Logan looks great but I do not fully trust the X-Men movie universe. Don’t get me wrong, Deadpool, X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past are great films. X-Men and X2 range from decent to pretty good. But I’d be foolish to ignore the forgettable X-Men: Apocalypse, the mediocre The Wolverine, and the awful X-Men Origins-Wolverine.
The Good News
The good news is that the Wolverine franchise is trending up. X-Men Origins-Wolverine received a “rotten” 38% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, The Wolverine nearly doubled that with a 69% score.
I love the choice of director, James Mangold. His filmography includes the excellent Western 3:10 to Yuma and the wonderful musical biopic Walk the Line. But most importantly, he directed The Wolverine, which should ensure story continuity.
By most accounts, this will be Hugh Jackman’s final time playing Wolverine. I am confident that Mangold and Jackman have done their best to make the mutant with the Adamantium claws go out with a bang!
The Bad News
I have already expressed my disappointment with the previous two Wolverine movies. I am particularly concerned that the two excellent trailers may be setting us up for a letdown.
Let’s not forget how good the first X-Men Origins-Wolverine trailer looked. Or maybe you forgot how good the second trailer looked? I didn’t.
Lastly, I am still not over the disappointment of X-Men: Apocalypse. I know, I know. It is not a Wolverine film. It is not terrible. And it did not include Hugh Jackman. But it’s a Fox Studios produced X-Men Film, and I have some concerns.
The Verdict
Despite my concerns with some previous X-Men/Wolverine films, Fox Studios’s overall body of work in the X-Men universe has been satisfactory. The steady direction of James Mangold is comforting for the prospects of this film.
Logan is the first major “live action” comic book movie release of 2017. I plan to watch it opening weekend unless there is an overflow of awful reviews, both critical and word-of-mouth. But I am confident that it will be worth the price of admission, and can’t wait to get my claws on some tickets.
