By: Grant Skipworth
The critics loved Logan, the fans loved Logan, and everyone in between. Everyone except the Academy Awards thought Logan should have more than one Oscar
nomination. Logan came out in March of 2017 to a outstanding box office performance, glorious critic reviews, and appraisal from fans across the board. Logan, by all intents and purpose, is almost the definition of a perfect film. It only snagged one nomination for best adapted screenplay and that is a tremendous honor, which is well deserved. It deserved so much more then just one, so why did it not get it? Logan is just looked at as a superhero movie with a good script and nothing else by the academy, and nothing more. The academy and all their supposed deemed excellence is flat out wrong. Logan absolutely deserved more than one Oscar nomination.
Logan is way more than a superhero movie with the simple formula that most superhero flicks have. Logan is not just about a hero who learns how to be a hero so he can beat the bad guy. It is about a man who has been alive for almost 200 years still trying to find his place in the world. Logan is a masterclass of storytelling and film making that just adds incredible performances. Yet, the Oscars still failed to give it credit for that. Logan is one of the most well crafted films in recent years. The incredible direction that James Mangold took the character in was almost impossible. The first film in this trilogy is called X-Men Origins: Wolverine which is one of the most horrendous and disappointing movies ever created. The second one, The Wolverine, which is the first one that Mangold directed. The Wolverine almost fulfilled that Wolverine hole everyone had but fell victim to a formulaic third act. Then, Mangold turn into what was destined to be a third film into a mediocre trilogy into a perfect film and instant classic. His ability to be able to pull that off is an incredible feat. Hugh Jackman pulls off an incredible final performance as Logan/Wolverine. A character that he played for 17 years and he puts everything he has into his finale. Patrick Stewart, at the age of 76, gives a riveting performance of Logan's father figure Charles Xavier/Professor X. Dafne Keen with not very much dialogue still pulls off an absolute brutal performance as Laura, Logan's 11 year old daughter. James Mangold beautifully directs violent scenes of brutal action and profound family interactions with the most critical care of the character. Only one nominations at Oscars and why? Because Logan is not an Oscar type movie and no one involved with the project is one of the Oscars favorites. The Oscar have 10 Best Pictures nominations to give out and they only gave nine this year. Why not give one to Logan for being a superb film? There is one spot wide open and it makes no sense why it will not be recognized as one of the best films of the years. But lets look at one of those nine nominees, there
is one that absolutely and without a doubt does not deserve the nomination over Logan.
The Post which was nominated for Best Picture, is no where near as good of a film as Logan. Across the board on most major movie review sites, Logan has far better reviews everywhere. Why does The Post get a Best Picture nomination? Because Meryl Steep is the main
actress (also nominated) and Steven Spielberg is the director. Now while both of those talents are tremendous, the Academy shows a true bias towards them that benefits
them but not other great films made by talents that are not in the "Oscars Club". This is where the Academy really starts to grind my gears, they are not transparent. They say that they want to reward the best movies, but what they should say is "unless they are great superhero and science fiction movies".
Logan is a masterpiece that deserved to be rewarded more than one Oscar nominations. If the Oscars was truly about rewarding fantastic movies,and giving nominations to the best movies then it would give Logan more than one. If you have not seen Logan, please watch it. If you have had the privilege of seeing Logan, then you know I am right.
Image Captions:
Image 1: Theatrical Poster of Logan
Image 2: Hugh Jackman and James Mangold on the set of LOGAN
Image 3: A culmination of all three Logan in all three of his standalone films. From left to right (Origins, Logan, The Wolverine)
Image 4: Should be Hugh Jackman accepting his Oscar for Best Lead Actor but he will not because he was not nominated
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