Can we talk about that scene? Hugh Jackman in Logan
'Can we talk about that scene?' is a periodic instalment where memorable scenes are discussed. Given the nature of these pieces, we will be entering major spoiler territory and the film(s) in question will be stated upfront. For additional entries, please click here.
SPOILER ALERT for Logan (2017).
To go into the depths of what made Logan such a special movie would require a separate post on its own, so this is just one scene in what is arguably one of the best superhero movies ever made. In fact, I debated over whether to even single out a scene here because doing so almost feels like a disservice to the rest of the film. Especially since this scene doesn't even feature Patrick Stewart, who gives a swan song performance for his character in a way that's often hard in the confined world of comic book story lines. We might've gotten a glimpse of that dinner table scene in the trailers, but boy oh boy was it 10-times more amazing when it played out in full.
In any case, here goes. During the final encounter between Logan and Dr. Rice, we have a typical standoff where the evil bad guy is explaining their motives and schemes to the good guy. This happens SO often in movies, and is unfortunately a bad habit that most commercial films can't seem to shake off. How many times have you sat there, thinking to yourself: Why are you just standing there? Why don't you just kill the guy right now? Well, in full Logan-esque appropriateness - much like the movie's 18A rating - Hugh Jackman cuts the speech short and just shoots Richard E. Grant straight in the head (or somewhere lethal). Not even a penultimate one-liner. Just a bullet.
YES! Thank you for doing that. I'm all for movies being movies, and plot devices being a necessity, but too often are the fortunes of the good guys flipped around because of poorly executed encounters like this. If you've been hunting down someone for the duration of a movie (not completely relevant here, I know), and you finally get a chance to stop them, please don't wait. Just do it! I'm pretty sure Hugh Jackman's Logan has fallen into this trap in previous X-Men movies, but good on James Mangold for not forcing him to make the same mistake in his final outing.
FYI: The same thing kinda happens at the end of John Wick: Chapter 2. But wanting to write about this concept and not repeat it with a second movie, I just had to go with Logan.
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