Logan Analysis

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Scuffed shoes in closeup tell almost the whole story—things are very much 'run down at the heels' for Logan these days, Plus the way he holds his feet and walks, more a pained shuffle than the spirited gait we expect from his earlier appearances. This is not the Logan we’re used to. His hair is all messed up, and he seems to be drunk or half asleep. Plus right here at the very beginning we see one claw won't come out all the way. Going into a fight and he can't get it all the way up. It's pretty brilliant really. These few images, compressed so closely right at the beginning, say a lot about not only Logan's state now, but that of the world he lives in and of the rest of the mutants. We just don't know that yet.

This very much is not the MCU, or the regular X-Men world. That’s a clean, PG-rated world filled with the usual cliches. People in that world don’t suffer from problems like getting older, or if they do it’s glossed over so you don’t have to face the harsh realities of them. That’s one of the big cliches of superhero stories that make so many people dislike them. In general they lack any serious depth or realism.

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Scene where Logan picks up prescription for Charles. He's chugging whiskey straight from a bottle at the wheel of the car. This tells us he wasn't just half-asleep in the previous scene, he’s got a serious drinking problem. Then Donald Pierce gets in his back seat and calls him an addict. He thinks the pills are for Logan. At this point we don't know any different, and it would seem likely.

Then immediately Donald introduces the main plot point for this section of the movie—that a Mexican woman is looking for Logan, and has stolen something from him (Donald). That would be the little girl, clone of Logan. I like the no-nonsense way the story is set in motion so rapidly, with no fanfare. Already we're given loads of atmosphere and character information, plus the story is starting to roll. I also like the "I'm a fan, by the way," just before he gets out. That sets up the idea that in this story world Logan is a celebrity. And is it just me, or does all the music in this early section of the movie sound a lot like the Johnny Cash version of Hurt? Which was used in the trailers to great effect. This Logan is hurt, in some serious ways, like we’ve never seen before. And clearly

the healing factor he’s always relied on is no longer working like it should.​

That’s one of the major plot points, and just about everything else stems from it. In a sense time is the real enemy. Both Logan and Charles have obviously aged considerably, which is shocking considering in superhero stories decades often go by without the character aging at all. This is a very real world, pitiless and bleak, and it’s taken a serious toll on both men.