‘Logan’ Already Looks Like the Best X-Men Movie Ever
The first trailer for the new Wolverine movie just dropped. And assuming you haven’t watched it on repeat twenty times already, you’re going to want to correct that, stat. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
…Pretty bad-ass, right? There’s a grizzled, bearded Hugh Jackman. A bad guy with a prosthetic hand. Patrick Stewart. A whole bunch of balls-out/claws-out action. All set to Johnny Cash’s haunting “Hurt” cover.
Supposedly, this is going to be the last hurrah for everyone’s favourite X-Man. (Although never count out the persuasive powers of a seven-figure cheque.) But from the looks of this trailer at least, Jackman and director James Mangold will be sending the character out on a high note.
Yes, we’re currently basing that on just over a minute-and-a-half of footage, and we’ve all been burned by great comic book movie trailers before. (Ahem, Suicide Squad, we’re looking at you.) But screw it. Here’s a few reasons why Logan is shaping up to be the best X-Men movie to date. (Along with one very good reason to keep expectations in check.)
It’s a low bar to clear.
Let’s be honest: Deadpool aside, the last few X-Men movies have kind of sucked. And with the series starting to swallow its own tail after all the reboots and spinoffs and time-traveling, Logan looks like just the sort of mic drop this never-ending franchise sorely needs.
The movie leans into Jackman’s age.
No knock on Jackman. Dude is still inhumanely ripped. And a totally believable action hero. But he also just turned 48 this month, and it’s getting harder and harder to buy him as an “ageless” mutant some 16 years after he first put on the claws. So instead of going the whole Bryan Singer route and introducing some new convoluted, continuity-obliterating twist to explain why Wolverine’s suddenly looking old now, Mangold wisely just pushed the timeline ahead a few decades and let Logan age up naturally.
It stars (the right) Professor X.
No offence to James McAvoy, but Patrick Stewart will always be the one true Professor Xavier. And it’s great to see him back in action here. Even if we have a sinking feeling that’s his funeral Logan’s attending in the trailer…
It’s got a great plot.
No, “X-23” isn’t the number of X-Men movies we’re up to by now. Supposedly, she’s a female clone of Wolverine. But even if you didn’t read any of the comics this movie is based on (confession time: I definitely haven’t), you’ve got to admit that Old Man Logan babysitting an ultra-powerful kid clone makes for a pretty fun idea.
Everything’s finally connected.
No, not to the X-Men series. We stopped holding out hope that franchise would make sense three movies ago. But before James Mangold made his first Wolverine movie, he directed the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line back in 2005. And using Cash’s “Hurt” in the Logan trailer officially connects his new sequel into the larger James Mangold Cinematic Universe, AKA the JMCU. (Don’t bother trying to do the math on this, it all checks out. Trust us.)
It’s written by one of the guys responsible for Green Lantern.
Grain of salt time. Mangold’s a solid director, and The Wolverine was leagues better than any X-spinoff this side of Deadpool. But that doesn’t change the fact that one of Logan’s screenwriters is also one of four guys credited with writing that other Ryan Reynolds superhero movie. So maybe wait and see how the next trailer turns out before you pre-order your tickets. Just saying.
