Logan LOGAN - User Review and Reactions Thread (Spoilers)

[The Guard]

Not sure why people are complaining about Reavers. They did exactly what they were supposed to - mercenary hired thugs. Boyd gave a very charismatic performance as Pierce. But you can't expect the villain to be as well written as someone like William Stryker in X2 or Magneto in X3 because they have a history with Wolverine to work with. Donald Pierce was on par with Kevin Bacon in First Class for me. Both had enough presence to make their roles seem warranted unlike many generic villains in other films like Whiplash, Ronan, Maleketh, etc.

Because it's The Reavers. They're not ordinary hired thugs and mercenaries, and yet they're essentially portrayed as such. The film really watered them down. I don't even know why they bothered to give them cybernetic enhancements, as it ended up being of no real consequence. Just wasted potential.

 

[X-Maniac]

Plot vs character. Listen to what the master has to say about it.

Spoiler

[YT]WrkHyvl5NeI[/YT]

He's so right of course.

And this highlights a major issue with many of the X-men films. The cardboard cut-outs or, as i called them, mutant wallpaper. So many characters devoid of personality (the new future mutants in DoFP, such as Bishop; several characters in X-Men: Apocalypse, such as Psylocke). Many scenes providing motivation, character, personality, were either cut (see the deleted scenes for XM:A), or were non-existent in the first place.

While I don't believe Logan to be as amazing as others, if there is one thing the filmmakers can learn from it is to imbue people with personality, show it on screen, and make us care about these people...

 

[Roose Bolton]

I saw it last night, my first viewing. I think overwhelmingly positive reviews will give it a solid second weekend.

I wouldn't say this is the 'best X-Men film' because, to me, it isn't really an X-Men film. But it's the best Wolverine movie.

I found the first half very slow, i was wriggling around in my seat. The action/superpower scenes are good (Xavier's seizure stopping the attack in the casino; the attack at the farm; and the final showdown in the woods). Dafne is great as X23. I didn't get at all emotional. And the use of Shane footage/dialogue felt a bit heavy-handed.

I enjoyed the acting from Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen and Boyd Holbrook, in particular. Jackman was good but still a bit flat and emotionless for me.

Caliban wasn't really vitally important/useful to the plot, in my view.

The timeline/continuity is weird as ever, expecting me to believe all this happened just six years after the 2023 happy future epilogue of DoFP. Felt like it should have been 15-20 years later. 2039 would have worked better. But the whole feel of the movie was more of a standalone.

Also, they dwelt a lot on the X-Men comic books not being anything like real life. Seemed very much like Mangold giving the middle finger to comic book fans. But the comics are where Wolverine and Xavier come from originally, not sure why they were treated with such contempt as nothing but fairy stories.

It's very good, there are no technical issues (like bad VFX etc), the writing is very good ('this is what life feels like'.., though it's Patrick Stewart who sells the line). I would give it a 7.5 or 8 out of 10. My friend felt it was a solid 8. He enjoyed it more than me and had no quibbles at all but he admitted he also noticed the over-use of Shane and the contempt for the comics.

I'm glad they didn't use Omega Red instead of X24, he's better kept for an X-Men team movie and would have been out of place here. Someone else's suggestion of an elderly Magneto appearing at Eden and drawing the metal out of Logan so he could spend his final years with Laura might also have worked though, and perhaps would have been more unexpected than Logan's death (which seemed like the obvious thing that would happen).

I don't think there was any real vitriol towards the comics in this film. On Logan's part, certainly he was bitter and cynical at the notion of his life's struggles being made into a fantasy, but the film suggests that there's an incredible amount of importance in taking these stories to heart.

 

[Leenie]

I don't think there was any real vitriol towards the comics in this film. On Logan's part, certainly he was bitter and cynical at the notion of his life's struggles being made into a fantasy, but the film suggests that there's an incredible amount of importance in taking these stories to heart.

^This.

The inclusion of the comic books concerned me at first, but with the way it was played out, I didn't feel it was any sort of "middle finger" at all.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I don't think there was any real vitriol towards the comics in this film. On Logan's part, certainly he was bitter and cynical at the notion of his life's struggles being made into a fantasy, but the film suggests that there's an incredible amount of importance in taking these stories to heart.

Exactly.

"It's real to her."

That's not just about the POV or mindset of Laura and the other children, it's a commentary about us, the audience, but especially the fans that supported these characters for decades, who do take these four color, two dimensional creations on paper and their adventures very seriously despite them indeed being fictions that do operate like fairy tales. It's sly commentary too since, yeah, no blankety-blank in spandex has ever solved anything. That's just a fact. But we still have an essential, even "child like" desire to have heroes, to want people to be as we idealize them. In the end Logan, for all his protestations about it was still the man that would run into the face of danger, despite all the baggage weighing him down, and protect the innocent and the persecuted.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Finally saw this yesterday, and it was well worth the hype. Super emotional, and a fitting sendoff to Jackman's legendary tenure. Sure, it continues the wreaking of the Fox Continuity, but I can't really complain when the movie is this good.

