Blood, Claws, & Death.

Yes that's right, I am referring to Wolverine, or Logan if you're not in an X-Men mood. I recently saw the film Logan and went in very few expectations, and granted it wasn't a dreadful film honestly. Now I will preface this review stating that I am not a comic book guy, so I know of very little of the universe of all this stuff as it happens in the actual comic book universe. So apparently many, many years after....some kind of events that aren't ever really explained, there are essentially no mutants anymore. Wolverine is dying somehow finally and is therefore in a weakened, depressive state, and Professor X is ancient and having seizures that wreak havoc on the world around him. Wolverine is essentially taking care of the Professor when they come across this young mutant girl who is being hunted down, and thus they help her and are chased around leading to an epic and climactic face-off. So obviously the highlights of this film are Hugh Jackman as Logan and Patrick Stewart as Charles, and both men did an astounding job with their characters. I actually liked what the writers did with their two characters making them more down to earth, less flashy, and more gritty; it was a very interesting concept. The young girl, who barely speaks the entire film, was played by Dafne Keen and her name is Laura. For an actress who didn't speak much, she performed quite well and provided at times a counterbalance to Logan for levity. Stephen Merchant played Caliban a mutant who helps out Logan with Charles, but the writers didn't do much with him unfortunately; a rather boring and insignificant character. They should have brought back an older version of one of the previous mutants, it would have worked out better. Boyd Holbrook for all intents and purposes was the primary villain in the film, Pierce, and I have to admit that he played that role very, very well; but that was it. And Richard Grant played Dr. Rice, who I suppose you could say was the chief villain, but didn't have as menacing of a presence as the other guy. Those were essentially the major members of the cast; this was a more intimate film than blockbuster. Overall I would say that the casting was mostly well done.
Director James Mangold is a very talented director as he's directed successful dramas, action film, and drama, and I have to say that he did a fine job with this film; he was able to successfully weave together drama and action in a universe dominated by special effects and fancy action sequences. The writers, including the director, Scott Frank and Michael Green did a pretty good job with the story and dialog. There was a good deal of character depth for Logan and Charles in this film, but they could have given it more and that's where I disagree with the direction they took this great idea of a story. Marco Beltrami composed the music, and I honestly don't recall a single note; since I usually recall film music easily if it was good, I'm gonna write that it most likely wasn't, although I will go back and check it out. Given the nature of the story, it should have been a runaway score easily with intimate strings or sweeping woodwinds, or a soaring lone trumpet....alas, it was absent. Even the cinematography by John Mathieson seemed to be lacking. Now, the movie definitely wasn't bad at all, but that doesn't imply that it was good either. This is the best comparison I can provide, Logan is like The Hours but with action and extreme violence. This film is extraordinarily depressing, and everyone dies. It is also a very, very violent film, and I was kind of surprised by the amount of on-screen violence perpetrated towards children that was showed. Just as with the film The Hours, the film Logan is pretty good in regards to acting, the story, and dialog, but it's just so doggone depressing that it overshadows everything, and honestly in this day and age who wants to subject themselves to over 2 hours of that. So, in the end if all of that is your cup of tea then you'll love this film, for everyone else I would say that you aren't really missing anything. Oh and one thing, if you as a parent, friend, guardian, or other take children under 14 to see this film you should be ashamed of yourself subjecting a child to such a depiction of violence. When I saw the film with a friend, this one mother, guardian, friend or other (have to be politically correct) took three small boys to see the film and I'm pretty certain one of them was 7 years of age or younger. Please remember at such a young age the brain is still developing as are a child's emotional and social perceptions and behaviors. Exposing children to such things is never good in the long run, so please be responsible and go watch a Pixar film.
Logan clip
Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart on Logan
Alien: Covenant feature