Director James Mangold On Why He Considers Logan’s Finale To Be Bittersweet

Editor’s Note: Heed this warning, if you’ve yet to see Logan, then why on Earth are you still reading? The following post contains massive spoilers for the heartfelt finale of Wolverine’s swan song, so continue on at your own discretion. 

In anticipation of Logan‘s Blu-ray release – May 23rd is the date for your diaries – Cinema Blend caught up with writer-director James Mangold to discuss Hugh Jackman’s last hurrah in those adamantium claws, the much-touted R rating and, perhaps most intriguing of all, the film’s ending.

It’s an ending that Mangold considers to be bittersweet – happy, even – and all things considered, you’d struggle to find anyone who didn’t shed a tear or three during the movie’s final act. Soon after an edge-of-your-seat battle scene involving Wolvie and Dafne Keen’s fierce X-23, it doesn’t take long before our mutant double act comes to the grim conclusion: Wolverine’s wounds are fatal, and all of the serum on God’s green Earth won’t be enough to save Hugh Jackman’s lead from the clutches of death.

Given the Logan was always aligned to be Jackman’s final appearance as Wolvie, it’s a poignant finale that many fans saw coming a mile off, but in no way did that undermine such a heart-wrenching scene. As Yukio said four years ago: “I see you on your back, there’s blood everywhere. You’re holding your own heart in your hand.”

The end result is a happy ending to Wolverine’s saga – in the eyes of James Mangold, at least. Here’s what the director had to share with Cinema Blend:

Something gets born of every tragedy. In many ways, I look at the movie and I realize what a happy ending it is. At least from the perspective of Wolverine’s character. I think, unlike anything you have seen in the previous seven or eight movies, he’s happy in his final moments on this earth. He’s happy.

He feels somehow satisfied, and I think that’s something very few of us might be able to say in our parting glances from this world. That we suddenly taste and know everything and feel like we got to experience everything. And I think in some way, and Hugh’s performance is really transcendent there, he communicates that and leaves us more moved than bereft.

Logan is set to claw its way onto Blu-ray and DVD on May 23rd. If you’re strapped for cash or somehow aren’t able to pick up a copy at launch, don’t worry; there’s still time to enter We Got This Covered’s giveaway.