By: Nick Gambino
The trailer for Logan, the latest and final Wolverine project for Hugh Jackman, has dropped and MY GOD does it look good!
There are plenty of words that come to mind when watching the trailer: ugly, gritty, heavy, pain. But the tone is probably best described by likening it to a down-and-dirty western. We are even graced with the voice of Johnny Cash singing Hurt throughout.
The trailer opens with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (or more accurately, Logan) looking old and beaten, a shell of the mutant we’ve seen in the previous 40 movies he’s appeared in. Xavier, looking pretty withered himself in the film, seemingly out of the loop, asks him what’s happened.
“Mutants. They’re gone now,” Logan answers against visuals of a funeral. The rest of the trailer is sparse, set in a dusty world, a backdrop for our main 3 mutants on the run from some sort of military force hunting them down.
One gets the sense that we’ll be getting somewhat of a post-apocalyptic film here, at least as it applies to mutants who never seem to have it easy.
The movie is rated R, allowing us a more “accurate” depiction of the hell Wolverine experiences and the carnage he dispenses. The rating is probably due to the success of Deadpool.
One thing that struck me upon my tenth (read: hundredth) viewing of the trailer is that it doesn’t feel like a superhero film. In fact, there’s very little in the way of powers or spectacle shown. This is thanks to a director that is more worried about making an excellent film than “just another superhero movie.”
The director, James Mangold, is in familiar territory with the film having directed The Wolverine, 3:10 to Yuma and Walk the Line (there’s the Johnny Cash connection).
How Logan will fit in with the continuity of other X-Men movies like the recent Apocalypse is anyone’s guess as it looks from the trailer like this is a completely standalone movie. There’s even a hint in the last scene that Logan has buried someone. A strong case can be made for that someone being Professor X as his voice can be heard whispering, “Logan, you still have time.”
Seriously, guys, can we stop killing off Professor X?
Well, no matter the fate of the telepathic leader of the X-Men, Logan looks like it may be one of the best “superhero” movies yet.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick Gambino is a regular script writer and tech beat reporter for NewsWatch. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter.
