LOGAN : Official Reviews (Spoiler Alert)

[jo]

Maybe we can already set up a thread for official reviews for LOGAN --

Steven Weintraub ‏@colliderfrosty 3h
3 hours ago

.@mang0ld's LOGAN is 136 minutes and the embargo lifts Friday, February 17 at 1:30PM PST

LOGAN will hold its world premiere at the Berlinale on 17 February! The embargo lifting is likely happening as soon as the movie premiere has completed screening?

[jo]

Liefeld is the comic creator of Deadpool, X-Force et al. He saw the private screening in NYC on Feb 11.

In reply to JoBlo.com
robertliefeld ‏@robertliefeld 15h
15 hours ago

@joblocom @mendozaaaa @arcticninjapaul it's sooooo good!

JoBlo.com ‏@joblocom 15h
15 hours ago

At the screening for #Logan with our fan winner @mendozaaaa and EIC @arcticninjapaul

[jo]

Tomorrow, February 17, LOGAN will have its world premiere at the Berlinale.

It is likely that the official reviews may start coming in, as per rules of the Berlinale thus :

Note on the "Embargo" regulation for world premieres

Please respect the embargo regulation for world premieres. Reviews of films that celebrate their world premieres at the Berlinale (Download PDF (144 KB)) may only be published after the beginning of the first public screening (start of the screening + 30 minutes).

LOGAN is being presented for its world premiere at 10:00 pm, Berlin time!

[jo]

From film blogger for GEEKS OF DOOM and FIRST SHOWING --

Adam Frazier ‏@adamfrazier 16m
16 minutes ago
Heartbreaking. Brutal. Beautiful. #LOGAN

[jo]

Another film blogger-critic --

Hunter Heilman ‏@hungerhuman 14m
14 minutes ago


#Logan might legitimately be the most beautifully resonant and well-realized "superhero" movie to date. I said it.

[jo]

A lot of heavy praise contained in tweets ( embargo still in force) from film site bloggers -- thanks to the SuperHeroHype forum for their compilation --

forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=524325

Some positive reactions thus far:

Steven Weintraub of Collider
Paul Shirey of Joblo
Brandon Davis of CB.com
We Got This Covered
JTE from Schmoes

Quote:
@adamfrazier

Heartbreaking. Brutal. Beautiful. #LOGAN


Quote:
@dailysuperhero

#Logan is @realhughjackman's swan song as #Wolverine. Thank you James @mang0ld.


Quote:
@nickcaseletto

Holy ****! That was a ****ing movie! I can't wait to talk about #Logan In my review tomorrow.


Quote:
@hungerhuman

#Logan might legitimately be the most beautifully resonant and well-realized "superhero" movie to date. I said it.


Quote:
@elmntsofmadness

#Logan raises the bar for what super-hero films can be: Artful. Soulful. Character-driven, not spectacle. Honors Jackman & Wolverine.


Quote:
@zacfanni

#Logan is the best X-Men movie we have. Gets to the roots of what the X stands for. "This is what life looks like - enjoy it, for a moment."

Keep following the link

Jo

[jo]

Not sure if this is a filmblogger/critic review or an extended reaction from a fan --

To preface my short writeup of the film i'll go on to say this post will contain no spoilers.

James Mangold did a fantastic job directing the film and it was a lot longer than I anticipated.

The film begins in the year 2029.

The film starts off with Logan well being Logan. I was surprised at the amount of gore this film has. It definitely warranted an R rating with the amount of cursing and blood shed in the film.

To some of the posts i've seen here of the trailer, they do not do the film justice. It was a frenetic and endearing film with sequences of adrenaline mixed with heartache.

This might be the first X-Men film I actually shed a tear on.

I will be seeing it again in IMAX. What a ride. The cinematography and staging of shots was incredible.

Donald Pierce was one hell of a villain but there are plenty of surprises throughout this film that will keep you coming back for more.

I did not stay to see if there was an end-credits scene. This is without a doubt Hugh Jackman's best portrayal of Wolverine.

