Christopher Nolan paved way for a new sub-genre of superhero movies with his Batman trilogy where he explored character development and dark motifs along with action. This style was picked up by subsequent movie directors in Batman vs Superman and Civil War, but not everyone is Nolan and in trying real hard in this emulation ended up creating smug schmucks out of their superheroes who go all out for righteousness and saving the world... yadda yadda.
James Mangold has done a Nolan in creating a path breaker in his latest creation, Logan in which he raises a question we often forget to ask, what happens of these superheroes when they are past their prime?". Logan brings to us an aging, drunk, bitter Wolverine stuck in a rut job of a driver taking care of a senile Charles Xavier. He still has his claws and weakened healing abilities without a sense of purpose. There is no let-me-save-the-world bullshit. Wolverine is at his rawest, not caring for himself or the planet, not entitled to any life or morals you'd think a superhero would have. There is so much realism in this movie, so much the audience can relate to the struggles depicted; this makes the movie greatly appealing.
[Side note: Hulk is the only movie I can think of that tried showing this kind of film making back in 2003 however, failed miserably. Thank you terrible camerawork and scene shifts for hurting my eyes.]
At over 2 hours, Logan tends to drag in parts but that only shows that a superhero's life needn't always be action packed. Annoying kids exist and trucks that do not start. Wolverine is recognized but unregarded for. Hey, you can't always be famous, can you? That's plain fact.
The ending was touching and unsurprising; the 2013 Wolverine movie had us anticipating it ever since Yukio said, "I see you on your back, there’s blood everywhere. You’re holding your own heart in your hand.", and we saw Logan holding his daughter as he died. Quite fitting seeing all the Wolverine wanted was to end his cursed immortality and die a human.
Coming to Hugh Jackman who has given us such an organic performance of a conflicted mutant, I have no words except that he has only reinforced my love for him and Wolverine. There is simply no other Wolverine.
TL;DR: Logan is a pathbreaking movie, not your regular multi-million dollar action packed Marvel stuff. It's a different kind of a superhero movie goes deep into story telling, realism and character building that transcends layers in each scene.
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