Logan (2017)

[VCRTracking]

Just saw the movie today. Best X-Men movie ever. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart were fantastic. Dafne Keen impressed the hell out of me, first when she was mute and then when she was speaking. Also liked Stephen Merchant as Caliban and Richard E. Grant as the main bad guy. Holy shit, they earned the HELL out of that R rating! Every kill and wound inflicted had me gasping with how brutal it was.

That final scene with Logan dying and Laura crying and calling him daddy wrecked me.

Edited March 16, 2017 by VCRTracking

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 3/14/2017 at 7:58 PM, tennisgurl said:

Like I said, I've grown up with this franchise. I'm even watching Legion right now over on FX (which is weird, but good, and may or may not be in continuity), its something that has always been a part of my life. I spent so much of my life with these characters, and watching their struggles to create a world where humans and mutants can live together in peace, and now...it all seems like it was pointless. We see Logan and Charles are broken, sickly shells of their former shelves,  just about every other mutant we have gotten to know died a tragic and pointless death, and mutant kind has gone extinct. Logan and Charles die forgotten in the woods, and that's it. Yeah the kids make it out, but mutants are still gone, and every character we have gotten to know in the franchise is presumed dead now. Its just so depressing, and it retroactively makes the whole franchise depressing.

If I can put a more positive spin on it, I don't think the (unseen) future will be as bleak as all that. Because Laura and the other children will get to have a future that doesn't involve continuing to be at best glorified lab rats and at worst exploited for their powers. They get their freedom, and wherever they end up maybe they build a better world for mutants and humans to work together, and I don't think Logan and Charles end up forgotten. That Laura is the one who replaces the cross on Logan's grave in the form of an X says that she will remember the 'father' she's leaving behind, and because the movie ends there we don't get to see what she becomes as the years pass. But whatever that something is, her future was completely uncharted.

Yes, Logan is brutal, and yes, the characters we know so well have shuffled off the mortal coil. Notice also Logan's insistence to Xavier that "It wasn't me" after the deaths at the farmer's house, because even after all those years there was a part of him that saw himself as a death magnet, for lack of a better way to put it. But with this being Jackman's final turn as the character, it makes a certain grim sense that Wolverine would die in battle, and I pity the poor actor who gets tapped next should they decide to reboot/reimagine/whatever. Does anyone know if there are plans to expand on the young mutants who escape at the end, because I'd be really interested to see what they make of themselves after all that.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Cobalt Stargazer

[tennisgurl]

3 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

But whatever that something is, her future was completely uncharted.

I guess that does make me feel a little better, thanks Cobalt Stargazer. That's a better way to look at it, even if it was still a pretty depressing movie. I will just have to hold onto Laura and the kids as my glimmer of hope at the end of the franchise, and hope that they wait a REALLY long time for a reboot.

[Bruinsfan]

Also worth pointing out that whatever Alkali did to suppress mutant births in the US, it wouldn't have the reach to make it a worldwide effect. There are a lot of people in other countries who wouldn't be getting HFCS in things they eat and drink regularly.

[VCRTracking]

Thinking about another Hugh Jackman movie where he's on a road trip with a kid, Real Steel. The difference in that movie is Hugh's character is a deadbeat dad who doesn't want to spend time with his son. If Laura was the product of a one night stand or broken relationship, we'd think Logan was an asshole for not wanting anything to do with her, until he eventually comes around like he does to his son in Real Steel. Her being the result of some experiment using his genetic material that he had no knowledge of, you get his being freaked out and keeping her at a distance.

Edited March 21, 2017 by VCRTracking

[mtlchick]

Quote

We see Logan and Charles are broken, sickly shells of their former shelves,  just about every other mutant we have gotten to know died a tragic and pointless death, and mutant kind has gone extinct. Logan and Charles die forgotten in the woods, and that's it. Yeah the kids make it out, but mutants are still gone, and every character we have gotten to know in the franchise is presumed dead now.

Since it was made clear in the cut off radio news report that X-Men were at least publicly known, they will never be forgotten.  And the kids can grow up saying "that Wolverine guy you may have read in the comics?  He was real and saved my life."  They still carry the DNA of mutants (spoiler sites says two of the kids have DNA from Avalanche and Bolt) so it's not like mutant kind is fully dead. It's in a transition phase.  Xavier was pushing 90 and Logan was closing in on 200...still had pretty long lives.

