LOGAN Review

It's disappointing. Tragic, even. All those struggles and all that time invested in trying to make the world a better place and this is what they have to show for it. This is what it's all come to. There is a sweeping sorrow to Hugh Jackman's swan song as The Wolverine, but much like its brutal, bloody, and exceptionally R-rated violence, this tone feels justified and necessary. Necessary not only in the aesthetic sense of what is befitting to Logan's world, but necessary in that tragedy always was the way of the world for Logan AKA James Howlett, so why might his conclusion be spared such tribulations? Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for our titular mutant LOGAN is another tale in which our protagonist is pulled into a conflict in which he bears no responsibility in creating, but that his storied past has somehow served as an influence and thus he is then unwillingly pulled into the scenario. This time things are different though, as before and in the many movies we've seen Jackman portray Wolverine the character has always been reluctant, but ultimately unable to deny his true and selfless heroism. He couldn't help but to care, couldn't help but to stand up for the little guy and what he felt to be right, but in LOGAN Wolverine is a much more broken man than we've ever seen him before. His extended past is beginning to catch up with him and we can see that he's tired of playing this role, he's tired of being the hero, of feeling the responsibility to save the day and that he's essentially forcing himself to not care any longer, but rather focus on the task at hand-a task that sees putting himself and an old friend first. In the midst of all this is the centerpiece that is Jackman's final turn as the adamantium clawed mutant making this grief and misery and pain all the more palpable. Jackman so embodies the character at this point though, it's hard to imagine he has a hard time slipping into even the worn and weathered skin of his alter ego at this stage in the game. And while it is Jackman's (presumably) final turn in his most iconic role that is rightly at the center of what makes LOGAN so emotionally rich and narratively compelling there is plenty going on around him that builds the film up in these ways and make it a genuinely thrilling end of an era.

Final Trailer for LOGAN Starring Hugh Jackman

And so, here we are. The final trailer for the final Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie. Sixteen years after the original Bryan Singer film that arguably launched this wave of super hero domination we are still experiencing and Jackman is putting on the claws for what is said to be his final time. Jackman has gone from a thirty-two year old unknown Australian actor to the now forty-eight year old grizzled face of the entire X-Men franchise. Not a bad way to leave a legacy considering outside of maybe Robert Downey Jr. that he's the actor most associated with a respected for playing a comic book character as best as anyone else ever could. With Logan, Jackman and director James Mangold (Walk the Line) who collaborated on 2013's solid if not troubled The Wolverine have collaborated once again to tell the final story in Jackman's Wolverine arc that will seemingly center around the Old Man Logan storyline from the comic books. To note how far comic book movies have come since Jackman first played this character is to note that X-Men came out in the dead heat of the summer of 2000 surrounded by only the likes of Mission: Impossible II as its closest competition while also being a year where a Mel Gibson rom-com finished within the top five highest grossing films of the year. We will receive Jackman's swan song as the adamantium-clawed mutant at the beginning of March. I'm not complaining though as this final trailer we've received before the film makes its debut is staggeringly epic and makes the film itself look damn incredible. I was excited before, but now I can hardly wait. I've always been a little averse to Mangold's chosen aesthetic as it feels rather generic, but there is some beautiful imagery on display here as well as the chosen song, like in the teaser with Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt," is used to ground the film with a more singular mood and it works. This time around Mangold and co. use Kaleo's "Way Down We Go," to great effect and if you haven't seen the video for the song check it out here. Logan also stars Patrick Stewart (reprising his role of Professor Charles Xavier), Stephen Merchant, Richard E. Grant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Boyd Holbrook, Doris Morgado, Sienna Novikov, and opens on March 3rd, 2017.

Teaser Trailer for LOGAN Starring Hugh Jackman

And so, here we are. Sixteen years removed from the original Bryan Singer X-Men film that arguably launched this wave of super hero domination we are still experiencing and Hugh Jackman is putting on the claws for what is said to be his final time. Jackman has gone from a thirty-two year old unknown Australian actor to the now forty-eight year old grizzled face of the entire X-Men franchise. He has also become something of a movie star in his own right as he's made solid projects outside the spandex universe, but Wolverine is (or was) his bread and butter and he's had no problem admitting that for some time. With Logan though, the actor and director James Mangold (Walk the Line) who collaborated on 2013's solid if not troubled The Wolverine have come together once again to tell the final story in Jackman's Wolverine arc that will seemingly center around the Old Man Logan storyline from the comic books. To note how far comic book movies have come since Jackman first played this character is to note that X-Men came out in the dead heat of the summer of 2000 surrounded by only the likes of Mission: Impossible II as the closest competition while also being a year where a Mel Gibson rom com finished within the top five highest grossing films of the year. We will receive Jackman's swan song as the adamantium-clawed mutant at the beginning of March. What this says about the state of modern cinema and the regularity of blockbuster-size products is likely a discussion for another day, but as for this first glimpse at Jackman's final go around as Logan things are looking pretty dour. Though, admittedly, not as dour as I was initially hoping. There is simply something to Mangold's chosen aesthetic that feels too generic where the song choice here, Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt," is used to make up ground for the lack of mood in the visuals. That isn't to say the film looks bad-not at all-there are some great images here I was just hoping for something a little more distinct given the circumstances. That said, this looks like a sprawling adventure and I'm optimistic Jackman's tenure as Wolverine will go out on a high note. Logan also stars Patrick Stewart (reprising his role of Professor Charles Xavier), Stephen Merchant, Richard E. Grant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Boyd Holbrook, Doris Morgado, Sienna Novikov, and opens on March 3rd, 2017.

THE DROP Review

When one approaches a film with a certain set of expectations based on the individual components and what it could potentially add up to as a whole it gives way to a certain direction we think the film will go. From the outside looking in The Drop starring Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini in his final screen role sold itself as a Brooklyn-based crime drama that centers around a robbery gone wrong and the investigation around the robbery that brings a certain drop-point system to its knees. While all of this is still very much a part of the film, it isn't the centerpiece, as an audience we aren't drawn into the plot as in the series of events that make up the story, but instead become more interested in how these specific characters will decide the course of the story rather than the tropes typically employed in this genre. To be fair, it is a deliberately slow-paced affair that sets the tone of not only the critical environment in which the movie takes place, but the attitude of our main character and how it lines up with the aforementioned plot elements that combine to bring home more than we bargained for in the third act. As the film goes on and we wonder why the tension never reaches breaking points with the police involvement or why more things, shocking things aren't happening we are getting a portrait painted for us and we don't even realize it until director Michaël R. Roskam wants us to. There are core questions people have to ask themselves when put in a predicament such as Bob Saginowski (Hardy) is here. What is his overall goal in life? What is standing in his way? What might he lose if he doesn't achieve his goal? They are questions that Dennis Lehane no doubt asked himself as well when he penned both the screenplay and his short story the film is based on. These questions though, ones that typically provide a kind of structure for where a story needs to go, while still in place, are allowed to become side-tracked and thus result in a film where it doesn't feel we are dipping in on a very specific moment in time in the life of the characters, but that this is simply another set of struggles, another set of detractors and minor set-backs in a neighborhood where everyone is fighting to make a living and maybe one day, achieve their ideal goals.