Logan is the third solo Wolverine movie and the....hmmm.....okay math time....first 3 X-Men movies + First Class + Days of Future Past - X-Men 3 + Apocalypse = 5 X-Men movies. Logan also earns the distinction of being the best of the X-Men universe of films except for Deadpool.
Like Deadpool, Logan is also rated R, which is something that will be expressed in great detail once we hit the page jump. Since I saw the film on opening night, technically opening afternoon since the Wife of Thunder and myself are old people, I'm qualified to answer all of your Logan related questions. Hopefully you had the same questions that I thought to ask myself, and if not, just post them in the comments!
Is the movie really based off of the 'Old Man Logan' story arc from the comics?
Nope. The only thing the comics has in common with the movie is the concept of an old Wolverine that's beaten down and defeated by life. The movie is not a post-apocalypse setting, despite being an actual post-Apocalypse movie in that the whole timeline Logan takes place in is disconnected from the "mainstream" X-Men movies now.
There is no Hawkeye, no in-bred Hulk clan, no grand-kid of Peter Parker and no world in which the super-villains killed off all the heroes.
Does it at least involve a road trip?
Chuck, Logan and X-23 go on a roadtrip from southern Texas across the country. Sadly, it is not in a Spider-mobile.
X-23 is actually in this? It's not just a few scenes and she's handled better then past mutants in Wolverine movies right?
X-23, Laura, is one of the highlights of the movie. She's not as old in the movie as she is in the comics, which makes her bloody fight scenes either disconcerting or extra-awesome. Like Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass but with claws.
Blood and gore!? We actually get to see Wolverine cause people to bleed!?
And how! Also, tits.
Hold on to that thought until after the page break.
Here's where everyone that hasn't seen the movie, needs to go see it if they had any sort of passing interest in the X-Men movies. The quality jump from X-Men Origins: Wolverine to Logan is unbelievable. There's an actual plot to Logan and a cohesive style (it's a Western) that is a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre. It's not perfect, but it's really good.
Get to the blood and gore!
When the Wife of Thunder and myself were in the theater, I almost laughed when I saw the family of four (mom, dad, little boy, slightly older girl) sat down in the front seating section. I had a great view of this family every time Logan's claws went through someone's skull, each time a limb hit the ground and of course, during the Uber sequence. This made me enjoy the movie even more then I expected going in. Why? Deep down, I'm a horrible person that delights in the misery of stupid people.
Uber sequence? Wolverine calls for an Uber?
No, if you'll recall, he IS the Uber driver and I guess this was to show just how down on his luck he is? Or more likely, a way to make a living under the table for Chuck and Caliban? Probably. The part with the Bachorlette party and the exposed tits was likely the result of reshoots once the R rating was locked in. Of course I looked down at the family in front of me and of course I saw the mom and dad talk quietly, probably something like "What did we do?!" or "Great, Little Timmy just saw his first tits while sitting with us, can't blame the babysitter for this one!"
What was up with Caliban? He's buddies with Logan now?
When we last left Caliban, Apocalypse had recruited his assistant, Psylocke. When we first see Caliban in Logan, he's assisting with taking care of Charles Xavier. Pierce at one point mentions that Caliban was once on the "Good side" and hunted down the mutants using his power to sniff out the X-gene. It's easy to see the Caliban from Apocalypse following the money to go to work for The Reavers before having a change of heart.
Reavers? Right! The cyborg guys led by yet another Wolverine villain with a Southern accent!
Who knew Southern military types hated Canada so much?
We also, somehow, got DONALD PIERCE into a movie before Captain Marvel. Donald Pierce and The Reavers are the X-Men equivalent of the Wrecking Crew. D level bad guys that exist for a new hero to beat up and show off what they can do. The Reavers have never been a major threat and Donald Pierce always gets his ass kicked. During the X-Necrosha arc that was actually part of the evil plan: Donald Pierce gets his ass kicked.
This is what The Reavers look like in the comics:
All we got in the movie were some guys with cybernetic limbs. I want full on 80's post-apocalypse cyborgs that look like the bald dude from Smash TV!
