7) James Mangold’s Direction
It would be fair to say that James Mangold’s X-Men franchise debut with 2013’s The Wolverine was not a raving success. It’s certainly better than the atrocity that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was a little dull in places and it suffered from a poor final act. It always felt like there was a solid film with a strong authorial vision struggling to get out, though. In Logan, Mangold manages to perfectly put his vision onto the screen.
He’s adept at the intimate character-driven scenes that make up the bulk of the movie, but he also makes the most of the well-choreographed action scenes. There are some striking images littered throughout as well – not least the final image of the film which will leave a lump in your throat. The pace of the movie never drags, either. Which, considering the moody ethos of the piece and its fairly hefty 137 minute runtime, is pretty amazing and mostly due to Mangold’s firm handle on the film’s tempo.
It’s worth mentioning that Mangold also co-wrote the script with Scott Frank and Michael Green. Not to take away from the work of those two screenwriters, but that Mangold also contributed to the writing adds to the sense of cohesion of the piece. Much like other great superhero movies co-written by their directors, like Joss Whedon’s The Avengers and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy.