9 Reasons Why Logan Is The Greatest X-Men Movie

Hugh Jackman's days of gelling his hair up into two wolf-ear points are over, as his final movie as Wolverine has now arrived. As it turns out, Logan is one heck of a way to go, receiving critical acclaim and smashing its way through the box office. Deservedly so, too, as it's arguably one of the finest superhero films of the decade. Now, we can't claim that Logan is perfect. Its sombre tone isn't for everyone, there's an argument to be made that it's a tad too long, the threat is a bit undercooked and there's a subplot introduced halfway through that feels closer to the sillier excesses of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, it is largely a terrific production and, despite its flaws, it's still the most engaging, smartest, thrilling, emotional and all round greatest X-Men movie yet. Don't believe us? Here are 9 reasons that might help convince you. Before you begin reading, though, know that while we've tried to keep things spoiler free, it'd still be best to bookmark this page and return later if you haven't yet seen the film. If you've already had the pleasure of watching it, however, then read on! 9) A Touching Family Dynamic One of the biggest pitfalls of most X-Men movies is that they struggle to give each member of the ballooning cast a spot in the limelight. How many times has Halle Berry turned up as Storm to do practically nothing, for instance? In Logan, though, this problem is eradicated by the small, perfectly-formed cast. With just Logan, Charles and Laura at its core, the movie delivers a supremely touching family dynamic. All the X-Men movies deal with a dysfunctional family dynamic to some degree. After all, the core idea of the franchise is a bunch of unrelated people brought together against the odds because of their inner similarities; their nature as mutants. In Logan, though, that theme's a whole lot more pronounced. In each direction, the characters' relationships are beautifully done - son and father, father and daughter, and even the lesser developed but still sweet grandfather and granddaughter. Logan and Charles' near-familial bond will mean the most to longtime fans of the franchise, but Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keen carve out a new, hugely touching connection between their characters as well. Each of the relationships far exceeds nearly every other character dynamic of the franchise - except maybe Professor X and Magneto. 8) A Strong Handle On Its Tone The X-Men franchise has veered wildly in tone over the years, going from a semi-serious, real-world take on the superhero genre to all-out comic book action to overt comedy - and that's all in X-Men: The Last Stand alone. We've become used to most of the movies being mixed bags of styles and approaches, then, but thankfully Logan manages to blend these different approaches together to form one consistent tone. So, how would you define Logan's tone exactly? Well, it's mature and dark, that's for sure, but it's also quietly hopeful with small moments of humour, too. Not to mention many bittersweet moments of emotion. I suppose we wouldn't want every X-Men movie to be as heavy-going as this, but the rest of the franchise could definitely learn a thing or two about how to handle its wavering tone from Logan. Come to think of it, the other superhero franchises out there should take note of the film's expertly-handled tone, too. Arguably, no movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or DC Extended Universe so far has managed to balance the light and the dark so well. 7) James Mangold's Direction It would be fair to say that James Mangold's X-Men franchise debut with 2013's The Wolverine was not a raving success. It's certainly better than the atrocity that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was a little dull in places and it suffered from a poor final act. It always felt like there was a solid film with a strong authorial vision struggling to get out, though. In Logan, Mangold manages to perfectly put his vision onto the screen. He's adept at the intimate character-driven scenes that make up the bulk of the movie, but he also makes the most of the well-choreographed action scenes. There are some striking images littered throughout as well - not least the final image of the film which will leave a lump in your throat. The pace of the movie never drags, either. Which, considering the moody ethos of the piece and its fairly hefty 137 minute runtime, is pretty amazing and mostly due to Mangold's firm handle on the film's tempo. It's worth mentioning that Mangold also co-wrote the script with Scott Frank and Michael Green. Not to take away from the work of those two screenwriters, but that Mangold also contributed to the writing adds to the sense of cohesion of the piece. Much like other great superhero movies co-written by their directors, like Joss Whedon's The Avengers and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. 6) Outstanding Performances Across The Board It's not just the director who's on top form here, but the entire cast, too. It's a small but strong bunch, with each member giving it their all. For example, while the villains aren't that fleshed out on the page, both Boyd Holbrook and Richard E. Grant imbue them with suitably chilling air. Most notably, however, Logan sees both Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart hand in their best work ever in the X-Men franchise - and it's not as if they've been phoning it in for the past two decades, either. They're clearly so energized about playing such different takes on their characters and it really comes through in their performances. Dafne Keen, meanwhile, as the vulnerable but ferocious Laura, is a revelation. Only 11-years-old during filming, she's called upon to act without the aid of dialogue for a large portion of the film yet she still conveys so much. Despite the strength of the two adult leads, the movie would have