Nightmare Fuel / Logan

"Beware the light", indeed.

Laura: You had a nightmare.
Logan: Do you have nightmares?
Laura: Sí.^Translation "Yes." People hurt me.
Logan: Mine are different.
Laura: ¿Por qué?^Translation "Why?"
Logan: I hurt people.

As one of the darkest and most nightmarish Marvel film adaptions to date, Logan got its "R" rating for many good reasons. Strong language, dismemberments, eviscerations, its sheer usage of blood... the list goes on. People expecting PG-13 violence will be in for a shock.

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• The style of the film's combat itself: all the fast-paced, stylized violence of the previous X-Men films is gone, replaced with the kind of swipes and strikes that would be expected in a violent action or horror movie. It's extremely brutal and graphically bloody. The characters in this film fight like you'd expect normal people trying to maim each other to fight like, and it's vicious.
• During the "Grace" TV spot, Caliban nonchalantly activates two grenades with each hand. He's giving his life to help take down his captors and X-24.
  Caliban: Beware the light.
  • It gets worse. In a deleted scene, Caliban initially survives the blast, leaving his nearly limbless, severely burnt body crawling towards Logan. Shortly after they exchange a knowing glance, Caliban collapses and finally dies from his wounds. JESUS CHRIST!
• Transigen in general. Dr. Rice and the Reavers are monsters, in so many ways.
  • How the X-23 children were created in the first place. The company kidnapped several Mexican women and forcibly impregnated them with the embryos of other mutants, before most likely executing them after they gave birth to their children. It's a very subtle way of implying rape without actually saying the word.
  • This promo showing the experiments done to Laura, including giving her her claws. Just seeing this done to a child, even if she is a clone of Wolverine, is very chilling. Hell, the fish-eye visuals, the slight distortion, and even the title ("Laura.mov") bring up memories of Marble Hornets.
  • The general treatment of the children was downright abusive, to say the least. Dr. Rice conducts horrible experiments in order to breed the kids into Child Soldiers, telling the nurses to treat them as "things with patents and copyrights" instead of people. Pierce is even seen personally breaking up a birthday party.
    Pierce: Birthday? No birth.
  • Once Dr. Rice was finished creating X-24, he decided that the X-23s were a dead end and ordered the Reavers to euthanize the remaining children because they failed to make good soldiers. Even though Laura and some other children survived at the end, most of the kids in the project were murdered during the attempted purge.
  • It was so dark, footage from the Transigen video got reused in the horror film The New Mutants as the Wham Shot of the movie.
  • Rice's behavior seems to shift slightly during his time alone with Caliban. While still Faux Affably Evil, the lighting of the scene, the Extreme Close Ups and his constant Psychotic Smirks really hit home how absolutely deranged the man is. The scene is tense enough that it seems like Rice is one step away from suddenly whipping out a weapon or syringe.
• While it's heartbreaking, it's also frightening to see the great telepath Charles Xavier now a ranting mess whose seizures can freeze hundreds of people at once. As Dr. Rice puts it, "a degenerative brain condition in the most powerful brain in the world. Quite a combo." It takes on a whole new harsh light when it's revealed that one of these seizures killed the X-Men.
• At an Oklahoma City hotel, Xavier has such a seizure, causing 400 people to be frozen in agony, unable to move but totally aware of their state. When it passes, you see people collapsed, moaning, and even bleeding, making it clear just how dangerous Xavier can truly be. Tied to the above, when Logan (barely able to withstand the effect) comes to the hotel room, he sees a pack of mercenaries frozen around Xavier. While they may deserve it, you have to feel for the mercs, unable to move but clearly watching helplessly as Logan comes up to kill them one by one.
  • Being forced to care for an older relative is a nightmare in itself. You suddenly have to care for someone who used to care for you in the face of their hostility as they refuse to accept the prison their body has become. Logan and Charles fight, and that's a reality people have to face with the people they love as they age.