 

That all being said, I don't think I'll be watching the next few X-Men movies (though they are being filmed in my hometown so I'll try to sign up as an extra!)...I wasn't feeling Apocalypse and I feel after Logan I will be totally let down.

[SlackerInc]

The three main leads did great acting jobs, and the R-rated language and violence was perfect for the character.  I liked some of the "road movie" vibe, I enjoyed the action sequences, and a lot of the stuff with Xavier especially was cool (the idea of giving him a degenerative mental condition was the most original and fascinating idea of the movie).  But those elements were really needed to save this for me as a B-, because so much about the rest of it bugged.

I guess part of my problem is how many movies I've seen.  The trope of "grizzled old grouch gets saddled with a kid he doesn't even want to help, then reluctantly takes on, and slowly his heart melts over the course of the movie" has really been done so many times.  And when it comes to the villains, the "evil corporation creates hybrid human monsters it can't really control to weaponize" trope is also one I'm getting tired of, and it doesn't really make sense: if they are more powerful than regular soldiers, as we saw in some cases here, then it's too dangerous; if they are not, then why bother?  Unless they are all installed with kill switches, which didn't seem to be the case.

But really, Logan?  The bad guys are massively hunting you, and you roll your bullet-ridden limo up to Harrah's in Las Vegas, ask the valet to "keep it out front", and then actually stay in that hotel?!?  (It did lead to the totally badass sequence of Wolvie and the girl fighting their way through the psionic blast.)

And they go help the people with the horses, and at least Logan's wisely trying to refuse the offer to come for dinner, but he lets Charles overrule him?  When you've got murderous goons by the dozen after you, you're going to accept hospitality and endanger random unaware civilians' lives?  And sure enough, look what happened: did any of the family survive?  (On the flip side, though, that family was wack.  From their perspective, they don't know about the goons and think this is just a nice family that stopped to help them...so they are going to repay the kindness by bringing Logan along on a run to the water pumping station with a gun and some bolt cutters, followed by some heavy manual labor and a confrontation with armed rednecks?  LOL, any normal person would be like "ehhh...ok, looks like you've got a complicated situation going on here--good luck with that, but we'll be heading for the hotel now", as soon as the bolt cutters came out, and long before the confrontation.)

Why would the murderous evil corporation stop in the middle of the woods to respect the Canadian border?

Too long!

My ranking/grades of all the movies I've seen with Jackman playing Logan:

X2 A
X-Men: Days of Future Past A-
X-Men B
Logan B-
X-Men: The Last Stand B-
X-Men: Apocalypse C-
X-Men Origins: Wolverine D-

On 10/28/2016 at 8:54 AM, Raja said:

The extra bulk may come in handy when fighting the Thor's of the universe.

No chance.  They are at opposite ends of the Marvel strength classes.

Edited March 23, 2017 by SlackerInc
Added italics

[Silver Raven]

1 hour ago, SlackerInc said:

Harrah's in Las Vegas

It was in Oklahoma.

[romantic idiot]

I too felt that this one negated my enjoyment of all the movies that came before it. Xavier was a hero who ended up killing his friends and students - that tragedy alone spoils all the X men movies for me. 

I can appreciate on an intellectual level how good the movie is, how good the performances are, but I'm going to resent it for a good, long time for killing the rest of the franchise. Even the upcoming once because they'll be set before this in the timeline. Till they have a movie showing that this future is not coming to pass, I don't think I will be able to bring myself to watching something that ends so terribly. 

[King of Birds]

How It Should Have Ended ...?

[Lantern7]

Wow. I wish to campaign for that to follow the movie when it comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD.

[Lantern7]

Heads up: I got a mini-teaser from Honest Trailers. Tomorrow's episode will be their 200th, and it looks like they'll be covering Logan.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

6 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Heads up: I got a mini-teaser from Honest Trailers. Tomorrow's episode will be their 200th, and it looks like they'll be covering Logan.

Which is out on DVD tomorrow.

[BetterButter]

[Lantern7]

Saw it. I'd like to think that they wouldn't have brought in Ryan Reynolds had this not been the 200th installment.

[Spartan Girl]

LOL not even Deadpool could rip on it, though he certainly ripped the Announcer Guy to shreds...

[Jediknight]

11 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Saw it. I'd like to think that they wouldn't have brought in Ryan Reynolds had this not been the 200th installment.

