Logan (2017)

The trailer was one of bleakest things I've ever seen and very bold with its low pace and depressingly sad tune. So does it deliver as promised? To an almost startling degree. General and extreme spoiler-alert.

It starts off with an utterly run down Wolverine, dishing out some worryingly brutal force, though far from with his usual panache and confidence. More like a force of habit, and because it is all he knows. Wolverine, as ever, the hero that tries so hard not to be, but always seems to be in the wrong place at the right time, helping the right people. Then, entrance Professor X. A shadow of himself, rapidly losing his mind and being cared for by Wolverine in an old factory, helped only by the aesthetically and otherwise shadow of a man, Caliban. All friends are gone. There are no uniforms, no air-planes and certainly no usable powers to speak of between them.  Only the prospect of scraping together money and medicine in a dusty outworld. Then it all gets much, much worse.

The introduction of Dafne Keen as Logan's daughter-in-genes and the dignified optimism of Patrick Stewart carries a glimmer of hope, particularly in a sweet scene with a mid-west family, but it is all taken away as one of the most beloved characters in Marvel is stabbed to death in a heartbeat. No honour, no dignity. Just cold death.

This flick is absurdly violent for its pace and it sets up the depressing mood perfectly. The violence is disturbing and uncomfortable to watch, director Mangold taking full usage of his R-rating. Mangold has full focus on making superhero-violence as bloody and realistic as possible, only trying to be cool once (and succeeding). From start to finish (with the two aforementioned exceptions) this film is quite frankly hard to stomach. The wounds are scarily real, with both Stewart and Jackman having bloodshot eyes in almost every scene and generally look ready for death physically and mentally.

Jackman has played this part so many times, he can probably sleepwalk it. But he does, like his character, have enough in him for one last push, one desperate attempt at redemption. His somewhat tired and subdued rage blending with the occasional extreme desperation and lack of hope. Stewart never could avoid being brilliant and Keen is just the perfect blend of disturbed, seeking and bitter. Holbrook is a bit dull though.

The pace is much slower than we've gotten used to lately and Mangold has great patience with his story and characters, few as they may be. It works a charm. The general slow pace makes the suspense much better, and has the viewer on very uncomfortable pins and needles as the plight of the protagonists hit you. None more than the last scene of Jackman and Keen. Wolverine his rugged, cold self until the last but two seconds. Another devastating scene to witness.

Combined with the sheer emotional fatigue of so much hopelessness, evil, despair, brutality and sacrifice, it's a film that is as easy to love as it's painful to watch.

9/10