"Make way for the X-Men, an outdated metaphor for racism from the 1960s!" - Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) in Deadpool 2
The X-Men movies have had an erratic track record in their nineteen years of existence but their highest points showed an admirable level of ambition that fit these audacious comic-book characters. Creatively gusto spin-off's like Logan or Deadpool took the American superhero movie into unique terrain while X-Men: First Class used a period era setting and a zippy tone to breathe vibrant life into a tired franchise. In that context, the already disspiriting low-quality of Dark Phoenix becomes extra sad to see, it's such an all-around lackluster production that's as groggy and lifeless as a hungover college student. All of the ambition that marked the best entries in this series is gone, replaced with all the enthusiasm of a new kid forced to publically introduced themselves to all the students in the class.
Whether you're Bear in the Big Blue House or Johnny Carson, there comes a time when you must say goodbye. Whether it's because the general public has gotten tired of you, by your own choice or other external circumstances, there comes a moment when all pop culture figures must take their final bows and walk off gracefully into the sunset. This was true even for a cinematic icon like Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp character, who had been entertaining audiences for more than two decades since he first premiered in the 1914 short film Twenty Minutes of Love. Yes, even The Tramp couldn't last forever and so the character went out with a bang with the 1936 movie Modern Times.
James Mangold and Hugh Jackman have cited many movies that carried a large influence over the creation of their 2017 X-Men feature Logan and it's no surprise to hear that Unforgiven was one particular movie Jackman saw as a guiding light for that final Wolverine movie (The Wrestler was another, similar unsurprising, point of inspiration for Jackman). Both Unforgiven and Logan star actors who play older weary versions of iconic stock characters they became famous for playing inhabiting a more realistic world low on hope and high on danger. Because Logan is dealing with an ex-superhero, the movie is able to end, after an entire film of bleak nastiness, on a note of hopefulness that the heroics Logan once committed will inspire a new generation to rise up and become beacons of hope in their own right.
If there's one thing I can ascertain about James Mangold after watching his two Wolverine movies (The Wolverine and the subject of this review, Logan) it's that he's truly enamored with a version of Wolverine dealing with the character separated entirely from the X-Men team and living a life as a battered recluse. Mangold seems to be fascinated by the questions posed by Wolverine's weariness as he ages ever onward and Logan makes a strong case for why he'd be so enamored with that side of the character. Here, James Mangold and company go full-on R-rated in their exploration of Wolverine in an older, sicker and battle-weary form.
March 2017 is gonna be a jam-packed month for movies, no denying that. We've got the extremely promising looking Kong: Skull Island, that live-action Beauty & The Beast movie (which I really hope offers more new stuff than the trailers suggest), Ben Wheatley's action comedy Free Fire, Jessica Chastain helping save people from Nazi's in The Zookeeper's Wife, the James Gunn-penned horror film The Belko Experiment, Danny Boyle's Trainspotting sequel and....The Boss Baby. Plus, we get two new high-profile live-action superhero movies entitled Logan and Power Rangers.
Both debuted new trailers this morning, so let's take a look at them shall we? First up is....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3OxVFvTeg LOGAN
Is this as good as the first teaser? Of course not. That one's going to become one of all-time greatest trailers ever made if it isn't already. But this is still one spectacular trailer that emphasizes the X-23 and Logan relationship that looks to be the core of the movie as well as reinforcing the melancholy tone that feels appropriate for this final Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie. Also worth noting is how the hand-to-hand combat stuff in this trailer looks exceptionally well-made and I can't wait to see if that holds up throughout the whole feature. Plus, we get to see that X-Men comics exist in this universe and it actually got me kind of wistful to see Logan look at these comics and reminisces about how his adventures with his fellow mutants were never quite like that. Man oh man am I ready for this one!
Next up is....
POWER RANGERS
First, the good news; this is a way better trailer than that dreadful teaser back in October. I actually dig some aspects of the lighter tone here that feels more appropriate for a tale about five teenagers transforming into robot humanoids. Plus, I love Kayne West's Power and it's nice to see that version of the song used here instead of some dark somber cover. I'll also freely admit it's a well put-together trailer that'll probably work mighty fine in enticing general audiences to give this new Power Rangers movie a go. As for me though....I dunno. I honestly think the last 45 seconds of this trailer kinda killed it for me, to be honest. Those new Power Ranger suits just look really really bad and it also just devolves into a bunch of CGI pixels fighting each other. I'm praying to God the actual movie gives some dramatic grounding to all of this mayhem, because if not, that climax could reach Man Of Steel levels of excruciating. So, while this trailers a definite improvement tonally, and there's a good song choice, I'm still really worried about this new take on the Power Rangers. I'm sure Power Rangers fans will go crazy over the appearances of the Zords and Goldar in this trailer (I have no idea what those words mean).
We shall see how both of these actual movies stack up once that jam-packed month of cinema arrives in March.
The final X-Men movie to feature Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is on its way for March. It's got a title (Logan, a nice little contrast with the title of the last solo Wolverine movie The Wolverine), a cast that includes Patrick Stewart, Stephen Merchant and Boyd Holbrook and now it's got a teaser trailer. Check it out below and prepare to see something very different from past X-Men movies and American blockbusters in general.
