The movie of my people

I watched Logan on Saturday and have been digesting it for a couple days now. I think I would like to see it again.

It is by far the best X-Men movie, unless you count Deadpool, but the two are... somewhat different in tone so that's okay.

I have a secret, I don't really like Wolverine much, maybe it is because of the inevitable references in high school, but I think rather it is overexposure. The character has been ubiquitous since his creation and I just don't really think he deserves it. He's a grumpy mutant who kills people with his claws. Also an amnesiac or something, woop de fuck. And he never changes, he's always a grumpy amnesiac who is skilled at murder, I guess sometimes he is a samurai too, but other than that, nada, no matter what iteration, or what timeline, that is Wolverine.

This movie did something new with him. It turned grumpy old Logan into a broken down, almost pathetic figure, someone who keeps going because he doesn't know how to stop, he can't break his grumpy cycle of violence and depression and it is killing him by inches.

The story at it's heart is one you have seen in uncounted westerns, samurai films, or crime dramas featuring an assassin doing one last job. It's the story of a retired professional who only wants to be left alone convinced to do one last job, take on one last cause, by a dynamic younger generation who still cares about things, and in doing so, begins to care himself.

The heroes of those films rarely get traditional happy endings for themselves, and it should surprise no one that this is no different, not to say it isn't a good ending, or one that Logan doesn't deserve, but it isn't precisely happy.

The setting is "the future" it has been twenty five years or so since the last known mutant was born, and the old ones are dying out. Logan is working as a limo driver in Texas and saving money to buy a boat, why? Because he is also taking care of Charles Xavier, who suffers from some form of dementia and lives in fallen water cooler on a secret compound south of the border, Xavier's illness makes him a danger to everyone around him and the long term plan is for him to live out his days on the ocean where he can't hurt anyone.
Of course, plans go awry when Laura, also known as X-23 comes into Logan's life, a new mutant, the first in decades that they have seen, she and Xavier convince Logan to help her, and it's off to the races.

Let's talk about acting for a second, everyone does wonderfully including Hugh Jackman, but it is a fact of life that if you are in a movie with Patrick Stewart he is gonna act the pants off of you, and he does. There is an exception to that rule though and her name is Dafne Keene, she is twelve and my goodness she can act. Particularly as her character for most of the movie communicates through meaningful looks and murderous shrieks. Her development as a character and attachment to Logan and Charles is pulled off extremely well and believably. I would keep an eye on her from here on out, if she chooses to continue her career she is gonna be amazing.

The movie isn't fun, it's really well done on all levels, and there is witty writing and interesting fight scenes, but it is grim, the last of a dying breed on their last adventure, it's sad, grim, and just hopeful enough that you feel like there might be a chance for something better.

It is a perfect movie for 2017, and the perfect send off for a character that had been wearing out his welcome. I can't believe the movie ended up being made the way it was, this isn't a franchise starter, it's punctuation.