Few superhero performances are as beloved as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, which helped give birth to this current era of superhero movies back in 2000’s X-Men. But Jackman hasn’t had as much luck with his solo outings.
It is fitting, however, that in Logan, his last film as the most famous X-Man around, Jackman will make fans wish he wasn’t hanging up his six claws for good.
That wasn’t the case with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Jackman’s first solo Wolverine movie, which botched the adaptation of Wolverine’s secret origin as a young, sickly and wealthy 19th century Canadian boy named James Howlett who would later mutate into an indestructible force. Origins was a failed attempt to build a Wolverine/X-Men inspired movie universe that included other mutants. To put it another way, after Origins, no one was asking for more of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, which is hard to believe now as fans anticipate Deadpool 2.
The Wolverine (2013) was an intimate look into Wolverine’s time in Japan, but didn’t leave fans asking for another movie.
At first glance Logan looks like an attempt to remove Wolverine from his comic book roots and make a more grounded movie to appeal to a general audience, and not just the fanboys who have made it possible for three Wolverine movies to be made. But the core of what makes Logan Jackman’s best solo effort was the decision by director James Mangold and Jackman to take inspiration from two very popular Wolverine storylines from the comic books: 2008’s Old Man Logan (by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven) and the creation of X-23, a young female clone of Wolverine (created by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost) who first appeared in Marvel’s NYX series in 2004.
The “old man” approach, in a distant, almost mutant-less future where Wolverine is finally starting to show signs of aging, helps counteract the one thing that always makes Wolverine movies so hard to plot: his near invulnerability from constantly healing. In Logan, an older Wolverine doesn’t heal like he used to, which allows Jackman to show a type of pain we’re not accustomed to seeing.
Jackman’s brilliant last dance as Wolverine is equaled by a scene-stealing performance from young actress Dafne Keen as Laura/X-23. It’s arguable that X-23 is the best part of Logan, showing Jackman’s devotion to telling the best Wolverine story he could without demanding all the glory be sent his way.