Is Logan as good as they say? (A joint review)
This review for Logan will be a little different. Fellow Norden-Post writer Sam Gallenberger and I will be doing a joint review. We’ll continue doing these joint reviews for the remainder of March that will lead into a podcast at the end of the month.
Sam: There were definitely a good deal of them. First, we are probably talking about the best acting in a superhero movie of all time. I really can’t even think of anything else that’s close off the top of my head. Jackman and Stewart absolutely hit it out of the park with their portrayals and the other supporting actors were all excellent.
Ever since it came out that this would be Rated R the thing I wanted to see most was the action. No disappointment there. It may not have been on the level of John Wick: Chapter 2 but it had plenty of badass moments and did Wolverine justice. For a movie that was so serious, the comedy was really well done too. It was clever and felt smooth and natural.
I also liked how self-contained this was and felt like it was its own thing. Typically I’m all about world building in superhero films but I really enjoyed how personal and enclosed this world was. The characters had so much more depth than you would expect, the relationships developed throughout the movie were done very well.
Cody: The acting was definitely the best part about Logan. It seemed like the main focus was purposely on the three main characters (Logan, Xavier and Laura), but rightfully so. They had great chemistry throughout the entire film. It didn’t seem like their was a lot of humor — but the little it did have was pretty great. Logan has had a lot of positive review going into this weekend. A lot of sites and critics are already ranking it as the best X-Men movie to date. That being said…is Logan worth the hype?
Sam: I guess it depends on how you view the hype. Is it a worthy final installment for one of the most iconic actor/character roles of all time? Yeah, I think it clearly achieves that goal. Is it one of the best superhero films ever and one of the best films of the year? I’m not so sure. It’s definitely not better than Days of Future Past. It’s a good film, and pretty much everyone I saw it with loved it but at the end of the film I felt that I wasn’t as emotionally invested as I expected to be. It isn’t a perfect film by any means.
Maybe that was due to my high expectations or maybe it’s just me but I was not wow’ed by this film. Though I do think that this is much like Captain America: Civil War in the sense that you may need to see it more than once to fully appreciate it.
Cody: I wouldn’t say it was my favorite X-Men film. Theirs a few others I think surpass it. Logan’s biggest issue was how it wasn’t really anything new. The plot was pretty different — but certain aspects of the film just made it seem like another Wolverine movie. Especially the villains (Psst — stop making weapons).
I also thought I would be a little more saddened with the fact that this character/franchise is over, but I didn’t feel nearly as invested emotionally as I expected. I also think the side characters didn’t help much. Throwing Caliban into Logan was kind of an odd decision. Adding the violence and gore to the movie was a nice touch. Although — I couldn’t help feeling like Deadpool could’ve done it better.
Sam: Oh, for sure. I enjoyed the action but it was really repetitive. We basically saw the same few kills over and over again. Either way I’d still highly recommend this film. It’s as close as it gets to a good (or great for others) modern day western. It’s so different from any other superhero movie, let alone X-Men movie that you don’t really have to be a fan of the material to enjoy this. It’s a good story, with superb acting, great action and is highly character-driven.
Cody: In my opinion — Logan gets a 7.9, maybe a solid 8 if I saw it again.
Sam: It’s just splitting hairs here but I’ll give it a 7.8 Though like you said that could go up upon re-watching.
Next week we’ll be reviewing Kong: Skull Island.