• X-24, who is a clone of Logan so feral he can't even talk, just screaming animal rage when he murders Xavier and the Munson family. Him resembling a young Logan mixed with Victor "Sabretooth" Creed adds to the creepiness factor.
  • His very first appearance serves as an enormous Wham Shot. You — and Charles — are led to believe that this is just Logan checking up on the old professor, until the camera changes to his face; still Hugh Jackman, but with clearly different hair and eyes, and a strangely dark tank top...
  • The scene where X-24 captures Laura and is taking her back to the vehicle where Caliban is being held captive. We get treated to a view of what it looks like from inside the vehicle as his dark figure slowly approaches, completely surrounded by shadows. It makes X-24 look like a slasher horror movie villain slowly approaching his target.
  • After the audience figures out that "Logan" is an impostor, X-24 drives his claws right into Xavier's chest, taking us out of what should have been a heartwarming scene and straight into terror. Just the murder of Xavier counts all by its own, doubling as a Tear Jerker.
    Xavier: I think I finally understand you.
    (X-24 puts a hand on Xavier's shoulder, slowly getting closer...before putting a fist on Xavier's chest)
    Xavier: Logan...?
    (SNIKT)
  • Not even once does Charles scream or groan in agony after being clawed right into the chest. The pain is so absolutely immense that the guy can hardly even move or speak. Once it initially happens, his mouth opens agape as if to scream, but nothing comes out, even as Laura pounces on 24.
  • Logan having to tell himself "It wasn't me, it wasn't me" upon finding a dying Charles at the hands of X-24. This has several very disturbing implications, namely at least Logan fearing Sanity Slippage (he might have thought he was seeing an Enemy Without when he crossed X-24, that is, the literal embodiment of his feral instincts), and also Logan having LIKELY entertained the thought of KILLING Charles himself! Otherwise he would feel no need to reascertain the reality of the fact he did NOT kill Charles and the family. He must have thought for an instant that he might have gone crazy in a moment of frenzy and done this.
    • Or the considerably simpler and more obvious alternative: he was desperate to convey to Xavier's fading consciousness that the murderer was an impostor, so the professor wouldn't die thinking Logan had done it.
  • There's just something so eerie about how X-24 slowly removes his blood-smeared claws from Xavier's chest, and doesn't even look at them, continuing to stare at Xavier with an expression of pure, absolute scorn as he prepares to stab him again.
  • And then X-24 slaughters the family that had taken Logan, Laura, and Xavier in. One. By. One. Dear God, the music playing during this entire sequence, pulsing and getting louder and louder.
  • Dr. Rice is not only completely uncaring in having X-24 kill several innocent people — one of them being around preteen age — but he's actually impressed by the clone's ruthlessness. The only time Rice tells 24 to stop is when he's mauling Canewood law enforcement...just because Rice already got what he needed and didn't want to waste time waiting on 24's senseless violence.
  Rice: He's fantastic.
  Caliban: (horrified) YOU SAID YOU ONLY NEEDED THE GIRL!
  Rice: I told you I was forced to bring new tools to bear. Your friends had every chance, and so did you.
  • X-24 standing completely still as Canewood tries striking a deal with him. Not only do none of them realize that they're facing off against a living weapon; but 24 doesn't know a thing about money. He knows nothing about getting paid, or making deals. Literally the only thing that Transigen put in his head is "kill all assigned targets". They deliberately made him so that he was completely detached from any sort of humanity.
  • All this leads to X-24 and Logan's first meeting. It's not violent (yet), just silent and haunting. X-24 just nonchalantly walks down the stairs of the Munson household, carrying Laura in tow. He stares at Logan twice, circling around him like a shark, then... just walks away. It's oddly unnerving to see someone so feral being so calm. And Hugh Jackman conveys the absolute, sheer horror on Logan's face when he makes this terrifying discovery.
