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This past weekend, Hugh Jackman’s seventeen year-long run as the iconic superhero Wolverine came to an end with Logan, the first R-rated film starring the character and directed by James Mangold. Critics loved it, audiences love it, it’s doing extremely well worldwide, and I hold it as the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight back in 2008. In short, it’s a pretty damn good movie. Jackman gets a proper send-off, as does Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, and we finally see the brutal violence Wolverine is known for along with a well-written, dark, dramatic and heartbreaking storyline that left this reviewer in tears more than once. It’s a smashing success for Fox and for comic book movies in general.
Now I know what some of you are thinking: a dark and more thoughtful superhero movie is getting praised… But what about DC? They’ve been doing that since Man of Steel, and everybody hates them for it! What makes Logan so good and not DC’s movies? Well, in short… Logan got great reviews because it’s a great movie, one with objectively good performances, expert direction, well-filmed action sequences, and a great script. Is it perfect? No, of course not, but it’s leagues above (pun intended) DC’s recent output, most of which have been savaged by critics and just barely approved by audiences. So DC faces a crisis: you can’t build a cinematic universe without unified critic and audience support, and good will based on the characters can only go so far. Since DC wants to be darker and more serious, I thought that I’d go through some of my favorite parts of Logan and see if it can help the Distinguished Competition improve their films and finally put up a real fight against Marvel.