[jo]

Not yet the official reviews of the press attending the press screening before the actual world premiere in Berlin but his account by a journalist had me teary-eyed!

At the end of Logan's first public screening at the 67th Berlin Film Festival, in a closed-down hors-concours session (and restricted by embargoes), a Russian reporter thundered loudly amid a fervent salvo of applause: "This is the best superhero movie ever made," having his statement confirmed with earnest nods by his session colleagues. There were people - and a lot - crying with emotion for the tone of tragedy that packs the third solo adventure of the most beloved carcaju in the comics.

Translated from Portuguese.


I am so glad for Hugh!


PS : "carcaju" can refer to an inhabitant of the state of Michigan...otherwise known as the Wolverine state


Jo

[jo]

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!


Only a few minutes after the Embargo was lifted and Rotten Tomatoes already has 17 reviews in!

Average Rating : 100%

I can't post the individual reviews yet -- but check them out at :

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/logan_2017/reviews/


Even the cantankerous Duralde gives it a fresh rating!


Deliriously happy!


Jo

[jo]

At ROTTEN TOMATOES --


Somebody (now 2) rained on the parade --

50 Fresh
02 Rotten

52 Total

96% Average Rating

[jo]

From one of the reviews ( Indiewire) --

“Logan” isn’t always a satisfying movie, but there’s a very satisfying answer to those questions waiting for viewers at the end of it. Satisfying not only because Mangold resolves things with some brilliantly expressive imagery, or because he endows this story with a no-shits-left-to-give honesty that defies its origins and justifies its spectacular violence and salty vocabulary, but because it proves how iconic Jackman has made this character over the last 17 years.

Wolverine was famous before the actor became him, and the dictums of Hollywood insist that another actor will eventually grin and grimace his way through the role, but it’s telling that he’s one of the only major X-Men who hasn’t been played by another, younger star along the way. Jackman’s performance cut deeper than the spandex he wore for it — he wasn’t a vessel for this character, the character was a vessel for him.

And in this movie’s closing moments, we realize that he’s left us with one of the only big screen superheroes capable of conveying what these stories can do, and why people are drawn to them like moths to the flame no matter how many times they get burned. Whereas most of the cinematic genre’s characters borrow from myth, Jackman’s Wolverine became human enough to forge his own. Whereas most of these characters are shaped by studio notes and watered down by fan service, Jackman’s snarling embodiment of the comic book cover star was built to survive Brett Ratner sequels, recover from Will.i.am cameos, and elevate solid action fare into the pop culture firmaments. He was big even when the pictures got small, and even bigger when they didn’t. “Don’t be what they make you,” Logan tells Laura. That could be an empty line of dialogue, but when Jackman says it, it means something. Maybe even everything.

[jo]

NOT the official review from VULTURE, but what an insightful piece --

comic book movies
February 17, 2017 4:30 p.m.
What Logan Gets About Telling a Great Superhero Story
By Abraham Riesman


There’s a scene about halfway through Logan in which our grizzled protagonist doesn’t quite break the fourth wall, but we can certainly hear his accusatory voice on the other side of it. He holds up a superhero comic like a piece of pornography found under a kid’s mattress and denounces the idiocy of it and its ilk — “ice cream for bedwetters,” he calls them. Though such a pronouncement is a little extreme (let’s leave those who live with nocturnal enuresis out of this), he has a point about the facile simplicity and lack of vision that plague all too many superhero projects. Logan, miraculously, is not one of those pieces.


I’ll leave it to our film critic, David Edelstein, to determine the ways Logan does or doesn’t work as a movie, but it’s worth looking at why it works so well as a filmed piece of superhero fiction — especially in the context of the Marvel comics it’s based on, as well as other recent superhero pictures. To be blunt, it’s one of the best pieces of superhero storytelling to emerge since the dawn of the cinematic superhero boom two decades ago.