They would have, Reynolds has done it before, and he'll probably throw in an Honest Trailers shoutout in Deadpool 2.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 2017-3-3 at 9:00 AM, SeanC said:

amazing that it's been 17 years; we've had three Spider-Men and three Incredible Hulks over the same period).  

I saw it tonight (thank you second run cheap theatre) and came out feeling the same way. I have pretty good memories of seeing the first X men in University with a bunch of my friends. And i thought the same thing about movie Wolverine vs movie spiderman. Spider Man 2 was the second date i went on with my wife.

Really appreicatec how brutal it was and how we got to see Wolverine go full berserker. Looking back would have loved to have seen the assault on the mansion scene from X2 shot R rated. Only little thing that bugged was that the adamantium bullet was super obvious. And i kind of wish that Xavier had gone out with a bit of a better death (althouth it was still better than his X3 death).

Also to add, like most people i thought the actress who played Laura was awesome, just how she could go from pure animal fury in the fight scenes to just totally zoned out in some of the car scenes was great.

And i am pretty sure i have said it before but I already feel bad for the poor bastard they cast next time they want to have Wolverine in a movie. The character is way to valuable to retire, so eventually a new one will show up, but he will have giant shoes to fill. It would be like if they recast Han Solo or something.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Kel Varnsen

[ketchuplover]

Why didn't freeze breath try to escape their cuffs by freezing them?   Also Laura should've used her feet claws more.  R.I.P. Logan.  Thanks for bloody memories.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 5/27/2017 at 8:34 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

Also to add, like most people i thought the actress who played Laura was awesome, just how she could go from pure animal fury in the fight scenes to just totally zoned out in some of the car scenes was great.

In addition to this, since I just finished watching it on DVD, I'd like to add that the final lines from Shane never got me choked up before this. For a character who doesn't even reveal she can speak until a third of the movie is over, Laura was very eloquent when she wanted to be.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, I just finished watching this.

Aside from the awesome (though gory, bordering on horror) fight scenes, this was FUCKING DEPRESSING.

Won’t be buying it.

I guess I just don’t understand the almost dystopian ambience, or no exposition about what happened to ALL OTHER MUTANTS? Unless I missed it?

The only things that brought a smile or chuckle for like 10 seconds, were seeing the comics and Logan in yellow spandex and the other kids “trimming” Logan’s beard.

And DAMN if Logan dying while realizing what it felt to love his child, didn’t have me bawling. It goes without saying seeing Charles murdered by Logan’s Evuhl Doppleganger just made it worse for me.

[WritinMan]

48 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I guess I just don’t understand the almost dystopian ambience, or no exposition about what happened to ALL OTHER MUTANTS? Unless I missed it?

Basically, Professor Xavier...

Spoiler

Killed most or all of them with one of his seizures. This is alluded to in the movie, but I guess there is a deleted scene that discusses it more.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 12/17/2017 at 9:30 PM, WritinMan said:

Basically, Professor Xavier...

  Reveal hidden contents

Killed most or all of them with one of his seizures. This is alluded to in the movie, but I guess there is a deleted scene that discusses it more.

Not sure why that was spoiler tagged, since the movie's now on cable, but thanks. I hadn't realized that Xavier remembering what he'd done was kill all the remaining mutants, which...makes no sense. But whatever. But I'm with @tennisgurl and @romantic idiot`this movie basically shits upon everything. And I thought X-Men: The Final Stand was bad, and was grateful that Days of Future Past fixed it all. I mean, Logan survives when Xavier had that seizure, but other powerful telepaths don't? Couldn't fight it? I know, I know, I'm overthinking this, but I can't help it. I was spoiled for Logan dying (by accident!) but I was prepared for it, but it still got to me. I think I'll go watch the first movie, where I didn't know who Jackman was and to fall in love with the live version of Wolverine.

And the villains in this movie were just too...moustache twirly, with no nuance.

Edited December 20, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[WritinMan]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Not sure why that was spoiler tagged, since the movie's now on cable, but thanks. I hadn't realized that Xavier remembering what he'd done was kill all the remaining mutants, which...makes no sense. But whatever. But I'm with @tennisgurl and @romantic idiot`this movie basically shits upon everything. And I thought X-Men: The Final Stand was bad, and was grateful that Days of Future Past fixed it all. I mean, Logan survives when Xavier had that seizure, but other powerful telepaths don't? Couldn't fight it? I know, I know, I'm overthinking this, but I can't help it. I was spoiled for Logan dying (by accident!) but I was prepared for it, but it still got to me. I think I'll go watch the first movie, where I didn't know who Jackman was and to fall in love with the live version of Wolverine.

