Logan: A Very Spoilery Recap and Review

Wolverine has always been my favorite mutant, and while my comic knowledge for X-men is surface level, I really love (for the most part) the direction Marvel has been going with their films and original series. I can't get enough of the gritty, dark, and tortured protagonists that live in morally gray areas. Hugh Jackman as Logan has delivered this criteria for 17 years and doesn't disappoint in the newest installment. The 'R' rating was appropriate and refreshing though my 7 year old would adamantly disagree, always hating to miss anything Marvel.

It's set in the near-future and Logan is a chauffeur trying to live under the radar near the Mexican border after the mutant race faced near extinction. This was largely due to Dr. Rice's, head of the Weapon X program, genetic tampering through food and water to ensure no new mutants were born. His plan was to create his own military-styled mutant weapons that could be controlled and sell them to the highest bidder.

The movie opens with Logan napping in his car when some Adamantium-claw-fodder start trying to steal Logan's tires. He gets out of the car and warns them to stop and this leads to generic criminals doing what generic criminals do and Logan makes quick skewers out of them (so much for staying under the radar). Logan goes home where he sullenly hands Caliban (a surviving albino mutant played by Stephen Merchant) a necessary seizure medicine for Charles (Patrick Stewart) that controls his degenerative brain disease, before pouring himself a drink. A few years prior,  Charles (Professor X) had a seizure that, due to the power of his mind, killed mutants and many humans in Westchester, NY and was cause enough for the government to label his brain a weapon of mass destruction. Logan and Caliban have been on the run or in hiding ever since while taking care of a crotchety version of Charles (Professor X), who reminded me of the ornery old man most of us have in our own families. Except when Charles has a bad day and doesn't want to take his medicine, he ends up paralyzing and killing people by accident.

To complicate matters, a young girl Laura (Dafne Keen) born in the Transigen Corporation as a mutant of the X-23 experiment, lands on Logan's doorstep .She had been smuggled out of the program by a compassionate nurse who was appalled to learn the child mutants were going to be killed as a result of a "failed experiment". The nurse died as a result of her interference. Dr. Rice, head of Transigen Corp, sends his Reavers, led by a cyborg named Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), to track and capture Laura so she can be eliminated. They find her in Logan's care.

Things become even more complicated when Logan discovers Laura is a *Girlverine* and shares his DNA, essentially making him her father. While the Adamantium in his own body is poisoning and weakening Logan, the use of it was perfected in Laura and she is every bit as lethal as her *father* used to be without the long term effects. Logan hasn't embraced father-of-the-year status and is gruff and put out by Laura's presence while Charles is much kinder and develops a special bond with her. Logan, while trying (and not trying) to stay sober, bears the weight of keeping Charles and Laura alive and safe while they are being hunted nonstop by Reavers with lots of big guns.

Logan is tasked with getting Laura to *Eden*, a place in North Dakota near the Canadian border that she believes will be a safe stop for her and the escaped children of X-23 to stay before they seek approved asylum in Canada. When Logan finds that Laura discovered the coordinates for this place in an old X-men comic book, he tries to convince her the story was widely exaggerated and her journey is futile, but to no avail. So they continue on their quest.

Comic was designed as a movie prop and doesn't correlate with the actual comics but was an awesome inclusion

The Reavers are always hot on their trail but Logan, Laura, and Charles stay a step ahead because of Caliban (he was taken hostage because of his tracking abilities) providing *faulty* intelligence to the cronies of Transigen Corp. The 3 of them end up having dinner with a family they helped on the road and are invited to stay for the night. Logan doesn't want to but Charles insists it will be good for all of them and this leads to the tragic death of the family and Charles. Pierce and his Reavers bring Dr. Rice's new mutant "Wolverine" who is stronger and devoid of any human emotions to kill anyone who got in the way of capturing Laura (and he does) but Laura and Logan get away and Charles dies from the injuries he sustained. 

After Laura and Logan bury Charles, they get back on the road and it is clear that the connection between them is beginning to unnerve him and he wants to get her to safety and then abandon her. Logan has lost everyone he has ever cared about and the feelings he has for his daughter are reminding him of that.  They reach Eden and the X-23 children are there and preparing to run to the Canadian border. Logan is in a  healing sleep and Laura enjoys a moment of childhood with her friends as they shave Logan's beard to resemble the traditional Wolverine mutton chops and it is actually kind of hysterical.

Of course Dr. Rice and his Reavers discover the children and it becomes a new kind of battle as the mutants use their awesome gifts to defend themselves against the heavily armed cyborg men and get to the Canadian border where they cannot be harmed. Logan decides he can't abandon Laura after all, and when he sees drones tracking the kids he drinks a elixir that gives his weakening body temporary strength and resolves to go down in a blaze of glory to save his daughter and the remaining mutant children. We are spared the cliche 'I love yous' as Logan dies in Laura's arms but are given a more tear-jerking 'So this is what it feels like?' as Laura sobs with the knowledge that her father sacrificed himself to save her. While this was a predictable outcome, the effect was not lost on me. Perhaps the most poignant moment of the movie was when Laura eulogized her father with a fitting quote from the 1950's Western "Shane" that she connected with after watching it on a hotel television:

“There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back from it. Right or wrong, it’s a brand, a brand that sticks. There’s no going back. Now, you run on home to your mother and tell her, tell her everything’s alright, and there aren’t any more guns in the valley.”

With that, Laura tilts the wooden cross that marks Logan's grave to make it an *X* and she and the children of X-23 walk away to continue their journey to Canada. Laura is just fantastic and I absolutely love the idea of a spin-off of the X-23 kids and her rising as the new Wolverine. Closing credits roll and Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt" plays and I'm unhinged and crying my eyes out. Jeremiah and I talked about it for the rest of the night and hands down,  "Logan" is my all-time favorite Wolverine movie ever...perhaps even my favorite X-Men movie ever. It's a must-see, a solid 9/10!