Logan, a masterpiece and a critic to nowadays USA
I saw Logan this weekend, and I was in tears. Not only because we say goodbye to Wolverine, but because it is both a masterpiece and a huge critic to nowadays USA. I went to the cinema knowing that this was the last time I’d see one of my favorite X-men on the big screen. But I also knew I’d welcome a new character: Laura.
If Superhero movies were serious, they would be like Logan. It has action, emotion, and a deep story within. Like an onion, Logan offers us layers of different meanings and great performances. Both Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart deliver the most credible Wolverine and Professor X ever. Plus, adding Laura to the plot has been brilliant!
[Massive SPOILERS ahead. Proceed with caution.]
Logan, aka Wolverine
He is old and ill. He takes care of Professor X. Charles seems to have dementia, and his mind power can be pretty serious. Logan works as a luxury taxi driver. Earns money to buy medicines for Charles. And spend most of the day drunk. It’s not a beautiful picture. He limps, has problems to heal, and his eyesight isn’t exactly sharp.
Charles Xavier, aka Professor X
He needs medicines to stop seizures that stop time and harm humans. He forgets things quickly, and he even forgets who Logan is at times. However, he still has his powers and knows who is searching for Logan. He argues that there are younger mutants, a thing Logan dismisses. There haven’t been any for a long time.
Laura, aka X-23, clone daughter of Wolverine
A new mutant created to become a killing machine. She doesn’t know much about the world and wants to go to Eden, where there’s a haven for new mutants. She is the clone daughter of Logan. And very much like him, she’s deadly.
Family
The X-men are no more. However, we can see in the movie that Logan treats Charles as his father and Charles treats Logan as his own son. There is a deep relationship between the two characters. Two old men who have seen too much, lived too much, and now are coming to the end of their lives in a disappointing way. These two welcome Laura into the family. Charles does it eagerly, and Logan with fewer apparent attachments.
As the movie progresses, we can see the dynamics. For a while, they can all feel what family is all about: grandpa, son, and grandchild. And yet, it’s a deadly family who will fight until the end for their younger member.
It’s a delight to see Professor X and Logan together again. Together they began a journey of mentor/father figure and son. Together, they say their goodbyes in the best way possible: for the family. But, isn’t what the X-men is all about?
The US
We’re in the future. It seems that mutants aren’t welcome anymore and that no new mutants are born in the US. Those left, want to take a ship to escape the country. Others, like Laura, want to cross into Canada.
And here we find the staggering critics to nowadays America. We find a land of oblivious people who get fun in the luxury back seat of Logan. He drives them up and down, while his world comes apart. There is no place for the different ones, only death. We can feel how wrong all went through Logan’s eyes: they have fun, and we’re here hiding and getting medicines in an illegal way so that no one sees us.
And if you think things can’t go worse, you’re punched in the face. All the young mutants are, but a metaphor of the young capable and different minds that exist in the US and that will need to flee somewhere else because they’re not welcome anymore. If it weren’t enough, those who are old but are either open to new ideas or want to save the young mutants are killed in the movie. If that’s not an edgy metaphor, I don’t know what it is!
Bilingual
Laura speaks perfect Spanish and English. It surprised me because I didn’t expect to talk at all. In fact, she doesn’t talk much during the first half of the movie. Even Logan thinks she’s mute! But, she starts talking in perfect Spanish to much of Logan’s surprise (and the audience’s). We end up discovering that little Laura is a pool of surprises.
If we dig a little bit more, we find out that the rest of young mutants are also mixed. They are diverse and seem to speak many languages. Another poignant metaphor for the US!
Kickass Superheroes!
One of the things I loved about the movie is the kickass mature Superheroes that we can see in it. For once, we can see that Superheroes can be old, tired, and also be ill. Who said Superheroes had to be perfect forever?
I’d love to have had a role model like Laura as a child. Despite all her bestiality, she is just a kid. She takes a pair of pinkish shades in a shop, plus she wants to have an extra ride on the mechanical horse outside. Daddy Logan gives her a coin so she can have it (just because she was going to break it).
This movie shows us that a little girl can be kickass, deadly, and yet innocent and feminine. Who wants princesses when you can have Laura?
Emotion
Let me tell you: it’s hard to let go. It wasn’t only Logan that said goodbye, it was also Professor X. I went to the cinema with tissues, but even if I was prepared, I couldn’t stop crying.
The irony is that a clone of Wolverine is the one making the kill. A new and brainless version of Logan is who kills the old heroes: Professor X and Logan. However, it’s Laura who ends up dealing with it.
Methaphor
It looks like the States is on a self-destructive path where new and capable young minds need to flee the country (young mutants). The old good guys end up either trapped or dead (Professor X and Logan) by new brainless versions. The world has become a frivolous place (brainless humans who have fun and are oblivious to other people’s problems) where many pray on the different (the bad guys who want to create the perfect soldier).
In short…
This is a masterpiece. From all the X-men movies that I’ve seen over the years, this is the most emotional, the most critical and the most touching of them all. Where does the path of exclusion lead us? What happens when we condemn the different or use them as tools? What happens when we open our hearts to love?
Watch Logan, and you’ll know.