And the villains in this movie were just too...moustache twirly, with no nuance.

Regarding spoilers, doesn't really matter if it's on cable, there might still be people who haven't seen it and many people get upset about plot spoilers. You just finished watching it. I've seen people get pissed over spoiling Citizen Kane.

As for "shitting" upon everything, not possible I could disagree more. I thought Logan was one of the year's best and one of the best of the comic book movies. Possible top three for me. Not sure, never really took the time to work out a list.

[Lantern7]

Totally missed the news the first time: Logan got nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. While one wonders if the Academy decided to throw a bone at one movie with comic origins and completely ignore another (Wonder Woman) even in the tech categories, it is a big moment for geeks like us. Also, we'd get a new printing of Wolverine: Old Man Logan with "INSPIRED THE MOVIE NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR" at the top of the book.

Given the acquisition of Fox properties by Disney, I ask whether a loose adaptation of OML worked. I still think it does. The story was great, but it was basically Mark Millar making everybody suck in a dystopia save for Logan himself. Then he goes on one of the bloodiest rampages in comics history. And there were a lot of stuff related to Disney-owned characters. I like what we got in the end.

[paramitch]

I'm a super-emotional person, so I'm also a wimp when I know I'm gonna have to watch a downer. Which means I bought this the moment it came out... aaaaand only just this weekend had the courage to actually watch it. I mean, let's face it, the (gorgeous) trailer showed us pretty clearly what Mangold was going for, so I knew I'd have to watch it when it wouldn't depress the crap out of me. 

And I'm glad I did -- and I loved it. I thought it was amazing -- brutal, tender, terrifying, and gorgeously produced from the casting and performances, to the sets, staggeringly beautiful action and stunts, to the locations. I've always loved Mangold's work (don't get me started on the perfection of his remake of "3:10 to Yuma"), so was looking forward to this as much as I was dreading it. And I did love it, although I found it so terribly sad, and watched it twice.

On 10/21/2016 at 12:30 PM, Athena said:

For me, this is the most gorgeous and emotional movie trailer of all time, seconded only by Cloud Atlas (Yes, I know, many hated it, talk to the hand).

On 10/23/2016 at 1:08 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

I did find it weird that the color of the hair on the top of his head is quite different than the beard he's sporting for this last movie. And no, I'm not talking about the gray/white.

The top of Logan's hair is blondish because it is slightly bleached by the sun. He lives in a brutal desert, so it makes sense.

On 10/24/2016 at 8:59 AM, Dandesun said:

I always wonder who decided he needed to go on what is clearly a ridiculous regimen to play Wolverine because when the first X-Men movie came out in 2000... he was not ridiculously huge and muscley. He looked good, no question there, but he didn't look completely over done. When did they decide to switch that up?

There's been renewed open media discussion of this recently, and I'm really glad of it, because at a certain point I just think it gets absurd, for men as well as women. Yes, Jackman looked amazing as Wolverine. But to me, he ALWAYS looked amazing as Wolverine. I just think at a certain point, some actors (in their real and warm zeal to embody characters) may go too far. The fact that Jackman not only did this to himself for years at a time, but also embarked on days of risky dehydration to look as ripped as possible for some scenes I think is unnecessary and should trouble anyone. 

On 3/3/2017 at 7:24 PM, ZoqFotPik said:

I felt really bad for the farmer's family, if Logan and company had simply kept going, they would still be alive. My only complaint is that I wish they would have given Stephen Merchant more to do.

I did too. This was probably the aspect that wrecked me the most -- that these lovely, kind, innocent bystanders all died. But on the other hand, it's implied that the highway near-disaster was staged by their tormentors, so maybe they were doomed no matter what. But watching the sweet kid, mom, and dad die broke my heart (although -- nice job by Eriq La Salle, and nice to see him again).

On 3/4/2017 at 6:17 AM, benteen said:

The best part of the movie was definitely the interaction between Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart.  I'm glad both of them got such a strong movie to go out on.  Jackman was terrific and Stewart FINALLY got utilized to the best of his abilities.  I loved the interaction and the road trip with them and they are well-joined by Dafne Keen as Laura.  That kid did a lot by saying little and was a convincing badass.  Boyd Holbrook was a lot of fun as Pierce and was a good villain.

