GRITTY. BLOODY. EMOTIONALLY RAW. These are just some of the terms
that accurately describe my underwear, but they also apply to Logan, the ninth outing for
Hugh Jackman as the cutlery-handed cigar-chomper. (And apparently the inal time, although
that’s what they said about the Fast & Furious movies before it made a billion dollars and
spawned three more.)
Even without that Johnny Cash cover of Hurt on the trailer (aka The Saddest Song In
The World), expectations were high for Logan: Wolverine is a beloved character, but his
animalistic urges have always been blunted by the need for kid-friendly ratings. Letting Logan
off his leash is a dream for fans and Jackman alike, and director James Mangold and his
perma-buffed star take full advantage of it – for all the gory details, head for page 34.
Is it the Deadpool effect? No doubt the R-rated anti-hero (and unexpectedly successful
awards season darling) has moved the bar for what is permissible in a comicbook movie,
although Jackman insists they had already found their new level before Ryan Reynolds got hit
with the ugly stick.
And to be fair, the drive towards grittier, more brutal fare started before Mr Pool, not
least on the small screen: Game Of Thrones, Walking Dead, True Detective and others, all have
more graphic viciousness than you’d ind in most movies. Just as the amount of sex and nudity
that ratings boards (and the general public) would accept on screen skyrocketed from the
Eighties to the Naughties, so the amount of explicit gore is on the rise. Is it a good thing? A
bad thing? It’s not necessarily either, it all depends on how it’s used; for now, watching
Wolverine drive his claws right through a man’s head is what the character really should have
been from the beginning.
Where to now? If a more violent Logan does the same sort of brisk business as Deadpool,
it’ll be open season on everything for comic heroes. Which could mean versions of The
Punisher, Spawn, Lobo and others that really let the claret ly.
May you win everything in the skill tester while you wait for your session to start,THIS MONTH
AT EMPIRE
TIM KEEN
EDITOR
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EDITORIAL
EDITOR TIM KEEN 02 8268 4621
30 Rock
ART DIRECTOR BLAIR PAGAN
The Blues Brothers
PHOTO EDITOR BONNIE-MAREE WEIGAND 02 9288 9662
When Harry Met SallyCLASSIC
LINES
OF THE
MONTH“Mock me, would
you, you piss-taking
pointy-eared devil!”p.
“As you get older,
the pickings get
slimmer but the
people don’t”p.
“I’m going to kick
ass as a 51-year-old
woman. How is that?
That is beautiful”p.