Here is when we get to the true purpose of this series, the top ten films of the 2010s. Over the course of the last ten years, we’ve had some pretty remarkable cinematic experiences. This is the first of those, and each of the nine subsequent weeks will lead up to the best of the 2010s. On Thursdays, we’ll see Cory’s top ten. Let’s take a look at my number ten film:
10) Logan – 2017
Directed by James Mangold
Starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Richard E. Grant & Boyd Holbrook
In this modern era of superhero blockbuster films, it’s become increasingly difficult to adapt the original work as clearly as one might expect. From the first X-Men film, where many opine that this era began, there have been fans that complain about the distance between staying faithful and wildly original. More often than not, their favorite characters perform strangely or against their true character. It’s not been the case with Wolverine, who was played for 18 years by Hugh Jackman, an Australian stage actor who was allowed a chance to shine when Dougray Scott injured his shoulder on the set of Mission: Impossible II and caused that film to delay and overlap with the start date of Bryan Singer’s mutant opus.
Scott’s loss was obviously Jackman’s gain, as it launched him into his massively successful and productive career. He’s uniquely synonymous with the Marvel character, even though the original design was a wiry yet small badger type of a human. Think something more along the lines of Bob Hoskins, the actor James Cameron preferred when he was tabbed to run the production in the early 1990s.
All this is to say that this film hinges on the performances of the two actors we’ve grown with over the past two decades – Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Patrick Stewart’s Professor X. The basic plot of Logan is that these two are the sole survivors of a mass extinction of mutants, natural and government enforced. It appears that Xavier has been fading fast due to Alzheimer’s disease and that affects his psychic powers, resulting in the deaths of many of their friends and family. Logan keeps him holed up safely away from prying eyes until an experiment similar to him tears them from their isolation.
The wonder of this film isn’t contingent on it being a good superhero film, but rather simply a good drama. Our nostalgia may be preyed upon given our penchant for believing in the franchise’s two best performers, but that doesn’t mean it can’t tug at your heartstrings even without the love we have for Stewart and Jackman. The added key to this film is Laura, the young girl that inserts herself into their lives and wields a deadly secret that proves mutants can never die off. Dafne Keen was merely 11 at the time, but held her own opposite the seasoned veteran of eight X-Men pictures.
Generously borrowing the themes and feeling of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, this Western follows the trio as they traverse the country, attempting to outrun the villainous government officials played by Richard E. Grant and Boyd Holbrook. Some of the best comic book films have been gritty without sacrificing their principles – Road to Perdition, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, A History of Violence. Much like those Lone Wolf serials, these comics showcased the seedier side of the criminal world, and they definitively look at a starker world than your generic Marvel universe does these days.
Lucky for us, before the X-Men and company were swept into the fold of the Mouse House, we got one of the smartest looks at loss, grief, disease in old age and coping with all of that as it applies to one of the most cynical characters set to screen. That we all collectively cried over the finale Hugh Jackman would deliver only brought together how poignant these films can truly be.
On Thursday, we’ll see what Cory has in store for his top ten!
Interjections 