 

[SuperSanchez]

2nd viewing made me realize just how much the acting and action saved it from being a disappointment..

I'd say the story was one of the least interesting in the X-Men Universe (outside of the really bad movies)

However, you could feel the love and effort they gave with this movie.

Its flawed, but still a darn good film.

Exactly right, the story is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, the emotions and violence is what makes it so overwhelming

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I think that's the point though and what made the film so strong. It works because it's a straightforward story but examines the characters and takes their history and internal lives seriously. It was not about super hero spectacle or attempting to have an overly clever plot. All that said, it did throw me a lot of curves and was unpredictable to my eyes on first viewing.

 

[Batmannerism]

Saw it again today. Still emotionally devastated....

Yeah, teared up in a few spots - mostly with Xavier's bits, which were even more tragic than Logan's.

Really, Sir Pat Stew deserves some serious accolades for this movie, it doesn't feel the same after Xavier dies. Jackman is great throughout the whole thing, but after Xavier is gone Laura really shines.

I loved

Spoiler

the end where Logan is clearly so exhausted and sick he's just stumbling through the forest to save the kids (until he takes the serum) it's a kind of vulnerability we never get to see in superhero films

A heartbreaking movie, which I think will make it less celebrated than TDK, because TDK has massive re-watch value (i've seen it probably hundred or so times) Logan is even better in its first and second act, but so hard to watch that I don't think I could see it more than once a year.

I guess the one thing that keeps it from being too sad is that

Spoiler

Logan is literally dying right from the start of the film, he manages to make his death have some meaning when it finally arrives.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

I saw this Saturday night and I can't believe it was rated 15 (in the UK) with how gory it was. It was straight up BRUTAL. I had my hands covering my eyes through almost every fight sequence (I'm very squeamish but my boyfriend told me there's NO WAY it could be that bad as it's only rated 15 lol) I did think the gore took away from my viewing pleasure a bit... I get it's more realistic (hello Adamantium claws!) but sometimes implied violence is just as powerful. Like, it did become a bit "now where else can we stick his claws?" after a while...

Despite this, I LOVED the movie. I couldn't sleep afterwards and I'm still thinking about it.

The only thing I wish is that there was a tad more hope at the end. I think everyone in my group said after that they thought one of the stones on the grave would move or fall... it didn't have to be because he was alive under there, but it would have just left the viewer wondering... a bit like the end of Inception. That's my opinion of course. I like hope.

 

[InCali]

Finally got a chance to see it yesterday and, while I enjoyed it, it didn't really strike the right emotional cords for me. I didn't like what I saw in the future and think it actually gutted X-Men possibilities for a big chunk of time until post Logan. Also, it means all of our original X-Men characters met with a very nasty fate and it makes me less likely to want to watch the (sort of) original team leading up to the events of Logan. Hey, they pretty much all got smoked if not killed.

I can understand why people are raving about it because the performances were excellent, but this isn't really my cup of coffee. They are clearly trying to set the table for the future, but the timeline issues are starting to get very clunky. This next group better take off pretty big or else this franchise is in trouble. The 2 rocks of the foundation are gone.

 

[Roose Bolton]

It doesn't necessarily mean that all of the original X-Men are dead. The specific line of dialogue in reference to the event was "600 injured and 7 Mutants dead, including several members of the X-Men."

The wording would imply that of the 7 that are dead, not all of them were part of the team. There's wriggle room for them to proceed, especially since someone was clearly communicating with the kids to give them safe haven across the boarder.

 

[GuestStar2004]

I don't think it really matters in the long run if some of the X-Men are alive because overall they ain't the ones looking after Xavier, they ain't around for him and clearly Xavier is able to have communication with mutants using his powers as he did at the start of the movie with X23 so he should have had some idea if any of them were alive.

The overall idea was likely that Logan and Xavier were the only ones left, it was probably just left ambiguous to not piss off fans aswell as be a nod to OML.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Regardless of their intentions with this one, there is room to continue with more of the classic characters if other filmmakers so choose. It's not especially damning the franchise's possibilities, especially since we know that Cable exists and had to come from somewhere.

 

[InCali]

Regardless of their intentions with this one, there is room to continue with more of the classic characters if other filmmakers so choose. It's not especially damning the franchise's possibilities, especially since we know that Cable exists and had to come from somewhere.

