From my original post in the
Serious Movie Discussion thread (
http://forums.sherdog.com/posts/127882051/):
Logan is not just better than every other X-Men movie - and I love that franchise - and it's not just better than every Marvel movie - and I love that franchise, too - it's on a fucking par with Nolan's Batman movies IMO. I might say, in the entire superhero realm, my Olympic pedestal as of this moment is
The Dark Knight Rises,
The Dark Knight, and
Logan. It's that good.
First, the R rating helped tremendously. And the opening scene lets you know right off the bat that this shit is going to be brutal. The brutality is signaled quite literally, but all the way down the line, I'm talking physically, psychologically, emotionally, morally, everything, it's just a brutal fucking movie. That's not to say it's a downbeat, whiny movie. It's just rough as fuck.
Second, I thought they did a superb job with not only the characterization of Logan but also with Professor X. And I loved the way they threaded the hope theme through their different worldviews (and, specifically, their different responses to the tragedy that befell them) and used Laura to embody it.
Third, the action was on fucking point. Watching Jackman snarl his way through some ferocious carnage was quite a treat, and Laura was fantastic, too.
Dragon in his review compared her to the
Kick Ass girl, but fuck that silly shit. Laura is in a class by herself as far as bad ass kids go. For me, after the opening scene, the two best action scenes were, first, the hotel scene (from conception to execution, it was just brilliant), and second, the end forest scene (just for sheer primal awesomeness).
With
The Wolverine, I expected it to suck and was surprised by how good it was. With
Logan, I expected it to be at least as good as
The Wolverine, maybe not quite that good but at least close, but holy fuck was I surprised at the level this movie was operating on. In most respects,
The Dark Knight is a superior film, but the tone of the film, its gravitas, the sense of an ending, the desperation in the hero's quest, it placed
Logan right there alongside
The Dark Knight Rises as an utterly epic close to a moving saga. I was never as emotionally invested in Wolverine as I was with Batman, so it didn't hit with quite the same impact, but I've loved watching Jackman throughout the X-Men films and I connected to that character very strongly after
The Wolverine, and that combined with how well they told this story and how incredibly Jackman performed,
Logan for damn sure hits with some real fucking impact.
Anyone even remotely interested in X-Men movies, comic book movies, or action movies should get their ass out to the theater. You won't be disappointed. And, if you are, it just means you suck.
