terrible was going to happen to them. Probably before I even got time to learn their name. I get that it’s based on the Old Man Logan comic book and can only presume that that text is quite dark, but I found it over the top. It left me pretty cold.
Still, there were some fun action scenes and occasionally a little poignant human (or mutant) interaction so I wouldn’t say it’s an awful movie and if you’re a fan of the series it’s still worth a watch. I’m just saying that my medium expectations were fulfilled, not exceeded.
In Becky's Head 
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