Yo the more I think about Logan the more it bugs me

this is 100% the unsuccessful screenwriter angry about what he could do to fix it so

like part of why Laura/Logan has no weight, they structure the arc as mentor-transmitting the message of “the burden of killing”, being marked, and they just throw signifiers of solemnity at this - the Shane quotes, all that - but it just makes no sense.

Like, that worked for the Old Man Logan comics, but with the backstory changed it just doesn’t fit as *the* thing accounting for Logan’s giving up on life; Laura maybe needs to learn not to use violence as go-to problem solving but as she points out, her body count is torture orphanage soldiers come to kill her

So if you want an emotional theme that ties them together don’t pull it from their shared killing, pull it instead from their shared healing

Like, from Logan’s perspective his healing means he repeatedly survives seeing loved ones die, enduring great emotional suffering. But the flip side of that is he can channel the rage into the ability to protect his friends by enduring great physical suffering.

THAT’S an interesting emotional dynamic, rooted in plot worldbuilding, that easily sets up redemption and overcoming narratives, that it would make sense for Logan to experience some insight in the course of passing on, that Laura in particular would be uniquely capable of drawing out of him.

And that would set up a more satisfying ending. For one, from an action and effects standpoint - for all the “ooh, rated R”, it wasn’t that gory and the action wasn’t that memorable. There’s two severed head bits delivered like an ‘80s slasher or ‘70s Italo exploitation flick only with better prosthetics and no sense of playfulness. A bunch of the capture team’s forearms get severed and there’s some nice lampshading in that a lot have prosthetics already and are presumably prepared for this. (A fact that parallels the protags’ regeneration and augmented structure, deployed to little effect) Also, Logan does say “fuck” a bunch.

But reworking this angle the action climax would be a 9 year old girl charging a gun nest, getting shredded down to a screaming, meaty skeleton that proceeds to eviscerate the men inside. Now that woulda been memorable.

And from a character climax standpoint, the character that spent all this time running away and being protected would be flipping the script, advancing to protect, and this would be Logan’s legacy, paying off his arc too, making her ready for what she’ll need to endure.

I don’t think you could just drop this in as is, you’d have to do the pushy Laura/reluctant Logan stuff a bit different at least

(And while you’re at it maybe polish some other things - if you’re using that green medicine as a final-act plot device at least try to make something more of the reversal from Logan’s initial role caretaking Charles and how that puts him in a place to go chasing the final setpiece)

But it could work. Call me next time.

Saw Logan. It was decent, and probably the most intimate superhero franchise installment out there, but that’s a low bar and it wasn’t the revelation I hear it described as, neither the action as visceral nor the emotions as moving as promised.

On the action - the concept docs I saw had it as “by now Logan’s just a beefy dude who can be hurt like anyone else, he just survives to heal slowly in grueling pain”

And by superhero standards the setpieces are reasonably down-to-earth, centered on people striking each other with their muscular limbs. But more than boxer-past-his-prime brawling, Logan fights with superhuman pounces, batting beefy men for yards with a backhand.

(That’s to say nothing of Laura, who fights with a style halfway between acrobatic luchadores and the Rabbit of Caerbannog.)

He does get hurt but it’s hard to feel along with when its kind of arbitrary which damage “counts”, and Logan’s fighting and healing levels fluctuate according to the demands of the narrative - explicitly with the green medicine in the final act, but also in things like the opening sequence with the rim thieves, going from punching bag to death machine in a way that’s not accounted for by any internal hesitance like in Old Man Logan.

On the emotions - Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman have played Xavier and Logan so long that they really inhabit the roles - in less plotty, less fighty moments they really get across the weariness and decay of the characters, and them playing off of each other is a joy to watch. But for all that it feels like the audience is expected to feel a sadness and loss at this being the actors’ final outing that the movie just needs to access and invoke to carry over to the characters themselves. Maybe some did, I didn’t.

Logan/Laura there are some good moments, but overall it seems a little paint-by-numbers Gruff Beard Dad and never really blossoms. And the other kids show up too late to be a thing in their own right, but manage to command screen time and plot twists that could’ve gone towards paying off the core relationships.

Finally, having the final Wolverine setpiece in a (near)-Canadian forest was a nice touch I guess, but visually it was shot fairly undistinguished and plot-wise if the baddies can trivially pursue across the US/Mexican border I’m unclear why reaching Canada resolves things.