With its blood-freezing brutality, shockingly effective humor, and tear-inducing tenderness, Logan joins The Dark Knight and Unbreakable in the pantheon of great superhero movies that don’t need to be graded on a superheroic curve. It stands on its own as a stunning piece of mainstream auteur filmmaking that leaves you gasping and, if you’re like me, weeping at both its genuine sadness and its vision of hope — elements rarely seen in this oversaturated cinematic category. Logan, in short, gets how to tell a masterful superhero story.
Mild spoilers for Logan below.

Even the setting of this Fox project is more ambitious in its craftsmanship than its counterparts in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe and Warner Bros.’ DC Extended Universe, which generally rely on being set in a facsimile of the present day or an idealized vision of a historical period. The film takes place in the southern U.S. and northern Mexico of 2029, but it’s a world notably light on advanced technology. Much like Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men — a movie to which Logan owes an enormous debt — this is a world that has entered a spiritual and economic slump a long time before the start of our story, leading people to more or less give up on inventing things and thinking about brighter futures. Everyone, including Logan, is drifting through life, their goals minor and their pleasures basic.

Like Children of Men, its vision of the future has political teeth. In passing, we see massive lines of Latino deportees at an intimidating border wall. The mutant minority has mostly died out, and a Limbaugh-esque radio host says he’s sick of talking about their extinction. We learn of an American biotech firm that’s exploiting the uneven relationship between the U.S. and Mexico by setting up a lab conducting horrific experiments south of the border. Their victims are overwhelmingly black and brown — but so are nearly all of the non-Wolverine heroes of the movie. As is true of most great X-Men stories, the film is a story about the forgotten, the desperate, and the marginalized finding strength in one another. Logan is a superpowered protest against Trumpism — and a chillingly effective one, at that.


Speaking of chilling effectiveness: Unlike many superhero movies, this is one where violence hurts. Action in this genre is, for better and worse, generally quite cartoony. For instance, recall the big airport brawl in Captain America: Civil War: Though that scene is giddily exciting, we primarily enjoy the banter and the CGI acrobatics; the punches and energy blasts might as well be foam balls from Nerf rifles. That, to say the least, is not the case in Logan. The fights are all resolutely grounded, conducted by actors and stunt performers with minimal and unobtrusive computer assistance (you can use practical effects for a lot, but not for a thrice-pierced skull). No one flies, no one has lasers, and, as a result, you wince at every inventively gruesome kill. That kind of vicious, profoundly R-rated bloodletting might not be what you’re looking for in a superhero movie, but at the very least, one has to appreciate how tautly executed and different it is, compared to what we’re used to seeing, even in the allegedly “dark” super-flicks.


Indeed, Logan feels genuinely grim without employing grimness for grimness’s sake. Like somber comics masterpieces Watchmen and Kingdom Come, the movie knows that maturity and darkness are two very different things. A superhero story works when it’s trying to say something about power and responsibility, and gloom is only effective if it serves that purpose. Writer-director James Mangold gets that, and Logan is a passionate allegory about using our intellectual and physical abilities not just to survive and find personal fulfillment — we have to make sure others can, too. The best X-Men stories are about makeshift families, and Logan declares that our notions of family must expand if we are to be worthy of survival.


Dark superhero stories also only work if they’re not 100 percent dark — after all, they’re called comic books, aren’t they? There’s something inherently silly about the notion of the superhero, so jokes are baked into the genre. Unlike humorless slogfests like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Logan features healthy helpings of actual humor. The best Wolverine tales are built on the misanthrope protagonist’s difficulties in relating to other people, and this movie is no different: Hugh Jackman has cracklingly good chemistry with both Patrick Stewart and the remarkable newcomer Dafne Keen, who plays a mysterious girl Logan finds himself caring for. Unlike the frat-guy gags in Deadpool or the wisecracks in Ant-Man, the laughs in Logan come from relationships, and those relationships are ones that a viewer can relate to. Wolverine and Professor X fight because they love each other, even in dire times.


