LOGAN ■ Logan’s Black-And-White run
It may seem like a home-release trend of late to noir-ify recent releases with the black-and-white treatment, but it’s actually quite rare. While full-fledged black-and-white movies aren’t exactly a rarity, and even select scenes in black and white crop up from time to time, the conversion of a full-colour cinematic release to a black-and-white home release is something of a scarcity. In fact, it started in 2007 with Frank Darabont’s THE MIST.
Darabont claims he intended for THE MIST to be shown in black and white, but felt the studio would never sign off on that for a cinematic release, so the consolation prize was a black-and-white version in the DVD release. Fast forward to 2015, and George Miller released MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – BLACK & CHROME EDITION on DVD and Blu-ray, inspired by the monochromatic view of the world he had while viewing dailies on the set of the FURY ROAD shoot.
Now James Mangold has followed suit with LOGAN NOIR, a black-and-white version of Wolverine’s swan song that’s sneakily bundled into certain versions of the movie at particular retailers. The short verdict is that LOGAN NOIR really works, and the directors of these respective black-and-white home releases have removed the colour because it makes sense in terms of the world and tone of their respective movies. THE MIST works without colour because Darabont wanted it to feel like a ’60s horror movie. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is set in a washed-out and dust-covered post-apocalyptic world where bright colours are as rare as hope.
And LOGAN NOIR works in black and white because it’s essentially a grounded sci-fi western. Like FURY ROAD, bright colours are a rarity in the original version of LOGAN and, similarly, hope is scarce. The reason these two particular movies work so well in black and white is the lack of colour helps to enhance the intended metaphor that there’s little vibrant beauty in these fictional worlds. It helps that FURY ROAD and LOGAN, in particular, are also beautifully shot and framed, so that the absence of colour isn’t distracting for modern eyes that are used to the razzle dazzle of colourful worlds.
The movie itself, in case you were living under a mutated rock and somehow missed it, is sublime. It’s one of the best superhero movies ever made, mainly because it’s not a superhero flick, which means it can be enjoyed equally by fans of those genres as much as those who are not. If I was just reviewing the movie itself, it’s a five-star affair: a fitting final movie for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and easily his best performance of the character, to date.
What drags it down a smidge for the home release is the lack of meaningful additional content. LOGAN NOIR is a neat addition, if you nab a copy from the right participating retailer, but I feel the reality is most people are going to watch one version of the movie—colour or black-and-white—over the other. This means the usual special features leave a lot to be desired. The usual inclusion of expected features—making of, deleted scenes, and director’s commentary—are bundled in the home release, but it reeks of 20th Century Fox holding back on including a more comprehensive version of behind-the-scenes additions down the track.
If and when that happens, owning LOGAN on DVD, Blu-ray or in stunning 4K UHD will be essential. Until then, LOGAN is still a fantastic purchase, especially if you’ve yet to see it (or are hanging out for another viewing), but it unfortunately disappoints in the extras department.