I suppose, but that was my take on it. If there's a good story in there that shows me wrong, more power to 'em....I'll watch it.

 

[DACrowe]

Here is how I could explain it. Logan is the only one who can endure Xavier's seizures. He insists that he will take care of Xavier by himself and runs off with him without telling anyone. Caliban, who was never an X-Man, is looking for redemption due to decades of selfishness and cruelty, so he agrees to help Logan at some point on his journey to south of the border, to get away from the law. The other X-Men are scattered to the wind as the government closes Xavier's school.

That is a grim future, but it is not final for anyone other than Logan and Charles... and whoever the "several" X-Men were who died. So pick your least favorites on that last part.

 

[DACrowe]

He's so right of course.

And this highlights a major issue with many of the X-men films. The cardboard cut-outs or, as i called them, mutant wallpaper. So many characters devoid of personality (the new future mutants in DoFP, such as Bishop; several characters in X-Men: Apocalypse, such as Psylocke). Many scenes providing motivation, character, personality, were either cut (see the deleted scenes for XM:A), or were non-existent in the first place.

While I don't believe Logan to be as amazing as others, if there is one thing the filmmakers can learn from it is to imbue people with personality, show it on screen, and make us care about these people...

I think Days of Future Past actually though is stronger than most X-films or MCU films, because it is so much focused on several dynamics. One between Charles and Logan (both old and young), and the other between Charles, Logan, and Raven. It is why I prefer it to any Avengers film. There are stakes there.

But yes, the only superhero movies that really put a great emphasis on character and story over basic plotting are few and far between. I actually think the secret for Nolan is he loves intricate plotting and very well defined, if broadly drawn, characters. It's why I think all three of his Batmans hold up so well.

Logan is one of the few examples of a classic archetypal story that prefers character details over story ones. That will likely help it over the years too.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I think Days of Future Past actually though is stronger than most X-films or MCU films, because it is so much focused on several dynamics. One between Charles and Logan (both old and young), and the other between Charles, Logan, and Raven. It is why I prefer it to any Avengers film. There are stakes there.

But yes, the only superhero movies that really put a great emphasis on character and story over basic plotting are few and far between. I actually think the secret for Nolan is he loves intricate plotting and very well defined, if broadly drawn, characters. It's why I think all three of his Batmans hold up so well.

Logan is one of the few examples of a classic archetypal story that prefers character details over story ones. That will likely help it over the years too.

Couldn't agree more with all of this. For me the MCU movies don't quite hold up as well as the best the X-Franchise can offer. And Logan just brings something new to the genre in a way Marvel or even DC couldn't. CW hasn't stood up to repeat viewings for me, and watching Doctor Strange tonight that didn't either. However DOFP, FC, and X2 still all hold up. And I think because of the emotion driven story Logan will as well.

 

[danoyse]

I don't think there was any real vitriol towards the comics in this film. On Logan's part, certainly he was bitter and cynical at the notion of his life's struggles being made into a fantasy, but the film suggests that there's an incredible amount of importance in taking these stories to heart.

Agreed. In fact, when Logan was in the bar while their truck was getting new tires, he was reading those comics, he stopped on a panel between Wolverine and Rogue and seemed affected by it. He thought those were stories were BS, but he was definitely remembering Rogue just then.

You saw it later with the kids too. They gave him his mutton chops back, and that one little boy even had his action figure. Again, while Logan was raving about the comics being crap, they mattered to those kids. Hell, they may have even taught them they could be better than what they were made for.

 

[marvelrobbins]

Couldn't agree more with all of this. For me the MCU movies don't quite hold up as well as the best the X-Franchise can offer. And Logan just brings something new to the genre in a way Marvel or even DC couldn't. CW hasn't stood up to repeat viewings for me, and watching Doctor Strange tonight that didn't either. However DOFP, FC, and X2 still all hold up. And I think because of the emotion driven story Logan will as well.

One reason why I like X-Men films much better than others is first off i am die hard X-men fan and tone and character stuff.as well as the mutant allegory.now we can argue all day about characters that got focus.hell fans used to argue in letters page on the characters that got storylines.Logan offers something fresh and unique.X2,DOFP,and underated X-Men all among my favorates.There is tendency by some to think newer films are always better.X2 has remainded my favorate X film because i as old time fan find it nearly perfect as a film adaptan of X-Men.The allegory is strong.strong villain.wolverine,Jean,Rogue,Iceman,Pyro,Nightcrawler all get good stuff.i argue this was best stuff for halle berry as storm.Only DOFP and Logan have
realled effected me as much as X2 did.jean sacrifing herself,the crossing back and forth in DOFP third act and what happens In Logan's climax all affected me.