One thing that makes those times dire is how both men’s bodies are degenerating, which brings us to another concept that Logan shares with the great superhero stories: original ideas about superpowers. If a storyteller just uses its characters’ extraordinary abilities to show big fight scenes, they’re not trying hard enough — you have to take that premise and one-up what’s been done before. Here, we get the question of what happens when superheroes get old. Logan still has his healing factor, but we see that it’s become a curse: He wants to die of old age like everyone else, but all that his advanced years have given him are an inability to receive that sweet embrace of mortality and a repeated set of moments where he agonizingly recovers from massive injuries. (As old men know, some of his biological processes take longer than they used to.) As for Xavier, well, the situation is summed up well by one of the villains: He’s got “a degenerative brain disease in the world’s most dangerous brain.” The two men are simultaneously terrifying and pitiful.


And therein lies the key to the great superhero tragedies: the fragile humanity within the imposing superhuman. Reader, I wept. Three times over the course of the movie, I found myself crying, which is something I hardly ever do at the cineplex. I won’t spoil those moments, but they were all small. A chat between old friends, a reminiscence about childhood, and a brief quotation of an old movie. The stakes of the picture are personal, not global — Mangold understands that the master plans of the baddies are never the actual point of a superhero conflict.


When done right, superhero fights are ultimately battles against the biggest supervillains of all: cynicism and our own base impulses. In that way, this downer of a movie is, paradoxically, one of the most optimistic superhero films ever made. The good guys aren’t just fighting to save the world, but to prove that it’s worth saving. Logan does that, too, in the process proving that those silly comic books the main character hates so much might have actually been onto something.

Can one imagine that a superhero/comicbook movie can be the source of inspired reflection?


Jo

[jo]

Again, another review that is painstakingly detailed in analyzing the characterizations and portrayals, that takes a look at the financial performance of the franchise and the solo series while rationalizing its projections, even considering the possibilities of awards honors ( if unlikely due to the crowded availability of spots), and delves into the place of LOGAN in the entire franchise in the past carrying forward.

One of 2 Forbes reviews ( hence, the detailed financial stats) --

www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2017/02/17/review-logan-could-be-first-superhero-movie-to-get-best-picture-nomination/#1caa52b8428a

Excerpts --

This is easily Jackman's greatest performance as Wolverine, allowing him to delve deeper into the persona than any previous film. He not only brings the usual cynicism, anger, and regret, but also a wonderfully confused mix of compassion, exhaustion, and bitterness in his complex relationship with Charles Xavier. Then we see his struggle to deny attachment and caring, when Laura enters the equation. Through their travels in the film, Wolverine encounters other regular people and is forced to let his guard down and remember what it was once like to trust, to love, and to feel part of a family. And inevitably, he is drawn back round to his angst, his rage, his sorrow, and his sense of having no place in this world. He's more vulnerable this time out, not just emotionally carrying so much baggage he's grown too weary to manage anymore, but also in a literal physically sense.

We can relate to him more than ever before, and the film doubles down on this by grounding itself in a much more realistic world and set of events, with no costumes and a careful application of superpowers posited within more relatable contexts. Jackman has been nominated once before for an Academy Award, as lead actor in 2012's Les Misérables, and it's possible (although admittedly unlikely, due to the limited number of spots available and how early Logan is releasing this year) he could earn another with this performance. If this is truly his final performance as he and Fox claim, then it's a grand sendoff...

[jo]

Feb 17, 2017 16:56:51 GMT -5 jo said:

At ROTTEN TOMATOES --


Somebody (now 2) rained on the parade --

51 Fresh
02 Rotten

53 Total

96% Average Rating

Bumping this here ( updated), re the latest ratings update.

Here's the link, if you want to read the individual reviews --

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/logan_2017/

[jo]

The second negative review came from the critic of TIME.

time.com/4671852/logan-movie-review/

Her focus is that the movie is used as a political statement and fails!

Huh?! Did I completely misread her?


