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huelskamp19 · 8 years ago

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Kampy Takes a Look At: Logan

A spoiler free review of “Logan

The X-Men movies have had quite an interesting history when it comes to film treatments. Between prequels, sequels, reboots, and grand spectacle the movies have been a constant of the last 15 years. Whether the films were great (X2) average (X-Men Apocalypse) or downright bad (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) they have always had a hypnotic charm with their entertaining characters, socio-political commentary, and break neck action. Two of the best scenes from any superhero movie come from X2; Nightcrawler’s assault on the White House and Wolverine defending the manner from Stryker’s forces. Indeed, the X-Men movies have left an enormous mark on the superhero movie genre. And at the middle of this whirlwind has always sat Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier. Jackman and Stewart are synonymous with their characters at this point, despite having great success in other films and television alike. So, this film -being touted as their send off- came with enormous expectations and hype. I am happy to say that this films succeeds in nearly every way possible and, as such, gives the feeling of bitter sweet completion to my generation of X-Films.

Logan stars Hugh Jackman as the titular character, Logan, who used to be a member of the X-Men named Wolverine. In the future, Mutants have been slowly going extinct and Logan, now retired from the superhero life, works as a limo driver to take care of an ill Professor Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart. When a mysterious mutant girl named Laura -played by newcomer Dafne Keen- shows up in his life chased by a mercenary group called “The Reavers”, Logan, Professor Xavier, and Laura must make their way towards Canada is find asylum.

This film takes many inspirations from the “Old Man Logan” storyline and X-23’s introduction from Marvel comics. While not a one to one recreated of these arcs, the movie nonetheless feels like a worthy adaptation of the material. Hugh Jackman plays Logan with a sense of quiet rage and a world weary sense of justice. He’s still a hero, but he is clearly being portrayed as someone who is just tired of seeing people he cares for hurt. While Jackman can still invoke the rage that brought him so much acclaim as the character, he’s much more subdued with his performance, choosing to show that emotional side only when necessary. This sense of control gives the character of Logan a sense of purpose to actions while showing the cracks of his age. Hugh Jackman’s performance is at an all-time high and he shows the impressive capability of switching between aged introspection and raging berserker at the drop of a hat. He has since perfected his craft as Wolverine and this movie allows him to do something new with it, giving us a nuanced and hypnotic performance.

Patrick Stewart similarly plays a weakened, but not less wise, Professor Xavier. Early in the film you see him bed stricken and rambling to himself due to his developing Alzheimer and degenerating body. By this time in the franchise’s continuity Xavier is pushing his mid-nineties and it shows. However, his mind is as compassionate as ever and his portrayal as a father figure to Logan underscores the development the two characters have had over the years. Logan was once taken in by Xavier and cared for like he was his family. Now it is Logan’s turn to do the same for the only person who has been a constant source of compassion in his life. Patrick Stewart is brilliant and emotional in this role. It’s a side of Xavier that we have never seen before; the vulnerable man behind the mutant leader. While I don’t want to spoil it, he has a monologue about half way through the film that had the audience I saw it with sniffling. He deserves an award of some kind. The depth of his character’s compassion and regret over his actions is palpable and Patrick Stewart is brilliant enough to make the whole audience feel it. We also see a much snarkier side to him than in previous films. Stewart and Jackman have an amazing chemistry together, working off each other to maximize the potential of each scene.

Rounding off the cast is Laura -X-23- played by the brilliant Dafne Keen. Laura is a fascinating character as her growth throughout the film mirror’s Logan’s own growth from the previous X-movies. She starts off silent, relying solely on growls, body language, and facial expressions to communicate. Now because she cannot talk, but because she does not trust. As she begins to feel more comfortable, connecting with Logan and Xavier, she begins to show more emotion, and subsequently, more depth than Logan was capable of during his early years. She is just as brutal as Logan when he combat scenes come up but she is portrayed as more calculating and precise as opposed to Logan’s feral rage. I can only say that I sincerely want this character back in any future X-movies that need a Wolverine character. She is a worthy successor to the name. Dafne Keen is an actress to look out for. He ability to convey conversation and raw emotion only through body language and facial expressions is amazing. One of her glares easily matches with any that Hugh Jackman can throw at her. The guarded curiosity with which she portrays Laura is fascinating and the high-octane action that she participates in is beautiful. Not only is she great at the quiet, introspective scenes, but Keen manages to portray sorrow and anger convincingly. She gets the other tear jerking scene the movie has to offer, especially if you’ve been following Jackman’s career as Wolverine.

James Mangold knows how to direct a Wolverine movie. He did so with 2013’s “The Wolverine”. While that movie was a bit lackluster due to studio interference, this time Fox has allowed Mangold to do exactly as he wants and boy does it pay off. The camera work is strong with shots well placed and camera movement never distracting. This allows the camera to easily follow the action without any type of shakey-cam interference. Many of the poignant shots in the film are utilized to underscore Logan’s feeling of isolation while he attempts to interact with the small family he has managed to amass over the years. The film earns the R rating by not only being bloody and littered with foul language, but being purposefully bloody and littered with foul language. The characters react like a real person would react in their situations. The cursing feels organic and the action feels weighted by emotional circumstances and real world physics. While the other X-movies take a more sensationalist stance when it comes to the action, this move is visceral and realistic. Honestly, the cinematography feels like something I would see in Mad Max or a western. That makes sense however, as this film purposefully draws plenty of parallels to older westerns with its emphasis on the tragic hero.

