Am I the only one who has an issue with the grafting of adamantium on the skeleton of a child? I ask from a practical point of view, not a moral one. There have been what? A dozen (?) X-Men films and every single one is about screwing with the X-Men until they fight back. This issue is not about ethics; it is simply: if you graft metal onto a child’s skeleton for whatever purposes, how is the child supposed to become adult-sized? You haven’t thought this through.
That seems close to the only thing James Mangold didn’t think through, however, in this extremely mature look at the X-Men franchise through its most dour member, Logan (Hugh Jackman). It’s 2029 and the United States looks almost exactly as bleak as the direction Trump is currently steering it towards. Logan, or “Wolverine,” which is pretty much the only thing I ever called him, is not well. Keep in mind that even at his best, this is a guy who couldn’t find the fun at Disneyland on Wolverine Day. Add to that his health issues, his crappy limo driving job, the devolution of the world, and the fact that he lives in an abandoned silo babysitting the last of the X-Men, and the two least likely to still be alive: the sun-challenged Caliban (Stephen Merchant) and the still immobile and now brain-addled nonagenarian Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart).
These days, Wolverine don’t heal so good because the metal adamantium fused to his skeleton decades earlier is poisoning him, weakening his ability to heal on demand. This is an excellent plot point; I have often thought of Wolverine as a cheat – here’s a guy who can’t be killed? Well, what’s the point? Seriously. Wolverine will win every battle eventually because he simply cannot die. The hand-to-hand combat he encounters, while wielding impregnable retractable claws, is akin to murder in my book. This isn’t about being a better soldier or having superior weapons or skill set – if he can’t die, you will … sooner or later. Making him vulnerable is step one in telling a real Wolverine story.
And goodness gracious, check this out – it’s l’il Wolverine (Dafne Keen, which rhymes with “Wolverine”), an eleven-year-old named “Laura.” Really? We can’t do better than “Laura?” How about “Honey Badger?” That makes perfect sense to me: she’s smaller than Wolverine, but exactly as ill-tempered, exactly as violent, and she don’t give a f***. Check it out, she’s got an adamantium-enhanced skeleton and retractable claws as well – and she fights like Hit Girl from Kick-Ass, only bloodier. Now right about the time you’re asking “who would graft metal onto the skeleton of a child?” her “dad” (Boyd Holbrook) shows up with a mechanical hand. Well, here’s a new take on the father-abduction angle.
Logan is an “on the run” film. Most of the action is metaphorical grandpa (Professor X), father (Wolverine), and child (Honey Badger) roaming the countryside and sharing adventures that mostly involve dismembering people. It’s ok; they’re bad people. Honestly, this film has two huge improvements over most iterations before it – the first is there are only three 
X-Men here; the second is they’re all vulnerable (X and Honey Badger because of age, Wolverine because of illness). Consequently, I think this iteration loses a great deal when introducing more X-People, even if only to color Honey Badger’s background.
Unlike many sequels, Logan actually benefits a great deal from our previous tales. It’s quite possible I wouldn’t be able to stand the taciturn and curmudgeonly title character had I not known what to expect. Given Wolverine’s background, we are well aware of his reluctance to bond or even communicate, and it works very well here as we can see him as the flawed parent trying to find safety rather than the war-weary veteran wanting to be left alone. Every X-Man film is about the battle. Exposition in these films exists for the sole purpose of knowing what our combatants are capable of when the denouement arrives. Despite a tremendous amount of violence, Logan is not about a battle, but about survival; this sets it apart as a far more mature look at the genre.
♪Mister, listen
A girl’s on the run
And you know that her friends ain’t fun
All day melee
Where you fleeing away
From your foes
Do they know that you have knives for toes
It’s true
Wolverine
Will you join this fight?
For once you’re in the right
Get her out of sight
Wolverine
Dying ain’t that bad
Maybe you’ll be glad
Life sure makes you mad♫
Rated R, 137 Minutes
D: James Mangold
W: Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green
Genre: Our screwed future, with X-Men
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of maturing X-Men
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of comic X-Men
♪ Parody inspired by “Sister Christian”
