Hugh Jackman, best known for portraying the rough mutant, Wolverine in several X-Men films, is back as the jaded antihero in Logan, a film that is much darker and grittier than your average superhero film. It is also an important film for Jackman since he has confirmed that it is the last time that he is playing the iconic character.
Hugh Jackman’s Logan hailed by critics.
Hugh Jackman, best known for portraying the rough mutant, Wolverine in several X-Men films, is back as the jaded antihero in Logan, a film that is much darker and grittier than your average superhero film. It is also an important film for Jackman since he has confirmed that it is the last time that he is playing the iconic character.
James Mangold has directed the film with only Patrick Stewart reprising his role of Charles Xavier. The great news is that Logan has managed to impress most critics and has picked up a 94 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Peter Rainer, in his review for Christian Science Monitor writes about the film: “Logan propulsively directed by James Mangold, has its virtues: Jackman gives Logan a withering rage that seems heartfelt, not hammy; Stewart is touching in his enraged befuddlement; and Keen, who resembles here what Katie Holmes might look like if she were Carrie, has a feral intensity.”
Patrick Stewart returns as Charles Xavier in Logan.
Writing for BBC, Jessica Kiang rightly notes in her review that the film is not dark in a superficial fashion as has been the case with other superhero films. She writes: “Logan’s darkness is not simply an aesthetic filter as was the case in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice; it emanates from within the character.... Logan is just as much about the pitilessness of the aging process, and Jackman’s battle-scarred, stiffening body is as expressive in this regard as his perma-scowl of a face. It’s taking him longer to heal, his eyes are never clear and one of his claws won’t fully extend. This makes him less Logan’s Run, more Logan’s Limp. He’s as battered a superhero as we’ve ever seen, and for the first time his body bears exterior witness to the inner torture that has always defined him. His body is the story.”
LA. Biz’s Annlee Ellingson, meanwhile, notes that this goodbye to Jackman as Logan/Wolverine has heart behind it and is not comical even remotely. “Dark, gritty and graphic, Logan pays homage to the iconic character and the man who’s played him in nine films — not as a cartoon but as living, breathing, tortured antihero.”
Jeremy Aspinall, writing for RadioTimes, says its a portrayal that fans of the character have never experienced before. “It’s no secret that Jackman’s follow-up to 2013’s The Wolverine (also directed by Mangold) is his swansong in the role, and what a swansong it is, with Marvel’s ever-popular mutant at his most vulnerable and savage,” he observes. “Indeed, fans will be overjoyed to finally see the clawed brawler unleashed like never before. After all, last year’s Deadpool proved being more rude and violent doesn’t necessarily mean less box-office takings, so be prepared for heads to roll and be skewered.”
