STACK June 2017 Issue 152

34 / 93

34 JUNE 2017
The best has been saved for last
in this swan song for the surly
Wolverine, after five X-Men films
and two spin-offs. Mutants have
become virtually extinct by the
year 2029, so a mad scientist
(Richard E. Grant) has been
designing his own, one of which
is a mute young girl who has her
own set of adamantium blades
and the attitude to match. Having
escaped and found her way into
Logan’s care, the Wolverine becomes a surrogate father
to this temperamental little mutant and the pair hit the
road. But don’t expect a sentimental journey – Logan is
more concerned with slicing through heartstrings than
tugging them. Where Deadpool rewrote the rulebook
for violence in superhero movies, Logan throws it out –
don’t let your kids watch this! Kudos to director James
Mangold for taking the creative risk of transplanting the
Wolverine into a brutal and intense western noir devoid
of the usual global threat and visual effects overload
we’ve come to expect from the X-Men universe.
Jackman hasn’t been this good since Prisoners and it’s
the best he’s ever been as the Wolverine, who is finally
given the standalone film he deserves and a fantastic,
albeit relentlessly grim, send off. SH (See page 24)
His time has come.
LOGAN
When we last saw Mark Renton
(Ewan McGregor) he’d just ripped
off his mates to the tune of
16,000 quid (and Underworld’s
‘Born Slippy’), and was going
straight and choosing life. Now,
20 years later, he’s returned
to Edinburgh to look up old
friends, and needless to say it’s
a tumultuous homecoming. After
saving a suicidal Spud (Ewen
Bremner), who’s still on heroin
and a failure as a father, Renton
looks up Sick Boy/Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), who
offers him a partnership in a dodgy business venture.
Then there is the matter of one Francis Begbie
(Robert Carlyle), who’s still as psychotic as ever and
has just made a sly prison break; it’s only a matter
of time before he runs into Renton... Trainspotting
defined the UK youth culture and music of the ‘90s,
with Renton as the narrator and primary focus. T2 is
a more sombre and measured affair that reflects its
now middle-aged protagonists, dividing the screen
time between all four characters and their respective
subplots. The hyper-stylised look is back and
nostalgia and fan service proliferate, with echoes
and beats from the original resonating throughout
this highly satisfying sequel. SH (See page 26)
Face your past. Choose your future.
T2 TRAINSPOTTING
DVD & BD
Audio commentary by director
James Mangold
Deleted scenes with optional
audio commentary by James
Mangold
BD & 4K ONLY
Making Logan
JB HI-FI EXCLUSIVE
Limited Edition Blu-ray
Steelbook
The Wolverine
EXTRAS
FURTHER VIEWING
Release Date: 07/06/17
Format:
Trainspotting
EXTRAS
FURTHER VIEWING
Release Date: 14/06/17
TOP
HITS
TOP
HITS
DVD & BD
Commentary by director Danny
Boyle and writer John Hodge
20 Years in the Making: A
Conversation with Danny Boyle
Deleted Scenes
Format:
James Mangold stated that
the film is set in 2029 to avoid
any conflict with the timeline
established in X-Men: Days of
Future Past (2014), but that his
goal was to make a standalone
film that was not bound to
continuing previous storylines, or
setting up sequels.
DID YOU KNOW...
visit DVD&BD REVIEWS
Get the
STACK
Magazine
app
for more
digital
content
Get the
STACK
Magazine
app
for more
digital
content
Although Irvine Welsh wrote
a follow-up to his novel
Trainspotting in 2002 called
Porno, the movie sequel is
actually only very loosely based
on it. It’s mostly an original story
which includes some unused parts
of the Trainspotting novel, and
some elements from Porno.
Jonny Lee Miller offered to shave
his head to look older, but Danny
Boyle insisted that Sick Boy retain
his iconic blond hair.
DID YOU KNOW...