In summation, Logan achieves much what the darker DC movies want to accomplish, but lack. It’s dark. It’s brutal. It’s poignant. It’s fun. And it brings something new to the genre. This movie exists as a western genre film disguised as a superhero movie. It is, in my mind, the best X-Men movie so far. The characters are powerful and nuanced, the story is compelling and tightly told, the action is break neck and entertaining, the tone of the music is somber and appropriate, and the visuals are a treat. I actual struggle to find much with this movie I dislike. The third act does slow down a bit and become much more like the other X-Men movies, but I personally didn’t have much of a problem with this. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart are at their best. Dafne Keen is a rising start to watch. This may be the only superhero movie I’ve gone to which had my theater crying not once, but twice. If I were to make a comparison to a DC movie, as I have above, I would say Logan is Marvel’s answer to “The Dark Knight”. Yes, it is that good.

Score: 9.5/10 – Logan is emotional and nuanced but also uplifting and idealistic. It doesn’t shy away from the past and actively looks forward and this helps it achieve something thoughtful, powerful, and action packed.

#Kampy Takes a Look At #wolverine #logan movie #wolverine movie #move review #marvel #marvel movies #marvel comics #my god was this good #professor x #charles xavier #x-23 #laura kinney #go watch this move

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huelskamp19 · 8 years ago

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Kampy Looks At: The Lego Batman Movie

Spoiler free review of "The Lego Batman Movie" Going into this movie I had some pretty high hopes. I love the original "Lego Movie", with its infectiously toe tapping music, original premise, likeable characters, and meaningful ending message. Would the Lego Batman movie continue to achieve the same level of endearing filmmaking? The short answer is yes. But not quite to the same level as the first movie. Will Arnett returns to play the self absorbed but likeable ass hole we saw from the first movie; Batman. Movie sees him go up against the Joker, played by Zach Galifianakis, while also attempting to reconcile with his waning popularity in Gotham City over the new police chief Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) and coming to terms with his new adopted son, Dick Grayson (Robin), played by Michael Cera. This movie has humor in spades but I will freely admit that it is not as laugh out loud funny as the original Lego Movie. Much of this comes from the speed and frequency at which gags are thrown at you while the movie progresses. While many of the jokes are funny, the film intermixes the truly laugh out loud moments with gags that will feel very dated and already are somewhat facepalm worthy, such as beat boxing and very modern millennial language. Well kids will definitely find this funny many of the adults in the audience kind of just chuckled or were silent. However when the jokes do hit the hit pretty hard. The moral of the movie is laid out pretty thickly but it is done in a way that makes the character development very understandable. You can definitely see how these characters can change but still remain true to their inherit personalities. Likewise the story takes a couple of twists that feel fresh to their execution even though they are Telegraph from a mile away. There are quite a few slow moments that are followed up by one liners that don't quite work in execution as well as the script wants it to. If you are going to mess with the audience's expectations in order to get a laugh you better make sure that the follow-up joke is either funny or poignant. You can't just follow up with beatboxing or another Batman tantrum. It works once a movie. Not one an act. As the film has been animated to look like a stop motion Lego movie, like the last one, the animation itself is very nice to look at. The team did a good job of making Gotham City look unique while at the same time keeping much of what previous Batman movies had established about the style the architecture takes and the mood the external shots of the city creates. This movie takes more than a few cues from Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. I can't believe I'm saying this but the action is also very impressive to watch. The fluidity of which the animated models move and the Dynamic camera work is great. It really puts you in the moment and gives a depth to the movie I didn't expect. Now that I think about it since the movie is about Batman it probably should have good action sequences. Will Arnett does a very good job as Batman once again but I would say the stand out performance goes to Zach Galifianakis as the Joker. He honestly does a very good job with the role being able to pull off both a very silly and threatening performance. Likewise Rosario Dawson, who is now double dipping in DC and Marvel, makes a good straight man for Arnett's self-absorbed Dark Knight. Finally, as a Batman fan and DC Comics nerd the movie really provides me with plenty of fanservice to chew on. The amount of in jokes and cameos from DC Comics is staggering and I loved seeing all the goofy z grade Batman villains showing up. I never thought I would want the condiment King, crazy quilt, the Mad Hatter, calendar man, polka dot man, and Firefly in a theatrically released Batman movie. And yes those are all real Batman villains. I didn't see the penny plunderer anywhere in the background but there are so many quick cameos that I may have missed him. It's funny that the best DC movie to come out of Warner Brothers since the Dark Knight trilogy has been a Lego themed movie. The Lego Batman movie is a very entertaining and funny film. If you just want to have a good time, similar to the first Lego Movie but a bit more Batman flavored then you will enjoy this. 7.5/10 - Funny with plenty of heart and a good moral, but quite a few slow moments and jokes that miss the mark by virtue of unecessary repetition or feeling very dated. Go watch and have fun!

#batman #lego #lego batman #lego batman movie #movie review

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