So yeah, given Donald Pierce's track record against Wolverine (Pierce first got his ass kicked by Wolverine during The Dark Phoenix Saga), it's amazing he lived until the third act and perfectly fitting that he was killed off in a display of horrible pain and suffering.
What about the other villain, Dr. Rice! Who's he?
Ah! Dr. "Not Mr. Sinister"!
Rumors in advance of Logan were flying that Mr. Sinister, the long-time X-Men foe that is actually an evil genetic researcher from the 1800's named Nathaniel Essex whom entered into a Faustian bargain with Apocalypse, would make his big-screen debut. Close!
Dr. Rice is the evil geneticist responsible for no new mutants being born as he messed with the food people were consuming to block off the X-gene. That's a straight up Sinister move, as Sinister wanted control of the X-gene, in particular, the DNA of the Summers family. Attempting to replicate mutant DNA into human babies, and create a controlled mutation process, is also a straight up Sinister move. Everything about Dr. Rice WAS Mr. Sinister, except for the lack of his own powers, alabaster skin and the lack of his bitching cape.
Hopefully we get a proper Mr. Sinister in the next, mainstream X-Men movie.
But is X-23 as awesome in the comics!? She kicks ASS!
Laura Kinney (she's not Mexican in the comics, but that change makes sense for the story being told), is indeed, awesome. As the current Wolverine, she's rocking the yellow spandex look and filling in for Logan really well. Including having to explain to Squirrel Girl that her powers do not include talking to actual wolverines. Go read All-New Wolverine. It's the good stuff.
Logan does a fantastic job building up her character, the initial reveal of her claws when she's carrying out the head of Blockbuster (or generic Reaver Big Guy for the less dorky of us), got a huge pop in our theater. I'd love them to do a stand-alone X-23 movie.
Are the other mutant kids anyone notable from the comics?
Rictor, the lead mutant/clone kid, is a long time member of X-Force (original recipe) and X-Factor (after M-Day version). His power is to generate seismic waves and this got put to great use in the movie when he makes like Kwami and raises a pillar of earth. The use of Rictor as a mutant kid with not much in the way of personality is fine, as Rictor was never a real big deal until his time with X-Factor.
You know how whenever they need a Japanese mutant, they use Sunfire?
Rictor is like that, except for Mexico. I thought having him in there was a deep cut and a cool Easter egg. I definitely liked him more then the final bad guy, X-24.
Is X-24 Daken, the son of Wolverine from the comics?
HELL NO.
X-24 is generic evil clone bad guy.
Daken is daddy issue bad guy.
There's a big difference.
I did appreciate how, and this had to be intentional, X-24 is basically Logan's Id come to life. The pure berserker rage given form, and Logan has to conquer it in order to finally be at peace with himself. With that take on X-24, it's kinda cool. Especially how this is really the first movie we got to see the real rage in Logan, just watch that scene with the gangbangers in the beginning. He tries to keep calm, but then snaps and the claws come out, which is a bit on the nose as far as symbolism goes, but this is a comic book movie after all.
I suppose the prospect of clones opens up the possibility of Hugh Jackman returning for future movies, but that's a real remote possibility, especially given the ending.
About that, is Wolverine really dead?
Yup.
The explanation is two-fold, one, within the movie, his own adamantium was poisoning his blood and reducing the effectiveness of his healing factor. This is similar to what happened in the comics when a nanovirus infected Logan and reduced his healing factor to that of a regular human. In the comics, Logan was killed by being covered in liquid adamantium. In the movie, well, I guess it was the tree branch that did him in?
Secondly, Hugh Jackman wanted to end on a high note, and he thought Logan was an amazing send-off for the character he's played for the past 15 years. I have to agree. The journey of redemption that Logan goes on during his final hours is nearly pitch perfect for the character. Dying with his own daughter looking down on him, calling him 'Daddy' and letting Logan feel what it is like to have a family for the first time?
I may have cried a little.
Hugh Jackman is now forgiven for the horrible, horrible movie that is X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
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