Chris nolan on dark knight trilogy may be more grounded than some may like but batman begins and especilly dark knight did very good job of appealing to this longtime batman fan.now i never read superman like i did
X-Men,Spider-man,Batman and even avengers but richard donner's film
is one of my favorate comic book films.it's a true classic in every sense of word.

with laura coming from mexico logan has relvence to what is going on in united states just like trask in DOFP wanting to scapegoat mutants was great allegory on immigrants and muslims.

 

[danoyse]

I didn’t notice it the first time I saw it, but when Pierce’s crew was set up at that high school gym, when he told someone that they could use tissue from Caliban’s body, I also noticed the bodies of the gas station attendant that Laura flipped over and the kid from the farm were there too. Yikes.

 

[Fading]

I give it a 9.

(Spoilers)


I enjoyed it. It had it's flaws, but they weren't critical ones. A CBM where emotion, and character takes front seat that much is rare (though not as rare as it used to be). It was a good send off to Jackman, and Stewart. In fact those two really worked together amazingly well in this movie. I was almost equally sad about Xavier's death as I was his death meant his part in the roadtrip was over.

I didn't even mind the Reaver's. I can agree they were weak villains, but this movie was going for gritty, and realistic. If you had tossed in Omega Red, or some other over the top villain in, it would have been jarring as it would have went against the tone in the film. Maybe they could have made X-24 Daken instead, and have him resent Logan for extra emotional impact.

Either way, the movie will stick with me for awhile, and was well worth the watch. Now on to continuing to ignore King Kong related things until I go to see it with friends Wednesday (just the day that worked for all of us).

 

[marvelrobbins]

Agreed. In fact, when Logan was in the bar while their truck was getting new tires, he was reading those comics, he stopped on a panel between Wolverine and Rogue and seemed affected by it. He thought those were stories were BS, but he was definitely remembering Rogue just then.

You saw it later with the kids too. They gave him his mutton chops back, and that one little boy even had his action figure. Again, while Logan was raving about the comics being crap, they mattered to those kids. Hell, they may have even taught them they could be better than what they were made for.

I didn't think idea of comics would work for film.boy was i wrong.i was afaird they would come off as hocky they came off as powerful in context of film.

 

[X-Maniac]

I think Days of Future Past actually though is stronger than most X-films or MCU films, because it is so much focused on several dynamics. One between Charles and Logan (both old and young), and the other between Charles, Logan, and Raven. It is why I prefer it to any Avengers film. There are stakes there.

Regardless of any comparisons with MCU or Warner/DC film adaptations, I'm talking about giving more character moments to some of the lesser characters in the X-films.

Singer/Kinberg both said they wished they'd kept in the extended future sequence of DoFP that eventually found its way on to the Rogue Cut and gave more substance to Bishop and the others, so that we could care about them more. Without that, the future mutants are no more than plot devices.

Similarly, watch most of the extended/deleted scenes of XM:A and you'll probably feel (as i did) that most of them would have been great to see in the actual movie, as they added character and personality and motivation (though Psylocke was still not fleshed out). As Singer narrates these extras on the Blu-ray, he keeps saying how he 'regretted' cutting them in the first place. And yet we had to to have scenes with flying shipping containers, ships being yanked from the ocean floor and bridges falling apart.

In X2, there was an excellent use of character moments - Storm and Kurt's convo on the X-jet, for example; and a lot of the stuff at Bobby's parents' house. The movie gave its characters time to show who they are. Why can't this be done more often?

Logan is one of the few examples of a classic archetypal story that prefers character details over story ones. That will likely help it over the years too.

My point was that I'd like more character details in the X-Men movies. A few lines of dialogue only takes a few seconds, so there's no excuse really. I want to get to know the characters I'm watching, see what makes them tick. Why should that be such a rarity?

 

[Roose Bolton]

Agreed. In fact, when Logan was in the bar while their truck was getting new tires, he was reading those comics, he stopped on a panel between Wolverine and Rogue and seemed affected by it. He thought those were stories were BS, but he was definitely remembering Rogue just then.

You saw it later with the kids too. They gave him his mutton chops back, and that one little boy even had his action figure. Again, while Logan was raving about the comics being crap, they mattered to those kids. Hell, they may have even taught them they could be better than what they were made for.

Absolutely. And even on the part of Logan, that scene where he returns temporarily in his prime like the classic Wolverine, you can see from Laura's expression that it was that hero from the comics come to save her. Maybe the comics reflected the truth and maybe they didn't, but at the end there for the sake of his daughter Logan made it real. He lived up to the comics for her and those kids, and I think ultimately the film was a celebration of those stories.