I loved the family dynamic -- Charles as aging father, Logan as angry son, Caliban as the cousin trying to be supportive but fearing the outcome, and last, Laura as the child Logan always feared but came to love.

I thought Jackman and Stewart were incomparable. Just superb, and I would have been perfectly fine with either one winning an Oscar (although of course the chances of that were always miniscule). But there was so much tenderness and vulnerability to Charles, so much love toward Logan (who of course is afraid of love from anyone), even as Logan had his own quiet tenderness and empathy toward Charles. And Logan's unwilling yet growing protectiveness toward Laura. And Caliban sacrificing himself for Logan and Laura (Stephen Merchant was so, so good! Seriously wonderful in a rare dramatic role). And Dafne Keen as Laura was just superb -- so much feral rage and yet she still had the ability to be still and underplay a scene. She's amazing.

I always love seeing Richard E. Grant, and I thought he chose some interesting directions with his villainous scientist -- he played all of his scenes as if everything he said was absolutely normal, as if he himself were capable of real compassion even though he had none. And it was so weird, but so effective. 

Last but not least, I love "Narcos," but Holbrook was honestly so uncharismatic on that show to me that when I saw him here, I was like, "WHO IS THAT?" I can't believe the difference a different director makes -- I thought Holbrook was terrific and complex in a pretty cookie-cutter part here (my favorite moment was when he threatened Logan, turned away, then turned back and went, with this weird sheepish, sly affection, "Just so you know... I'm a fan.").

On 3/4/2017 at 7:50 AM, thuganomics85 said:

The look and overall feel to the film really felt different to its counterparts.  I agree with a lot of comparisons that it had a No County fro Old Men and Unforgiven vibe to it, and it was basically one big-ass road trip from Hell film, but it was beautiful to look at.  James Mangold seem to be bring some of the same things he brought to the 3:10 to Yuma remake, and it totally worked for me.  The violence was brutal, of course, but it was done in a way that I felt mainly served the story, and wasn't completely just to satisfy the bloodhounds.  It just made the world more scary and dangerous, and seeing the damage Logan was receiving and the pain that came with each hit, really sold his world-weary character.

Did not see the X-24 bit coming.  Not sure how much was make-up and how much was CGI, but the de-aging of Hugh Jackman was just as great as the one Ant-Man did with Michael Douglas and Captain America: Civil War did with Robert Downey Jr.

I loved it as much as you did. I agree on James Mangold -- for me, what he made here is a miracle. A brutal, beautiful, elegiac film that just happened to be about people with superpowers.

On Jackman's aging, my impression is that didn't have to do much de-aging on him -- at 48, they aged him up for most of his Logan role to around 60, and the X24 was much more his usual self (and he's certainly able of playing a prime 40-ish version of himself, as he did immediately after in "Greatest Showman").

On 3/4/2017 at 2:44 PM, TVSpectator said:

That being said, the only real question that I have is this:

- Were X-23 Laura and the guy that looked a lot like Logan was supposed to be his clones or his actual children (meaning that they were artificially inseminated and had separate mothers- who were probably those Mexican women that the nurse's video mentioned)? 

As her guardian's video showed (briefly), Laura (X23) and the other mutant children were the products of the artificial insemination of young Mexican women, using genetic material from other mutants (including, of course, Logan).

The implication is pretty clear that X24, on the other hand, was a pure clone created and grown to be a killing machine. His mental instability is implied to be, at least in part, due to the fact that he is a physical adult killing machine who has only lived a year or two and who is totally dependent on the scientist for direction and social cues.

On 3/4/2017 at 4:14 PM, MisterGlass said:

This is the argument for making intimate, personal comic book movies instead of just grand spectacles.  The tight focus on the core characters made this so emotionally intense.  And the subtle references to the tragic and sinister stories of how they ended up here were so well incorporated without needing a grand moment of exposition.

I felt exactly the same. And like you, I loved the homage to Max Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It was one of the badly-needed smiles I got from this terribly grim but beautiful story.

On 3/6/2017 at 8:13 PM, MisterGlass said:

I thought perhaps the adamantium had a longer shelf life in the body than standard implant metal, and only started to break down several decades after implantation.  His healing factor kept making repairs, but couldn't prevent the material from continuing to break down and release particles, and couldn't fully combat external injuries too.  He could be suffering from body-wide metallosis, and all the associated pain.