If she knew that --

*the barebones of the story is the vision of Hugh Jackman ( articulated via voice memo two years ago, while he was promoting CHAPPIE - released in 2015), coming from his view of how the character and his circumstances have developed over the years and what he thought might be an appropriate end to Wolverine's saga. This was the fundamentals on which James Mangold developed the basic story and later became the basis for the screenplay. Hugh's commitment to the character spans 17 years back --and his vision as to how that characterization can be made more impactful must have been the distillation of working with the character for such a long time.

*while it is true that Mangold has strong political views ( if you read his twitter page), it is his love of films, especially classic films and not just westerns, which likely bore the strong influences that permeate this end story for Wolverine; his work as filmmaker is strong enough proof that he has explored the variety of themes and filmmaking treatments in sending out his artistic message. Consider a movie like WALK THE LINE ( the biopic of Johnny Cash) -- very different from 3:10 To YUMA as they both are different from KATE AND LEOPOLD. He is an artist from the world of film-making!

*it is sheer coincidence that there aspects of the plot of LOGAN that hark to some testy issues in the current political climate in America ( such as the border issue/stories of immigrants) but this story was in the making since before the political campaigns for the US presidential elections took place; if it looked referential, it is sheer coincidence.


What a pity when one's assessment of an artistic expression is colored by what one thought of the personal/political views of the artist.

LES MISERABLES was more than just a novel of life in 19th century France, as it included the strong social commentaries of Victor Hugo. But over the centuries, the quality of his storytelling and the characters who inhabited those tales and not his view of French society was what has supported its strong place in the literary world ! True, the message of DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING rings true to this day -- but that has been a clarion call for such a long, long time in so many places in the world. And Hugo never invented it - he simply placed his storytelling in that particular era of French society.

Sorry, never meant to discuss politics here as I do respect different political views -- but that TIME review seems a little unfair to me.

Jo






*

[mamaleh]

Some people cannot interpret anything except through the narrow prism of their own focus or prejudices. The overwhelmingly "fresh" reviews on Rotten Tomatoes say all that's necessary. Yay!

Ellen

[jo]

I can't help but chuckle at how some uber-fanboys now are dissecting which review is FRESHER compared to another equally FRESH review - LOL! It used to be that they would dissect to death why a review is FRESH and why another review is ROTTEN. Now they are luxuriating in viewing with a fanboy microscope the unexpected level of praise for LOGAN!

Hope their hopes ( and ours) that the extremely FRESH reviews stay close to that level!


I wonder what Hugh and James M's reactions are, if they have already been informed about the deluge of praise for the movie!

[jo]

Congratulatory note from the R-rated Red Devil

Ryan Reynolds
Verified account
‏@vancityreynolds
Follow

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Ryan Reynolds Retweeted IndieWire

Yes! @realhughjackman brings all 31 flavors of shit-kickery to Logan. Couldn't be happier for @mang0ld. Heart and soul. #Logan

Ryan Reynolds added,

[jo]

Video review ( not sure if this is included in the Rotten Tomatoes summary) -- from someone ( Vegas Film Critic ) who presumably does not dispense great ratings all the time --

[hughmanity]

So much to read and look at.... (thanks Jo) should've been asleep a long time ago lol..and how Hugh looks in that suit -oh my

[jo]

Another video review ( Grace Randolph) -- a detailed review covering many issues.

[jo]

movieweb.com/wolverine-3-review-logan-movie/

This one's not included ( yet) in the ROTTEN TOMATOES compilation, but it is more of nice tribute to why the movie is a tribute to Hugh Jackman.

I know Hugh says that he hardly reads reviews ( he admits he might be too thin-skinned) but if I had a chance to tell him -- he really should read all of them. There is validation that his career-defining role of Wolverine has been a consistent favorite with so many people and that this finale movie is the big diamond jewel in the crown!

[jo]

Update - critiques are slow in coming to Rotten Tomatoes maybe because the movie has not really been released yet and only some of the usual critics have seen the movie.

