Logan (2017)

  Yesterday I was working on a 5-page sequence analysis for my German film class until midnight, so I didn't get to post this.  You'll get a twofer today to make up for it.

There is a lot to unpack in Logan.  It's a film that transcends the "superhero" genre and will require multiple viewings to really sink into your bones.  I think this might be the best work I've ever seen from Hugh Jackman and certainly the best Wolverine film.

It is 2029 and Logan (Hugh Jackman) has been living under an alias and working as a limo driver from Vegas to Mexico.  He is old and the adamantium in his skeleton is poisoning him, but more than that, he has no hopes left in life.  So when a woman (Elizabeth Rodriguez) tracks him down and begs him for help getting a young mutant in danger to the Canadian border, his initial impulse is to say no. But she's offering a lot of money, money that he needs in order to buy a boat so he can sail out into the middle of the ocean with Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), whose health is failing.  He agrees to the bargain, only to discover that Laura (Dafne Keen) is being hunted by a shadowy corporation that considers her a piece of intellectual property.

Anything else I say will verge into spoiler territory, so I'm leaving the synopsis at that.  If you've read the Old Man Logan storyline, or any of the 1000+ articles online picking apart every detail of this movie, you're covered anyway.  I want to veer off into crazytown for a minute.  **MIGHT BE SPOILERS, READ WITH CAUTION**

One of the recurring things in the film that I have seen no one talk about is genetically modified crops, and by extension, why there are no more mutants.  There's kind of a throwaway line early on that "no new mutants have been born for twenty years" that is never really explained.  One of the only times Logan interacts with people (that he doesn't immediately kill) is a family who refuses to sell their farm to a corporation growing genetically modified corn to be turned into corn syrup, a main ingredient in energy drinks and sodas.  Energy drinks we see advertised everywhere, and that Laura --the genetically modified test tube baby-- is shown drinking.  The head corporate doctor (Richard E. Grant, a fantastic character actor) even says specifically that one of his goals was to control mutations in the human populace by introducing an additive to their food or drink.  (I only saw the movie once, I'm not sure of the exact line, and a lot of other shit was happening on screen at the time so don't scream at me if that's not 100% accurate.)  So from this we can infer that Dr. Rice and his evil cronies have used genetically modified corn syrup to secretly inhibit the births of future X-men, which --depending on if you consider the mutations strong enough to qualify them as a separate species from plain vanilla humans-- is genocide.

There is a lot of debate in the real world over GMOs replacing non-modified crops.  As far as I know (I have not researched this), genetically modified corn is perfectly safe but it's mainly used for biofuel and corn syrup, not human consumption.  The companies that create and disseminate the GM corn have been accused of strong-arm tactics, including suing farmers for keeping back a portion of seed for next year's planting, citing patents on intellectual property.

Logan isn't True Grit.  It's Food, Inc.  But Food, Inc. with a lot more stabbing, so way better.

See what I mean about it not really being a superhero movie?