There’s only one day left to catch what some fans believe is the best Marvel movie to date before HBO Max boots it from its platform. So if you want to spend two hours watching the gritty, dark final tour of one of the most beloved superheroes of all time (that also feels like a Johnny Cash song come to life), then time is running out, so you’d better get on it while you still can.
Logan, certainly the darkest film in Marvel’s arsenal, despite them not being the studio that made it, centers on the titular Logan (Hugh Jackman), who now spends his days on the Mexican border, living in a remote outpost and caring for an ailing and elderly Professor X (Patrick Stewart). All he wants is to remain far away from the rest of the world. But those well-laid plans go up in flames when he meets a young mutant (Dafne Keen) who reminds him too much of himself. Now deeply involved, Logan must protect the girl from the powers that want to capture her.
And it’s not hard to understand why. Sitting at 93% on critics’ ratings and 91% on audience scores, Logan is moving from beginning to end, with some of the best writing and characterization in the entire franchise. It placed the focus on Logan the man, rather than Logan the hero, centering on the character’s lonely, nomadic nature. “It’s a very heartbreaking and emotional film that happens to take place in the Marvel universe. It feels more like they adapted a good story to fit a comic book superhero,” said one fan. Another added, “That is the best X-Men movie ever. I love the journey Logan goes through, and the ending of that movie was one of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen in cinema.”
Critics also loved the film, singing its praises for the fact that it stood in the face of every other shiny, campy superhero movie and, instead of falling in line, chose to lean into the world-weary and straight-up depressing nature of the story—the only ending that this version of Wolverine could ever really have. Critic Gordon Brennan said, “Logan is the abrasive, emotion-evoking antithesis to all that has come before it.” And critic Victoria Luxford adds, “This is the film fans have been waiting for, the antidote to the noisy, messy superhero films of (the previous) year. It’s the perfect goodbye to a beloved character.” Overall, Logan is the kind of superhero movie that’s required to keep the genre one worth investing in for adults. Sure, it’s gritty and dark, but beyond that, there’s an element of relatability that the rest of the genre at large lacks.
Do you have a favorite moment from Logan? Let us know in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the ComicBook forum to see what other X-Men fans are saying.