TOMATOMETER

96%
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 57
Fresh: 55
Rotten: 2

[jo]

Also not ( yet) included in the Tomatometer --

Berlinale 2017: Mangold's 'Logan' is an Excellent Wolverine Western
by Alex Billington
February 18, 2017

Let's make this clear right at the start - this is not another Marvel Studios movie. Logan is a stand-alone, outstanding, one-of-a-kind X-Men movie made for adults. It's violent as all hell, emotional and captivating, gritty and grounded, and exciting to experience. Director James Mangold really hit a home run with this one, bucking the trend and going with his gut to deliver a superb "Wolverine Western". I had to see Logan twice at the Berlin Film Festival before writing this review, to confirm how awesome it is. I haven't enjoyed watching an X-Men movie this much in such a long time, and I'd say this is easily one of the best X-Men movies. It's not really an X-Men movie, but it actually is - there's so much mutant mythology hidden within.


Logan is, at its core, a very simple movie about a weathered man who has been through hell and back. He's watching over the only other person he cares for - an aging man who was the first to rescue him years ago. He learns he has a daughter he never knew about, and struggles to learn to care for her amidst all the chaos in his life. Hugh Jackman returns for his ninth (and presumably final) time as James Howlett, aka Logan, aka Wolverine. He's joined by Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, whose mind is falling apart as he gets older. Newcomer Dafne Keen plays X-23, a young mutant girl whose fate brings her right to Logan. And of course there's the various villainous people who want to control the mutants chasing after all three of them.


Pardon my French, but – Logan is so fucking awesome. I still can't even believe how amazing it is. It makes me so happy that it turned out this good. The action is extraordinary, even better than the action in John Wick: Chapter 2 (at least I think it is), seriously brutal and totally badass. This movie is more violent and bloody than any other superhero movie we've seen before. Heads roll, limbs fly, claws slash and stab, poking bloody holes in mercenaries left and right. There's so many F-bombs, and it's such a relief to see a movie where they don't have to hold back just to get a PG-13 rating. It's exciting to see what they can do with a superhero story when they actually get to make a movie where characters let loose and say what they want.


On top of all the violence, this is one of the first X-Men movies where the comics are actually referred to and shown in the movie. Finally! And they're not shown in a cheesy way, or in way that makes you roll your eyes. Logan references the comics as trash, as some fantasy that doesn't actually reflect reality (meaning all the other events that occurred in the previous movies). There's other references hidden in the dialogue that are sprinkled in so carefully, yet with such an impressive understanding of this universe. This is all part of what makes Logan such an outstanding X-Men movie - even though it's still a movie about Wolverine, it's also a movie about mutants, and everything they've gone through. And the final shot wraps it up in a perfect way.
I mean it when I say that Logan is one of the best films of this year's Berlin Film Festival. Mangold stuck to his guns and made a movie that is an homage to classic westerns, yet is also something unique and exciting on its own. I could go on and on talking about it and how much there is to admire. It's set in the year 2029, but it's not really a sci-fi movie, even though there are a few sci-fi touches here and there that make a sci-fi geek like me even happier. There are a few political nods as well, the kind that make you realize Mangold is smart as hell. It's also a very emotional story, and you may find yourself wiping away a few tears. Mangold has set a new precedent with this, and it's up to Hollywood to see if they can live up to Logan from now on.


Alex's Berlinale 2017 Rating: 9 out of 10

It's not a review -- it is plain gushing

And that coming from Alex Billington!

[jo]

Two weepy woman gush about LOGAN...one gives it a grade of A+ while the other thinks it deserves a 5/5 rating. The first one also thinks she would like to take her young daughter along when she sees it a second time, because she thought X-23 was very impressive. Of course they were aghast about Hugh's departure from the role. And yes, definitely better than Deadpool!

Listen to the podcast -- the vocal expressions add to the melodrama of their inherent review

juliesaysso.com/podcast-logan-reviewed-two-weepy-women/


Hope almost all women react in the same way to the movie