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nerdynformed-blog · 7 years

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Logan is a superhero movie - Part II: the ‘superheroism’ in Logan

I am going to try to be more concise this time around, I promise. This is going to take more parts than I originally planned. I am currently looking at 4 parts total: Part I was about what a superhero movie is. Now in Part II I will try to show that Logan is a superhero and the movie actually concentrates on that more than we might have noticed. Part III is going to be about how the movie uses that and to what effect. Finally, Part IV will be why superhero movies matter and why we need more good ones.

Even if you have not read Part I (and why would you), what I am going to talk about here is not hard to follow. Basically, you just have to know three things:

A) Superhero is not a movie genre. It is a subject and a kind of character that movies of any genre can and should explore to different effects.

B) A superhero movie is therefore a movie of any genre that centers itself on a character endowed by the traits that define a superhero.

C) The way the movie explores the subject defines the kind of movie it is.

(now that I am writing this, I see that I really could’ve been more concise in Part I - if you still whant to read it, you can click this link: https://nerdynformed.tumblr.com/post/158824439050/loganisasuperheromoviepart1).

With that in mind, le me just talk about how the superhero traits not only appear, but also are prevalent in Logan. They are in fact the main subject. The movie is a drama about the redemption of a fallen superhero: how it happens and why it is important.

So if you think that Logan is not a superhero movie, read own.

Lets talk about justice, secret identities, superpowers, uniforms and the ‘X’ factor.

Motivation

As I said before, a superhero (like the cowboys and detectives) fights for what is right not in service of (and sometimes despite) a higher authority, but following his own moral instincts.

It is not a behavior that he has to perform since the beginning of the story – some of the best stories are about the learning of that behavior through example, empowerment or even trauma.

Now, in the beginning, Logan only agrees to help Laura in exchange of money. Many American hero (see Part I) stories actually begin like that. Towards the end of the movie, however, his motivations change to the point that he refuses to take the money. His motivation becomes helping her and her friends/family. In the final showdown, he even dies doing that.

The entire internal journey of the character in this movie is the rediscovering of this motivation – heroism. It is not the first “superhero return story” movie out there, but it might be the best one we have so far. He begins jaded, cynic and having given up, but ends up living his most super-heroic moment right before dying. He reembraces the most important part of himself.

He is not just fighting for a group, but protecting innocent children from evil doers – just look at the people he is facing. They are your typical super-villains: immoral mercenaries working with an evil scientist that creates evil clones and does experiments in children.

In the end of the day, that is what the movie is on its surface: a lone man, fighting to protect innocent people against the actions of evil agents.

Plus, the fact that this is not another “will he save the world” superhero movie is GREAT. Fewer movies should do that scenario. A superhero doesn’t have to save the world, just save someone. But I digress.

Double identity

Logan not only has a double identity, he has a secret one.

It is just a very badly kept secret. He is flying low so people don’t recognize him as the Wolverine, as an X-Men (X-Man? Ex-X-Me? Ex-X-Man?). Not only that, but there is a clear distinction between his “human” and super personas.

One is a limousine driver down on his luck and just trying to survive and getting a way out. He has some very human worries. He doesn’t have money, he needs to keep his father figure medicated, he wants to buy a way out of it.

During the movie he alternates between fighting “the bad guys” and pretending to be just a normal person – he even dines with a family at their farm pretending to be Charles’ son and Laura’s father. In that moment, he is living a fake identity and giving excuses to cover up his superheroic quest. That is what most superheroes do.

He is not just someone pretending to be someone else. Sure, he hides his superhero side, but his “normal” persona is not even that fabricated: there are references to his past as a bad student and his relationship with Xavier is actually an honest depiction of the real thing. It is a real part of him.

His super persona is also present and important throughout the movie. “Wolverine” doesn’t just reemerges in the end, but is constantly haunting him, since before the movie even begun. He tries to keep it in the past, but it is such a big part of him that he can’t. Again, the return of this super persona in the last minute is what the movie is all about.

I have to mention something. The theme of a superhero trying to keep his identity in the past but ultimately failing to do so is reminiscent of my favorite graphic novel of all times – The Dark Knight Returns.

Superpowers

Now let’s talk about the superpowers. One of my favorite thing is how they dealt with that in the movie. His powers are not only showed in an array of ways and functions in the movie, but they play a more than significant role in the narrative and character development.

First we see them failing: his claws jam and his healing factor is too slow. His powers are older and more tired. That does not keep him from using them time and time again – in almost every fight, honestly.

Near the end of the movie, he takes some drugs and we see him in his old powerful self – clawing, fighting and healing violently fast. Finally, right before the movie ends, his powers scale down again so we can see him face the odds without the enhancement.

The powers demonstrate how much of who and what he is he cannot avoid. Using his powers is an instinct. It is part of him. They show his innate violence, the decrease of his resilience and, ironically, how weaker he feels now.

