Logan (Movie)


This is my first review.Enjoy!

Perhaps no movie has gone as far as James Mangolds’ Logan in deconstructing the myth surrounding superheroes. In a setting reminiscent of the last days of the Greek hero Jason on his crumbling ship the Argo, the movie shows a weary Logan(Hugh Jackman), struggling to care for Professor Xavier( Ian Mckellan) in a world hostile to mutants.  His mundane life is given new meaning when he meets a young mutant girl, Laura (Dafne Keen).
The film is surprisingly deep for one based on a comic book, dealing with many important themes including illegal experimentation, child soldiers, and eugenics.
There are numerous times where Logan is forced out of this apathy to ‘stand up for the little guy’, against various big guns from the local real estate mogul to Transigen corporation which is hunting down the girl. Even the very idea of a safe haven for mutants in Canada, called Eden could or could not be an allusion to recent events.
On Violence
For a movie so drenched in blood and gore, it takes an interesting stand towards violence.
“There’s no living with it, the killing. There's ’ no going back from it. Right or wrong is just a brand. A brand sticks.”
This quotation from the western Shane, delivered by Laura is clearly delegitimising violence as a means to an end.  Yet, in the context of the movie, it is necessary that she kills for her survival. Logan also seems to have two stands on the issue. Logan replies that killing is “all the same” when Laura tells him she has hurt bad people, yet he has to use violence to protect all that he holds dear. Whether violence is justifiable or not is clearly left to the viewer.
The Hero’s Journey
Like any good movie, the focus is on the protagonist. The very naming of the movie as Logan as opposed to X Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine is suggestive. The movie is not about the heroic X Man; Wolverine, but about the nearly immortal yet ultimately human Logan.
He is a weary man, whose Wolverine persona has been dormant. A witness to the end of an age and the beginning of another, his Wolverine persona is resurrected when he fights to protect someone he loves. There are many references to rebirth and renewal as well as judgment throughout the movie, especially in Johnny Cash’s devotional music.
Even though it is inevitable that the next generation will surpass the previous one, symbols live on. This movie reminds us that as long as an alpha wolf leads his pack and as long as a person fights insurmountable odds to protect the ones they love, there will always be Wolverine.



Comments

  1. Mellanie2 May 2018 at 07:57

    Well, indeed we are all Logans, keeping our Wolverines subdued, if not caged.
    Very good. I hope to read more of the adventures of your mind.

    ReplyDelete

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