While not quite as incredible as it was hyped up to be (seriously, people in some corners were raving about it as if it's as good as The Dark Knight) it's definitely a *good* movie and these days, that's a big accomplishment. Since Nolan we haven't seen a single film based on comic books that could really be said to have any sort of serious substance and/or artistic endeavor and actually was well executed (amazingly, some TV shows like Preacher, Jessica Jones and recently Legion have gotten closer to that). Rather they've been almost entirely conforming to formulaic block-buster 'rules', which essentially stipulate you are to have X amount of battle scenes, Y special effects and CGI, Z amount of space dedicated to establishing a franchise, a PG rating, and maybe 5% room for originality if you really feel adventurous.
Logan is a breath of fresh air in that, even though there are still a fair amount of gratuitous fight scenes and visual effects, it still for the most part actually seems like a real, non-franchise movie that tries to be something unique and build characters and relationships and a visual identity and emotional depth. Is it great? Not quite, but given how movies get made these days and the financial risks involved for studios and their intellectual property, we have to applaud them even being brave enough to take such a big step in the right direction. James Mangold did a very solid (if not overly ambitious) job helming this movie and giving it a unique character, and hopefully this will mark the point at which major studios realized they may have even more success if they hand these franchises over to even more serious visionary directors and let them do their thing.
Logan is a breath of fresh air in that, even though there are still a fair amount of gratuitous fight scenes and visual effects, it still for the most part actually seems like a real, non-franchise movie that tries to be something unique and build characters and relationships and a visual identity and emotional depth. Is it great? Not quite, but given how movies get made these days and the financial risks involved for studios and their intellectual property, we have to applaud them even being brave enough to take such a big step in the right direction. James Mangold did a very solid (if not overly ambitious) job helming this movie and giving it a unique character, and hopefully this will mark the point at which major studios realized they may have even more success if they hand these franchises over to even more serious visionary directors and let them do their thing.