Not only that, his powers play other roles. The adamantium in his bones (kind of a superpower if you ask me) is maybe what is killing him. His strongest and scariest antagonist has the same powers and in a much better shape. And the enemy is only defeated with his personal break-the-glass-to-commit-suicide kryptonite: the adamantium bullet.

His powers are what initially connect him to Laura – the first evidence that they are related. Laura plays a commentary in the figure of the sidekick and the powers help the movie do that.

On that note, when they fight Evilverine, they do it together. Sure, the other kids help, but is the cooperation between the two that becomes the high point of the fight.

You have three people with the same powers: a kid, a tired Old Man and an evil terminator. That kind of conflict between similar powers has appeared sometimes in movies and is a common trope in comic books – and for a good reason.

It brings more risk and raises stakes so we can be worried about a character that seemed so powerful. It inverts the feeling of security the superpowers bring when we see the hero wield them, especially when the villain is more able with them.

This scene also shows how cooperation can be the defining factor in a conflict, once Laura and Logan are weaker than the villain.

Almost every character is affected by their superpowers, some in very original way. It is why the kids were created and are being persecuted. Caliban is captured and tortured so he will use his powers and track Logan. Xavier has become an impossible to calculate liability because of the combination of his superpowers with something that is very human: mental disease.

Superpowers are not some superficial decoration: they are the most important character elements, and they all say something about the human condition. But that is for Part III.

Uniform

Finally, the uniform. Oh, you got me there, right? Wolverine doesn’t wear a uniform. Yeah, we have the yellow uniform shown in the comics they read, but he never wears it. And we don’t even see the black uniforms from the previous movies.

Well… what if I tell you that he does use an uniform in this movie? What if I tell you, that the uniform he uses is the same he uses most of the time in his other movies? It’s not yellow nor is it black.

Think about it: what are his most famous, cosplayed and recognizable garments? Well, two things.

First of all: the beard and the hair. That is a look that should look ridiculous in any actor by any standards and the guy still pulls it off every time. Only Wolverine wears that. I most movies and even comics, that is the constant in his appearance.

And yeah, it is not a mask, but think about how many superheroes do not wear masks, even if they have secret identities. You can see this hairstyle in anyone and it will be the Wolverine hairstyle.

Ok, but it is just half of it.

The second part is of the uniform: a pair of jeans and white sleeveless shirt.

Yes, everyone remembers that look. It appears in so many important moments to the character, although not always in the best movies. Since the yellow uniform doesn’t appear in the movies, what do you think is more recognizable? The shirt and jeans or the black bodysuit?

Before you say that doesn’t count, think about it: the Punisher and America Chaves wear apparently civil clothes and no masks. However, they do that so consistently that it works like a uniform.

Now, this “uniform” doesn’t just appear in the movie, but it has a very specific function.

To understand it, look at how the movie shows the look to us. It doesn’t appear in the trailers, so we don’t expect it going in. Most of the movie, he doesn’t wear it. His hair and beard are different, just as his clothes.

It is because then he is not a hero again yet. He is hiding and, most of all, suppressing his heroic identity. So Clark Kent puts on the glasses and never takes them off again. That is a uniform not being used.

In a similar way, some superhero movies and series wait until the hero is fully realized or the final fight to show him or her in uniform. We have some movies and series in which they do that and it works for the best – the Netflix Daredevil is a good example.

It is only after his motivations change that he starts to wear both parts of his. The kids shave him and mess with his hair exactly because they know how the Wolverine should look like.

Finally, he wears this uniform only to the last and most important conflict. Then, he is juiced up and doing the same moves we recognize from previous movies, filmed in a way that reminds us of some old Wolverine action sequences.

That is when he is Wolverine again. Same hair, beard, shirt and powers. He is still wearing it when he faces Evilverine and he dies. That is his final “suit”, and it dresses him well.

Bonus: the X marks the spot

Finally, we have one of the most impactful moments in the movie, that had many people crying and I will not tell you if I did. It was surprisingly unexpected and, against all odds, it was done in a very dramatic motion and in very good taste.

Laura picks up the improvised cross on his grave and turns it into a X.

That is the last piece, the final confirmation. Only X-Men wear that X. It is the iconic, unmistakable symbol of a superhero. And he has earned it back.

In his final rest, he will forever wear the sign that marks: here lies a superhero.

So, I hope you liked that.

As you can see, this is not just a movie with superhero tropes tossed here and there. The superhero figure defines the narrative and permeates the emotional response the movie gets.

Part III will be about how this movie uses those traits to create drama, emotion, tell a story about redemption and all that stuff – so we can begin to understand why superheroes are a great material for that. Hope you like it. Hope someone reads it, actually…

And remember, stay nerdly informed.

#logan #logan movie #superhero #superheroes #superhero movies

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