Logan
Like we said, 2017’s superhero movies were all pretty fantastic, but, funnily enough, it’s the very first entry in the genre that the year brought us that remains at the very top: Fox’s moody, emotional finale to Hugh Jackman’s historic career as Wolverine, Logan.
Following on from the unique tone of Deadpool, Logan also took the X-Men franchise in a fresh direction. Making up for the last two solo Wolvie movies, it’s a superhero film by way of the western genre, providing a starkly-different take on this universe by stripping away the excess characters and making Logan a much more vulnerable, flawed figure. In the core unit of Jackman, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X and Dafne Keen’s X-23 (a real upcoming star, there), Logan created the best ensemble the franchise has ever seen.
It could have been too bleak to swallow, but thanks to some very fine performances, smart writing and great direction, Logan succeeded beyond expectations. In an age where audiences seem to be craving comedic, ultra-fun comic book films, it’s curious that the pic worked so well. But it just goes to show that a good movie, whenever it’s released, will always be appreciated.
Some have even labelled it as up there with The Dark Knight. While we’ll have to wait and see whether its reputation stays as evergreen as Christopher Nolan’s seminal sequel, we can comfortably say that Logan is the best of the many superhero movies of 2017.