Logan Review

 

Logan

Dir: James Mangold

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, and Richard E. Grant

Hugh Jackman has played the Marvel Comics character “Wolverine” since 2000, with the inclusion of “Logan” this would be the eighth time (ninth if you include a cameo) Mr. Jackman has played the clawed mutant superhero. Seventeen years and the role is coming to an end for Mr. Jackman in “Logan”, a gritty and violent fond farewell that wraps up the journey of the beloved character. 

 It’s been an interesting trip for the Wolverine in all these films, especially in the standalone films, which have had a difficult time successfully composing the complicated character. The Wolverine is unlike other superheroes, a somewhat reluctant loner of few words who is powerful enough to be an asset to both the good guys and the bad guys. “Logan” explores something the other films haven’t emphasized, that even though this character has the ability to heal the worst physical wounds what kind of emotional wounds has he sustained from a life of fighting the good fight.

Logan (Hugh Jackman) has outlived his superhero counterparts; he has seen the efforts for peace amongst mutants fail. In the future the mutants have been all but eradicated, leaving those remaining forced into hiding. Two of the most powerful mutants in history, the Wolverine and Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), are aged and fragile. Professor Xavier is suffering with dementia, leaving the most powerful mind in mutant history a ticking time bomb. Logan is also sick, his healing properties are weakened and his emotional state is on the verge of crumbling. A mysterious young girl (Dafne Keen) is thrown into the lives of these two iconic mutants, leading to one final battle to protect the future.

Director James Mangold, who helmed 2013's "The Wolverine", returns and from the first moments of the film you can feel that "Logan" is going to be something different. This film, seemingly taking point off the success of "Deadpool", is rated R for "strong brutal violence and language throughout, and for brief nudity". However, these elements, albeit noticeable from the beginning, aren't what separates the film from the rest in the franchise. It's the tone, the bleak and grim atmosphere and the future that seems hopeless and, to a large extent, at the end of its life. Logan is lost, wandering desolate highways and dark corners of large cities. Professor Xavier is a mumbling and confused old man, forced into taking medication to prevent seizures that have the power to destroy entire cities. It's an existence that is difficult to watch but one that feels wholly realistic in terms of the social and political climate. The narrative does a fine job of underlining these concerns of separation and alienation, whether mutants verse humans, parents verse children, men verse women, black verse white, the film is clearly making an example. 

Logan, trying to keep a low profile, is still an icon of mutant support and resistance. Comic books featuring the tales of the X-men are the only pieces of history for new generations of mutants to learn from. This brings a young girl with exceptional, familiar talents into the lives of Logan and Professor Xavier. Laura (Dafne Keen) is on the run from a group of hired mercenaries lead by a mechanical-armed tough guy named Pierce (Boyd Holbrook). Newcomer Dafne Keen is fantastic in the role, offering a great counterpart to Logan, one that also provides a strong willed emotional quality that plays nicely, fiercely with the Logan character. 

While "Logan" leans more into the character study aspects than past films, it is still very much an action film. There are few stunning moments that let the character bring havoc and mayhem into the frame. However, even with the ramped up violence, you actually get to see the full extent that long adamantium claws have when challenged against the human body, and the occasional strong moments with adult language, the R-rating doesn't play much of role in making the narrative feel anymore critical than it would have if it remained PG-13. That's actually a compliment to the script, which instead of engaging in overindulgence of the spectacle that can come with an adult rating composes strong characters that make the story compelling and provides an emotional quality that may have some fans dropping a few tears. 

Hugh Jackman has always owned this role but here the character is really given something to build upon, offering moments that allow Logan to be affected by the life that he has lived but also affected by how he will live the remaining time that he is given. If this is the end for The Wolverine, it's the best way that it could have ended.  

Monte's Rating

4.00 out of 5.00

Green Room Review

Green Room

Dir: Jeremy Saulnier

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Potts, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Macon Blair, and Patrick Stewart

We’ve all heard the saying “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time”.  Many have probably fallen into this situation at least once in their life. I once walked into a surprise birthday party mere seconds before the birthday person walked in, completely ruining the surprise. These encounters are most often innocent enough and are probably shared as bits of small talk or chitchat to engage a conversation. In Jeremy Saulnier’s film “Green Room” this sentiment takes a cruel turn into nightmarish territory when a punk rock music group called the Ain’t Rights encounter a community of White supremacists. Mr. Saulnier exceptionally turns a simple story into an unflinching and tension-filled demonstration of survival horror.

A struggling punk rock band touring on the road is down to their last few stops, scrounging for shows and siphoning gas to make it from town to town. Not ones to turn down a paying gig the Ain’t Rights jump at the opportunity to perform. However, the concert is on the outskirts of town, in a community controlled by White supremacists. The group performs to a hostile crowd that spits and throws beer cans in their direction. Eager to leave the Ain’t Rights quickly gather their gear and are nearly out the back door. A final return to the green room for a forgotten phone interrupts a murder, as witnesses the band is taken captive by the owner (Patrick Stewart) of the club and into a fight for survival.

Jeremy Saulnier is good at taking characters and placing them in the middle of terrible situations that they have no control over. The process for the characters becomes forced action, most often action that requires the character to commit horrifying acts in order to survive. But what makes this simple narrative approach so effective is the skill of Mr. Saulnier, who understands how to manipulate the viewer in inventive ways and make the viewer feel every emotional moment of the situation the characters are in. In “Green Room” Mr. Saulnier combines all the successful elements from his previous films and builds a film that breathes tension and anxiety. Whether the calm manipulation of a club owner coxing a group of young people into submission through a locked door or the frantic, pulse-pounding cat and mouse chase, there are moments that will make you squirm and moments that will push you to the edge of your seat.

The film works best when gleefully indulging in these moments, however where Mr. Saulnier stumbled in the past with aspects of character composition or narrative cohesiveness here the director successfully compliments these features nicely. There are even small moments of comedic levity as the band discuss their “stranded-on-a-desert-island” band, a moment that had a big applause at the screening that I attended after the choice was made from one of the characters. Things lead to a finale that is less exciting and somewhat predictable yet still satisfying because of the characters finally surrender to the situation and embrace their punk rock attitudes.

The film has the help from the very dependable talents of Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat but also some fine moments from Joe Cole and Callum Turner, these four actors comprise the Ain’t Rights. In a wonderful casting choice Patrick Stewart plays the villain as club owner Darcy, Mr. Stewart is calmly menacing and effectively evil throughout the entire film.

“Green Room” is very much the definition of punk. A film that understands the rules but decides to play by it’s own tune, a fast, aggressive, and stripped down tune. While the story concerns a group of young people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time, the film may be an opposing version of this. It is essentially the right film at the right time amidst the stale and overused versions of this sort of film; “Green Room” is a brutally refreshing interpretation.

Monte’s Rating

4.25 out of 5.00