1. X-24 as the surprise villain. This was absolutely uncalled for. I thought that the whole point of X-23 was that they tried cloning Wolverine 22 times, but failed because the Y chromosome in their sample had degraded? So they try making a female clone on their 23rd attempt and succeed? Now you're going to tel me, "Just Kidding! We somehow figured out how to make a perfect male clone after all?" If you're going to have a savage Wolverine equivalent, just throw Sabretooth in there so you at least have the old history and bad blood between them.
[
If Im not mistaken X=24 is actually from the comic. But meh, that doesnt really mean much.
Like I said before, I was initially underwhelmed by a wolverine clone. However, the more I think about it the more I feel like some other possible villains would have resulted in a worse movie even if they had made a better villain. That might seem contradictory but let me explain.
First off is the pacing. Even the movie is noticeably over 2 hours, I never felt as though any scene were bloated or superfluous. The flow of the film was one of it's best features. If you add a new villain, you essentially have to disrupt the flow by giving the villain screen time to make him a character. Especially if it's Sabretooth. So even though there are all sorts of other mutants you could place in the role of X-24 that would have been "cooler", I feel like essentially the movie would have suffered. You either devote time to a known villain like Sabretooth otherwise you're doing what Raimi did to Venom in SM 3 by not giving him his due. Or you have a new villain and essentially need to work in his character and origin, motives, etc in a movie thats already long enough. As a Wolverine clone, you can just make him a force of nature to swath a path to the climax and you dont need to spend any time on him as a character or his background. And, again, fighting his clone fits perfectly into the theme of the movie where his biggest enemy is himself.
Also, as I said previously, making him a clone makes the "Kryptonite" used to kill him (the bullet) fit perfectly into the story. Given how old and unhealthy Logan is, you cant really have him "beat" the bad guy in some epic fight.]
2. Making Xavier responsible for the X-Men's deaths. I feel like this shifted the tone of the movie heavily. One of the great things about Old Man Logan is how he refused to go by the name Wolverine, and refused to pop his claws no matter how much danger he was in. The mystery of why was built up until you finally learn he killed the X-Men in one of his berserker rages. Now? They shift that completely over the the Professor so Wolverine loses a lot of the emotional guilt he should have. Hell, I know a bunch of you hate "The Wolverine" but in that movie he was at least wracked with guilt over killing Jean Grey and correspondingly wanted to die. In this movie we get none of that. He's caring for Professor, waiting for him to die so he can eat a bullet. Because he's... just tired I guess. He wasn't the one who killed the X-Men so it can't be guilt.
[Like I said, this is sort of a criticism not of the movie but as an adaptation of OML, which it really isnt. He came off less burdened by guilt as much as just weary of the life hes led. ]
3. All the kids with mutant powers. I didn't want to see this shit all over again. Kids levitating shit, freezing shit, using their powers against bad guys. I know this is an X-Men franchise film, but I don't want to see any of that shit in THIS film. This film is supposed to be about LOGAN, dealing with heavy, very HUMAN, emotional shit. Existential shit. So at the most, I wanted to see Logan, Professor X, Laura, Donald Pierce and the Reavers. I don't give a damn about Caliban, but I could accept his inclusion as a convenient plot device to track the heroes down. Then in the final act all the kids start fighting back and we go right back to a super-power CGI fest.
[I can see where you're coming from on this, even if I disagree.]
4. Donald Pierce was upstaged as a bad guy. When he was first introduced I thought he played an intriguing antagonist, someone that looked up to Wolverine in a way. I thought it would have been neat if they revealed it was Wolverine that cost him his arm, causing Pierce to develop a kind of fanaticism/hatred/worship of Logan. Then they bring out X-24 and the obligatory "evil mad scientist" and Donald Pierce is relegated to the sidelines, his potency as a villain immediately stunted. Then he goes and gets gangbanged by the little kids and dies like a bitch. Good job, Fox! Reminds me of how Orson Krennic was supposed to be the villain in Rogue One, only to get upstaged by both Tarkin AND Darth Vader!
