On the Maturity of Marvel with Logan

The Marvel behemoth produces many pieces of work that follow a familiar template in narrative, look and content. They are all family friendly and never too challenging. In the last month or so this model has been challenged itself by two texts that have separated themselves from the cinematic universe Marvel are creating while remaining under the Marvel umbrella, enjoying the budget freedoms that offers.

Legion on TV was eight episodes of pure joy. Created by Noah Hawley of Fargo (always the best thing on TV when it’s on), Legion was stylish and baffling and always enjoyable. The second is Logan, Hugh Jackman’s last time playing the X-Men hero Wolverine and the completion of the stand-alone Wolverine trilogy that has, unusually improved each time. Logan is a film bathed in a golden yellow, appropriate as it finds Wolverine in his autumn years; old, broken and tired of living.

Gone are the huge green screen action set pieces, replaced by America’s west. More than an action film, Logan borrows heavily from Western and road movie genre conventions, with Shane (1953) becoming an intertextual reference of Logan’s fate. It is a beautiful film to look at with the special effects it does use, being employed with subtlety rather than the usual overkill to disguise the lack of character. Instead, Logan is a character study and Jackman here pulls up the same kind of dilemmas we saw him capable of in Prisoners (2013).

The violence is questionable. Yes, this is the most accurate representation of the hurt that would be unleashed by a man with indestructible metal claws, but in certain moments it feels too much. Just because they have been allowed to be violent, does it mean they should push it as far as they can? It’s uncertain and the approach to violence walks a fine line. Either way, it makes this the most adult superhero film, or at least parallel with Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008). And honestly, it makes it refreshing too. Too often Marvel films placate adult audiences in favour of box office.

In a moment that must be a first for a superhero film death is handled with incredible gentleness and is both saddening and joyful as we feel Logan’s wish to be released from it all. As he whispers, “so this is what it feels like”, decades of pain disappear. There is a slightly more conventional final third, but by the time his death comes around, we are so invested in his character that we can forgive the more clichéd aspects, such as the mutant kids combining their powers, or the young Logan appearing. Fortunately, both are used sparingly.

Logan is a dark and adult film. One that is even perhaps too adult for its 15 rating. It does after all deal with the abuse and death of children and the redemption of a man who has committed questionable acts for many years. Despite stepping away from the Marvel connectivity, Logan is still held back by the name and one feels that were this a film that had appeared from nowhere, with a character we did not know, it could have been an even more special piece of cinema.