fallen apart if she wasn't as strong as she is. Let's hope that Fox keeps hold of her then so that she can play an adult X-23 in a few years' time. 5) Lots Of Heart And Emotion Looking back, the X-Men franchise is littered with big dramatic moments that really should have packed an emotional wallop but pretty much fell flat - in X-Men: The Last Stand, for instance, it's hard to feel much when Jean Grey and Cyclops meet their maker and even the more shocking death of Professor X is undone by the end. Logan, on the other hand, commits to its moments of high emotion. If you're not moved come the end credits, your heart must be made of adamantium. On a more intimate level, the whole narrative is infused with more emotion and heart than pretty much any other superhero movie we can think of, as each of the three main characters are underdogs with the whole world against them who nonetheless find some measure of solace in each other's company. For a franchise that re-imagines superheroes as a minority social group prone to prejudice and persecution, more X-Men movies should really take Logan's approach on board. 4) Grit With Meaning Fans have heard the terms "gritty reimagining" so many times over recent years that it's become near groan-inducing. Oh great, here comes another film that thinks it'll be good if it removes all the jokes and enjoyment that made the original fun. While it is a hard R-rated, generally gloomy take on the Wolverine character, Logan still feels like its grittiness has a meaning and a purpose. From the opening scene where Logan brutally kills a bunch of carjackers just to keep his limo safe for his next chauffeur job, the movie pitches itself into a moody, morally-grey world that's full of darkness and danger. Yet, it's also a world with hope, a place where heroes still do the right thing, even if the weight of the world has made them reluctant and broken. Likewise, Logan is a very violent movie - if you've ever wanted to see Wolverine let out his full berserker rage when not confined by a PG-13 rating, you'll be over the moon here. However, it doesn't come across as the movie pandering to its mature rating, but simply an organic outcome of its overall tone. Unlike most films where the gritty card is thrown around, death and violence actually mean something here and every head and limb Logan dismembers clearly weighs heavily on his mind. 3) Superhero Deconstruction Done The Right Way While never really dabbling in deconstructing its heroes, the X-Men series has traditionally been keen to place its fantastical characters in a semblance of the real world. For example, it's generally avoided putting the X-Men in colourful costumes. On the whole, that's probably a good thing, as dour deconstructions of our superheroes aren't always what the audience wants. Logan finds a novel way to do it, though, and it's entirely satisfying. As glimpsed in the trailers for the movie, Logan takes place in a world where Wolverine is also a comic book character. A device which the film uses to show you that real heroes are not glory hounds in leotards who do what they do because it's the right thing. Like Logan, real heroes have vulnerabilities and flaws, too. Logan is a complicated soul - he's saved a lot of people, yes, but he's also killed an enormous amount in the process and his dangerous life has cost him a great deal over the years. Like the westerns it's so clearly inspired by - e.g. Shane and Unforgiven - Logan depicts a hero with a great deal of darkness and regret In many ways, this is the X-Men franchise's equivalent of The Dark Knight. Both are grittier takes on the central hero, that while removing themselves far from the source material, somehow also nail the character better than ever before. 2) Smaller Scale Bigger Stakes In recent years, we've got used to every superhero movie introducing an end-of-the-world scenario that our heroes have to stop - usually it involves some big glowing portal in the sky (seriously, why does that keep happening?). By now, then, this incessant raising of the scale has made us largely apathetic towards that kind of story - it also doesn't help that we're never in any doubt that the world is really going to end. What Logan realizes is that it's better to have a smaller scale and work on raising the emotional stakes instead. In the movie, there's a sort of apocalyptic scenario - but this has been and gone, with mutantkind already having been made near-extinct when the film starts. With that, Logan doesn't become a race to save the world but just for our three main characters to save their own lives. Again, there's a familiar enigmatic, evil organization out there with big plans, but in a movie which has already killed off our heroes off-screen, all bets are off for how they'll be dealt with. We genuinely don't know if the bad guys will win the day or not. 1) Completely Its Own Beast As much as we enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe and (at least the potential of) the DC Extended Universe, there's a valid point to be made that their movies are more like feature-length television episodes, as their stories can never really end considering that their franchise has to keep going forwards. The X-Men franchise doesn't suffer from this to the same extent but, lately, the strain of all the variant continuities of the series has weighed down on the movies. Logan does away with that problem entirely by cutting its ties completely with the wider X-Men franchise. The cast and crew have spoken in the media about how it takes place in a slightly alternate universe from previous movies, but the film itself isn't interested in clarifying anything so nerdy. It just wants to tell its own story and be done with it. Would we have loved to have some flashback to the X-Mansion with, say, Famke Jansen and James Marsden? Sure, but, if we set aside our fanboy cravings, the decision to leave Logan as its own beast was definitely the right one for the movie's integrity.