Thursday, March 2, 2017

LOGAN - The End of One of Most Interesting Portrayal of Marvel's Superhero

This movie had been creating a lot of buzz since last year. My wife and I were looking forward to see this one since the past month when the trailer to the movie was started to be shown in the cinemas. When the movie premiered yesterday, I happened to be having a banking event at Kota Kasablanka. Therefore we decided to see the movie there and luckily enough, the movie was playing in the theater with Dolby Atmos sound system. Since the movie was having more than 2 hours duration, it started at 6PM instead of the usual 7-ish time that we would normally see a movie. So let's get on to the story now.

Brief Story Line

The movie was told in the year 2029 when the total of mutants seemed to be decreasing over the years and not even a single new mutant was heard for many years. Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman - no need for introduction here) had aged significantly through out the years. He seemed to be sick and not able to heal himself as fast as he used to be. Working as a limousine driver, he tried to save enough money to buy a boat so he could go out and retire peacefully. 

Logan was staying in a remote location together with Caliban (Stephen Merchant - Hot Fuzz, Hall Pass etc) who was a mutant that could track another mutant's location but very prone to sun light. Together they were taking care of the very old Professor X/Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart - Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series and many more) who was having problems with his brain and had to take medication, otherwise he would be endangering the people at the surrounding location.

Logan got a request from a mysterious woman named Gabriela (Elizabeth Rodriguez - Orange Is The New Black TV series) who wanted him to bring her and a young girl to North Dakota. After showing that she got some large amount money to be paid, Logan agreed to such request. He even told Caliban and Charles that he was going for few days to do this job which would earn him enough money to buy the boat. However, before he could leave, a group of army led by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook - Gone Girl, Run All Night etc) came to Logan's location. He insisted Logan to give up the young girl. The girl who later on revealed to be named Laura (played by newcomer Dafne Keen) was already hiding earlier in Logan's limo and Charles informed Logan that he should protect Laura whatever it takes.

So what exactly made Laura so special? What was the reason for Pierce interest in capturing her and who was he working for? Would Logan be able to save Laura and bring her to the intended location through so many obstacles and ordeal? Find them all in this exciting and different kind of X-Men movie.

End of Brief Story Line

As you might have already known, this movie would be the last one that Hugh Jackman portraying the role of Wolverine. So I think the movie had a conclusion written all over it. Even from the start and throughout the middle, you could already guess what the ending would be. Showing an old version of Logan in the conclusion of Wolverine trilogy had a sense of closure to it. Furthermore, the introduction of Laura was a truly nice way of the writer to end this series. 

The movie itself was having sufficient amount of actions combined with the more dramatic moments involving Logan's relationship with Charles and with Laura. While the movie was not a full blown action like the other X-Men movies, there was no boring moment. It even had some brief funny moments involving Charles' childlike behavior or Laura's antiques. The action sequence involving Wolverine, especially in the final battle scene were absolutely breathtaking. I loved how the writers and director also decided to make the movie more violent and bloody unlike Wolverine's portrayal in all the previous 8 movies (which kind of odd since Wolverine was supposed to be a very violent killing machine character). I understand that the film itself was loosely based on the comic book series Old Man Logan where Wolverine was told to have aged a lot. 

This movie did not have a lot of CGI special effects which made the actions seemed more believable. The sound effects were amazing (like the weapons blazing or the claws ripping bodies of). I was satisfied that the cinema really gave the Dolby Atmos sound system to the audience and it made my experience watching it more satisfying, unlike my previous experience of watching xXx: The Return of Xander Cage in the same cinema. I also think the make up effects were very good as the wounds on Logan's body all looked original. One other thing that was interesting was how the X-Men comic books were sometimes shown in the movie.

With the frequent very brutal and bloody killings in it, I believe this film is not suitable for children to see. Anyway this is not the standard light superhero movie for all ages. Unlike other Marvel movies, this one did not have a post end credit scene. So audience who had been holding it for 2 hours to go to the restroom can do so immediately. 

For those who are interested in finding out the conclusion to the Wolverine trilogy, you would not be disappointed with this movie. The story was good, the ending was excellent. The enjoyment of this movie was not only in the actions, but the journey that Logan had to embark to find happiness in his very long life, just like what Charles had advised him. Another reminder that this would be Hugh Jackman's last performance as Wolverine so there would be a sense of incomplete if you do not see this one.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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