The radio talking about the Westchester incident said seven X-men died.  It broke my heart, and I was glad they didn't dwell on it too much.  I kept counting them off, wondering which combination of deaths would leave Wolverine alone to take care of Charles. 

All of this works for me logistically. And makes me cry a little more.

On 3/6/2017 at 8:48 PM, caracas1914 said:

I do agree that the younger mutants seemed to be the weak link plot-wise, how did they mange to get to the rendezvous point considering how weak and vulnerable they looked once the bad guys got there.  It took the combined efforts of several X men  to get Laura there.

I didn't think they were weak at all. I actually thought the kids seemed calm, capable and preternaturally mature, and that Laura just had the bad luck to be on the corporate radar, not least because she was traveling with the woman who had caused the breakout and "betrayed" the team. 

On 3/8/2017 at 4:41 PM, Traveller519 said:

I actually would have enjoyed the family scenes going on a bit longer. We get the half smile out of Laura at dinner and the iPod scene, a little more to show her relief at the presence of a "normal" life would have weighed the third act even heavier, in my opinion.

I would have loved more of their beautiful time with the family (Charles later admitting this was the most perfect evening in recent memory broke my heart, especially with what came next). But at the same time, their fates were so damn brutal and bleak that any more small sweet moments would have killed me.

On 3/14/2017 at 6:58 PM, tennisgurl said:

I spent so much of my life with these characters, and watching their struggles to create a world where humans and mutants can live together in peace, and now...it all seems like it was pointless. We see Logan and Charles are broken, sickly shells of their former shelves,  just about every other mutant we have gotten to know died a tragic and pointless death, and mutant kind has gone extinct. Logan and Charles die forgotten in the woods, and that's it. Yeah the kids make it out, but mutants are still gone, and every character we have gotten to know in the franchise is presumed dead now. Its just so depressing, and it retroactively makes the whole franchise depressing.

I truly know what you mean. However... if it helps? One of the subtle things about this movie that I would say to those who wonder about the ties with Days of Future Past is to remember that this is one potential future. Not the only one. We don't know what happened in other timelines. And we know -- in a world of mutants -- there could be others. My headcanon is that this was the darkest timeline. But that in some other timeline, Charles and Logan lived to happier ends. That way I can still enjoy this and not keep weeping two days after I saw it. 😉

On 12/18/2017 at 5:54 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

But I'm with @tennisgurl and @romantic idiot`this movie basically shits upon everything. And I thought X-Men: The Final Stand was bad, and was grateful that Days of Future Past fixed it all. I mean, Logan survives when Xavier had that seizure, but other powerful telepaths don't? Couldn't fight it? I know, I know, I'm overthinking this, but I can't help it. (snipped)

And the villains in this movie were just too...moustache twirly, with no nuance.

I get why you're upset, but I also think the film was going for a grand emotional statement, and to echo my reply above, this isn't shitting on any legacy, it's simply one possible outcome. We're dealing with a film series that has already shown us that timelines are flexible. 

For me, I headcanon that in every single potential timeline, three things are true:

• Logan protects Charles with his life
• Charles helps Logan remember his humanity
• Logan eventually finds/has a child

For me, Mangold was trying for something unique here -- he wanted to create a bleak, brutal, daring work of art. And for me he succeeded at that. But I will still enjoy and adore my other favorites of the series (and Jackman's beautiful work) -- from X1, to X2, to X-Men:FC, to The Wolverine, to DoFP etc. 

On 1/23/2018 at 2:56 PM, Lantern7 said:

Totally missed the news the first time: Logan got nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. While one wonders if the Academy decided to throw a bone at one movie with comic origins and completely ignore another (Wonder Woman) even in the tech categories, it is a big moment for geeks like us.

I loved that so much. And I would have been happy with additional Oscar nominations here (from Best Picture, to Best Actor and Supporting Actor/Actress), but I loved the screenplay nom. The script was also nominated for several others, including almost a dozen other regional film critics' awards, as well as by the Writers Guild of America. So it was evidently really superb.

Edited December 11, 2019 by paramitch
Tweaked for clarity (on "they" being the kids) and fixed a few typos

[Lantern7]

Something from an upcoming episode of Robot Chicken:

 

Is Descendants really like that? I don't care either way.