2018 Oscars Challenge: [29] “Logan” – Best Adapted Screenplay

“LOGAN”
Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold
Based On “Wolverine” by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita Sr.

Director: James Mangold
Producers: Hutch Parker, Simon Kinberg, and Lauren Shuler Donner
Cinematographer: John Mathieson
Editors: Michael McCusker and Dirk Westervelt
Composer: Marco Beltrami
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: March, 2017
Run-time: 137 minutes

FILM SYNOPSIS: Mutants are almost extinct by 2029, and an ailing Logan, once the formidable Wolverine, is in hiding with Professor X, who is succumbing to dementia. Needing money, Logan grudgingly agrees to protect a young mutant, Laura, and escort her to safety, but as he comes to realize just how special Laura is, Logan’s commitment to her grows.

We are entering a new age where superhero films are transcending their pigeonholed genres and are beginning to appeal to the masses. They were always appealing, as they would rake in tons of money from around the world, but on a critical level, they ceased having to be critic-proof and became truly astounding in every regard. This probably started being true when Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” came around and became one of the best and most realistic superhero adaptations ever made. So much so that the fact that it missed out on Best Picture that year moved the Academy in expanding the number of nominations in that category. But as the years went by after that, the superhero film simply stayed in the technical categories. But finally, with “Logan,” it was moved out of simply only being recognized for sound and visual awards and became something known for its writing and adaptation of its comic source material.

“Logan,” in particular, is a great example of how superhero films are beginning to focus more on making them individual genre films. “Logan” is a Western at its heart. There are added elements with the characters also being superheroes, but it is also grounded in stone cold reality, just like “The Dark Knight” was. Professor X is fading away to dementia, which is such irony in and of itself, with one of the most powerful minds falling to a very real health condition. The same goes for Logan himself, whose body is finally being poisoned by having adamantium encasing his bones that his healing ability is not doing much good anymore. The writing of the characters and their situations alone are enough to make this a worthwhile piece of screenwriting, but then add to that the adventure that they go on across the country while not only connecting to the previous installments and drawing to a close Hugh Jackman in the role of Wolverine but ushering in a new generation of mutants, if they so choose to continue on. This is without a doubt one of the best written superhero films of all time.

Being completely honest, however, “Logan” benefits from the fact that the adapted screenplay category was slim pickings this year. Everything that got nominated was predicted because there was that much to choose from. Sure, “Wonder Woman” could have benefited from the same thing, but there were glaring flaws in that film compared to “Logan” and as I mentioned, the characters and their predicaments were better than the screenplay of “Wonder Woman” in its entirety. With that said, the win for “Logan” is that it got nominated despite the Academy normally not pushing superhero films beyond certain categories. A win for James Ivory and his screenplay for “Call Me By Your Name” seems more of a far drawn conclusion at this point, and even if it didn’t win, there might still be some love for “The Disaster Artist” or “Mudbound.”

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