Like Marvel's decades-long comics saga, Fox's X-Men films have been booted, rebooted, wiped clean, and spun-off so often that just about each new movie amounts to a fresh start. Kudos to characters like Logan's Logan (Hugh Jackman), who gets to run anew from his haunted past and beat up mutants/mercenaries every three years or so. But this off-brand MCU has begun to resemble the mid-90s comics scene, which saw fans drooling over gimmicky crossovers, specially wrapped issues, and variant covers that masked a disheartening sterility of storytelling. Jackman's latest and last (yeah, right) outing finds his character once again rejecting society, bickering with Professor X (Patrick Stewart) about family, and protecting mutant kids from evil scientists. Despite an engaged cast, fun production design, and a glistening coat of Hard-R paint, James Mangold's wandering wannabe Western feels like a collection of issues we've already read, re-read, and traded for something new.
Listen to Kicking the Seat Podcast #199 to hear Ian and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie get the knives out over Logan!