[Same as 3]
5. Wolverine was robbed of a climactic death. THIS, more than any of the points above absolutely infuriates me. Hear me out: Wolverine is a cynical old man, an alcoholic who no longer is an X-Man. The Professor tells him about new mutants but Wolverine doesn't give a shit. He's jaded and dealing with heavy shit. They go on the journey, and through all their brushes with death, comes to care for Laura. Slowly, he comes around and realizes that the current world order (no mutants) is wrong, and these young mutants do deserve a fighting chance to start new lives and create a new future. He ferries the kids to the Canadian border but a confrontation occurs with Donald Pierce (NOT X-24), in which someone has to do something that will stop Pierce for good. This "something" will absolutely be fatal to that individual. All hope seems lost when Logan suddenly steps up, realizes this is how things have to be. Imagine a technician who enters a nuclear plant experiencing a meltdown in order to work the cooling rods and prevent further catastrophe. That person is absolutely dead, but they're doing it for the good of others. That is the kind of death I wanted for Logan. For him to snap out of his funk, realize mutants do belong in the world, and to sacrifice himself to ensure Laura's survival.
Instead, he fights X-24 and gets completely wrecked. The other kids kill Donald Pierce and Laura kills X-24. WTF??????? Wolverine literally did next to nothing!!!
[I think youre underrating how much Logans presence helped. Obviously, he pretty much took the bulk of the reavers himself. And while Laura gave the killing blow, the fact that Logan was there allowed her to do it. Though I think there could have been a more "epec" final point in the fight. Maybe the Magneto kid starts to pull the metal in x-24s body, then Logan just stabs him through the chin and hold the head up allowing Laura to put the muzzle directly to his temple or something. Maybe it could have been better but I personally didnt have much problem with it.]
6. The film felt like it couldn't decide what kind of world it wanted to portray. Old Man Logan depicted a Mad Max-style hellish wasteland dominated by super villains. They teased us that Logan would take place in 2029, in a dystopian future. Okay, not bad so far. But then you have Logan working as a limo driver. We see people going on parties, proms, frat boy shit. People live on farms, going fishing, do normal mundane shit. We even see people staying at an expensive casino resort. And we've got cholo car thieves. So is this a dystopia or not? Or is it only a dystopia because there's no mutants? Because to the average human, it would seem like a perfectly normal world. Oh sure, you've got computer controlled trucks (???), and greedy land owners growing synthetic corn, but c'mon son, that shit is WEAK. If you're going to create a post-apocalyptic world, go all out, especially given you have an R rating.
[Again, this is comparing it to OML. I felt the world in this movie fit perfectly in the story. More so than the notion that somehow everything has become like Mad max in the next couple decades.]
7. So the kids made it to the border. What was the big deal about this? Why was it only viable to cross on a specific day? I know the kids were communicating to someone in Canada via radio, but are you seriously telling me that passage across would have been impossible on any other day? And what's on the other side of that border? We get the indication there is some community or safe haven for mutants in this Eden place, but literally no information about who is running it, why they are there, etc. We just have to trust that the kids will be safe once they cross the border. Just because.
This is pretty much my biggest issues with the film. I haven't seen anyone really mention much along these lines. Just lots of people heaping praise on the film. So, good for Hugh Jackman, I guess. I'm happy his last film as Wolverine is so highly regarded. But I'm not going to lie, this was far from the swan song that I was hoping for.
[I can agree with this to an extent. Its not exactly specified why getting across the border will benefit them so much.]
And so no one thinks I'm completely biased, I will say the following was good about it:
1. Depicting Wolverine's age. All the scars on his body, his limping, and how one of his claws wouldn't fully extract. Reminds me of the Terminator in Genisys popping his knee back into place. It was a nice touch showing Wolverine's body is not what it used to be.
2. Donald Pierce had so much potential, he had charm and swagger. Could have been more of a force to reckon with if he wasn't upstaged by the scientist and X-24. Side note: there were too many Reavers and they were little more than nameless, personality-less cannon fodder. I would have loved to see a few guys get their organic limbs cut off by Wolverine/Laura, only to come back more cyberized in a later encounter.
3. Doesn't need re-iterating, but Jackman and Stewart's on-screen chemistry was great. You could really feel that they (the actors and characters) have been through so much together over the years.