  • Logan sounds terrified too, constantly looking at Laura and then upstairs where Charles is, screaming the latter's name in horror. The most critical fear possible: his daughter and father figure are in mortal danger, and not only is he unable to easily choose which one to save without seriously risking the other dying, but the threat to both of their lives is, essentially, himself.
  • During this bit, Logan yells Charles' name twice, the first out of shock and worry, desperate to hear something from the professor. As his gaze alternates between upstairs and Laura being taken outside, Logan slowly realizes one thing: Charles isn't responding. He screams his name again, now in outright horror, but by the time he runs upstairs it is already far, far too late.
    Logan: CHARLES! ... CHARLES!
  • Both battles between Logan and X-24 are absolutely brutal and show how outmatched Logan is compared to his clone (at least with the way he is now; it may very well have been a different story if he was in his prime).
    • Special mention goes to how he basically kills Logan: by shoving the latter into a jutted tree branch and stabbing him with his claws — and would have done so multiple times had Laura not killed him. The amount of blood present due to this action will leave you repeatedly swearing at the visceral imagery.
  • The realization that X-24 is what Wolverine would have been had he never fought against his feral instincts. While Sabretooth shared this role, he at least had coherent thinking behind his sadistic ways (which arguably made him even more dangerous), even bearing a very twisted but dedicated code of honor.^note Note that this is not the case in the comics themselves. X-24 is so much worse. He's nothing but a snarling beast, seething with nothing but absolute rage with every action — every breath taken with the desire to slaughter the nearest thing that isn't his master Rice. And given what Rice's father had in store for him when he was still Weapon X, Logan was this very close to becoming just like X-24.
  • And besides this, X-24 is completely dead silent when first seeing Charles, choosing to wait until after he's done confessing about the Westchester tragedy. While this is likely just him following Rice's orders to the letter, it gives off an almost sadistic vibe to a being who is, for all intents and purposes, a savage killing machine. If anything, this bit is even worse than his initial meeting with Logan, as that happened after the Munson family was slaughtered. This is before, setting together a truly cruel and shocking Mood Whiplash.
• During the first fight between Wolverine and Laura against the Reavers, there's one scene where Laura is shot through the chest with a harpoon. Even if it's merely a flesh wound for her, the fact that it's happening to a child's body makes it pretty uncomfortable to watch. Her pained scream when she is shot is also very jarring.
• The fact that Magneto was right. Humans did figure out a way to cause the extinction of mutantkind. Previous human villains resorted to violence one way or another to rid the world of mutants, and all failed. Zander Rice simply found the most effective and unnoticeable way to suppress the mutation gene before birth by making foodstuffs and drinks out of a special GMO, while giving the job of physical extermination of what little was left to the Reavers.
• Even before Logan comes in, the final battle is riddled with vicious displays of violence, mostly coming from the X-23s brutally murdering Reavers:
  • The frost breath X-23 kid freezes the arm of one of the Reavers and shatters it right off his body. Cue the blood and scream.
  • One of the X-23 kids telekinetically throws a rain of wood shards and pine needles at some of the Reavers, turning the head of one of them into a bloody porcupine and eventually blows him to pieces with them.
• Even though he deserved it, watching Pierce getting telekinetically warped, electrocuted, frozen, strangled by grass, and god knows what else all at once by the X23 children is extremely unnerving. He tries to beg for his life, with the X-23s ignoring his pleas while silently sporting expressions of pure contempt. And we don't see his body afterwards.
• That unnerving gaze that Laura always seems to have whenever she's in a new environment or when she changes to an existing environment occur takes on a far more frightening meaning when you combine it with her other mannerisms. It's not a fearful or curious gaze. It's the gaze of a predator, and she's monitoring her surroundings for threats, sizing up every living being that she spots, and most likely planning out how to kill them if they make a wrong move or escape from unmanageable threats if she has to. The Mook Horror Show inside Logan's hideout when the Reavers followed her in? She wasn't fleeing, she was luring them in to a place where she would have greater control. She was hunting them. Every time she enters a new area, her mind starts planning the best possible way to kill everyone there.
