Logan has drawn strong early reactions to screenings of limited footage from the movie - the third standalone Wolverine movie and the first to have an R rating. The movie has been compared to a Western in terms of its aesthetics and themes, and Logan’s apparent abundance of bloody violence will certainly be reminiscent of Western classics. Hugh Jackman, in fact, took a pay cut to justify Logan’s R rating in financial terms.

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson was one of those fortunate enough to attend one of the first screenings of footage from Logan. Derrickson, who himself is drawn to violent movies with his horror background, now expects Logan to be the “best X-Men movie.” Most of the reactions from others who saw the footage agree with the Western comparisons, due in no small part to the depiction of Logan as a grizzled old loner with a possible shot at redemption.

The continuing promotion of Logan on social media, which includes a long series of stark black-and-white images, also paint Logan as even more of a lone wolf type of character than Wolverine has typically been in the X-Men universe. The latest image, which Jackman himself shared on his Twitter account, shows a distant look at Logan in a seemingly empty field staring off in the distance. The framing of the shot suggests deep loneliness for the title character, who in the movie is struggling with the reality of aging and his eroding mutant powers.

The photo has a similar tone to the previous photo tweeted by Jackman, which shows Logan walking toward the camera walking away from a mysterious motel that has been featured in earlier promotional shots. It’s possible that he is just leaving the same bedroom where he’s spotted in another photo. It’s unclear what Logan is looking at in the new photo, if anything, but the overall aesthetic certainly suggests that he is as solitary of a man as he appears in the trailer.

Logan has long built up Jackman’s lead performance as that of a loner, which is not surprising considering Wolverine’s history as a character. But as he has aged and lost his formerly uncanny mutant abilities to a certain degree, he has appeared to withdraw himself even more from society. The emergence of Laura Kinney (Dafne Keen), who possesses Logan’s same powers, appears to rejuvenate the title character and spring him to action, to protect her from the movie’s deadly antagonists.

Some of the enthusiastic early reactions to Logan describe Kinney as a scene-stealer, which should help the movie balance out its existential darkness and violence with some youthful charm. The appeal of the movie still lies in its R rating and unrestrained action sequences, some of which have already been revealed in the film's international trailer. It remains to be seen how well Logan carries its Western vibe throughout two-plus hours of run time, but the promotional message has been consistent - and the early reactions to Jackman as a Western-type hero in a violent, unforgiving world has been quite encouraging.

Source: Hugh Jackman