  • This is then followed by her Establishing Character Moment, when she exits the hideout and reveals her true nature to everyone outside. She calmly walks out the building, casually holding the decapitated head of the lead Reaver sent to retrieve her in her hand. And then she emits an animal-like roar in front of Pierce and the other Reavers, which actually manages to send Pierce into a panic.
• The convenience store clerk's screaming from...whatever Pierce is doing to him when the camera cuts away. We can't see it, but we've seen how ruthless he is, and it's clearly not pretty.
  • Even worse when his body is later seen along with the Munson family, meaning they killed him once they'd gotten what they needed from him.
• While it's awesome to finally see it in a Wolverine film, a lot of the violence is pretty stomach-churning. The opening scene alone features a nauseating shot of Logan sticking his claws up a guy's chin. Unlike the bald Reaver from the hotel later in the film, this guy can and does react to it, gargling in pain as Logan's claws impale his tongue to the top of his mouth. Special mention goes to the aftermath, when Logan is popping bullets out of the holes/indents in his skin.
  • Another instance of especially vicious gore comes from the Vegas hotel scene, where Logan stabs his claws through a Reaver's head — from the back through the face on his way to Charles.
• So you took one of the most dangerous mutants, one with enhanced strength, speed, senses, and agility, indestructible claws and bones, a healing factor that could shrug off a nuke (even if he was a few miles away) and a fury to rival Hulk, and you put all his powers in a little girl. One who was taught to not have a conscience and be trained to kill.
  • The other X-23 children, despite being subjected to the exact same conditions as Laura, are all relatively normal. Sure, they can (and do) kill with unnerving ease and little remorse, but that's their last resort; otherwise, they have campfire cookouts, they smile, and they speak. Laura does none of these, suggesting that her emotionlessness and instinct to kill are part of her, likely from her mutation. Imagine Logan: he is capable of and willing to kill almost anyone if they anger him sufficiently, and he is literally an animal when he does, but he regrets it. Laura is Logan but abused and neglected, and she doesn't show any remorse at the people she's killed. One can only hope she gets better with age.
  • According to Hugh Jackman, the film's visceral violence was not the main reason the film received an R-rating, but was merely taking advantage of it. The film's portrayal of Transigen's Child Soldier plans was the true reason the film received such an adult rating.
• A minor example, but during the opening scene, one of Logan's claws doesn't fully extend. A very eerie scene follows where Logan slowly and painfully pulls it out with his own hands. Which draws blood. When this scene was first shown in the second trailer, many viewers thought that Logan was performing Self-Harm.
  • While Logan's intentions are not Self-Harm-related in this first scene, there is a scene in Gabriella's expositional video where Laura cuts herself with her new claws. Over and over again.
  • Another scene in said video features Transigen soldiers chasing after one of the X-23 kids, who went up to their headquarters' rooftop and unhesitantly jumped off!
• A deleted scene from the end of the film dubbed "Puppet Master" shows one of the X-23 kids has the ability to mentally manipulate people to follow his actions. When being chased by three Reavers, he controls the first one to turn around and shoot the other two before making him hold the gun to his chin and shoot himself.
• The idea of scientists manipulating food and drink with GMOs to prevent mutant births is disturbing enough on its own merits. But then you factor in the metaphor of mutanthood, and it becomes downright terrifying, no different than using those products to eliminate a race or sexual orientation.
• Professor X, the Big Good, is swearing at Logan begging to die, telling Logan to die... He's a tired old man trapped in a cage created by his failing body, and it's all the worse because he's so strong. Over and over, the story tells us that our strengths are our greatest weaknesses. Imagine the only thing that can help you escape is the reason you're in the nightmare in the first place.