"Logan" is a film that took me and a lot of other people by surprise. I wasn't surprised by the fact that it was good (after watching the trailers I was looking forward to it). I was surprised by how good it was.

The film stands out among the sea of comic book films due to its violence (this is a "hard" R-rated film), dark tone, and how it uses those to advance the story. The film uses violence and gore to emphasize the dangerous, heartless world they inhabit. The film uses its bleak tone to emphasize the desperate situations our protagonists constantly find themselves in, which makes their attempt to maintain hope during depressing moments more engaging and impact. These are some of the reasons why "Logan" stands above most comic book films. However, these are also aspects that I hope few comic book films try to replicate.

I know what your thinking; if you just praised the film for having all of these unique qualities, then why wouldn't you want to see more of them? First, get out of by brain; second, because these two things are not the "key ingredients" that made "Logan" a great film. I'm mainly writing this article as a response to several fans and film journalists writing about the superiority of this film and how those two aspects, the violence and the dark tone, are what make it better than most comic book films. This gets me kind of mad because it misunderstands the use of a dark tone in film.

People often mistake a film that has a dark tone as being inherently "mature", "deep", and "serious"; three words that have vague meanings when it comes to a film's overall quality. A lot of what I will say here is an extension of an article I did on the film "ParaNorman" and how that film used darkness correctly. However, most films still misuse dark tones and violence in their movies; for example, "The Dark Knight".

Hold on! I'm not criticizing "The Dark Knight" or its tone. In fact, "The Dark Knight" is another great example of how to use a dark tone to benefit the story. The dark tone helps emphasize the struggle Batman (Christian Bale) goes through just to retain his morals in an indecent world and the violence really hammers home how scary and threatening a psychopath like the Joker (Heath Ledger) can be. However, my problem is how the cinematic world reacted to the critical and financial success of "The Dark Knight". They looked at its dark tone and thought that was the key to success when it came to making a comic book film. However, what they failed to realize is that a dark tone is merely a tool used to tell a story and not an inherent quality in-and-of itself.

You can see the negative effect of the success of "The Dark Knight" in some of the films that tried to copy its "dark tone". Comic book films like "The Amazing Spider-Man", "Man of Steel", "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice", and "Fantastic 4(2015)".

All of these films tried to apply an overly dark tone to these other superheroes in a shallow attempt to replicate the success of "The Dark Knight", however most of these films were met with critical failure and sometimes financial failure. Why do films like "Logan" succeed, and films like "Fantastic 4(2015)" and "Man of Steel" fail.

First, you have to apply a dark tone to a comic book property that can support it. A character like Batman has had several dark stories and films in the past, such as The Dark Knight Returns and "Batman(1989)", because it fits the Gothic tone presented in most of the comics. Similarly, a dark and bloody story feels appropriate for a character like Wolverine, who has a tragic backstory and uses metal claws from his hands to kill people (people have been wanting an R-rated version of those claw fights for a while now).

These overly grim tones don't fit well with heroes who are the farthest thing from dark. For example, the Fantastic Four are a colorful superheroes that have a deep family dynamic and have fun adventures that often involve the fun and colorful cosmic universe. What doesn't fit well is a grim tone that throws out the team's colorful adventures and family dynamic in favor of a bleak tone, staying in boring labs, and violent head explosions for no real reason.

That's what happened when "Fantastic 4(2015)" was released. It was a joyless slog of a film that didn't use its tone to say anything important about the story or the characters, it was just a shallow attempt to achieve some level of "legitimacy" in the eyes of so-called "mature" fans and critics. The film tried to turn one of the most colorful and fun superhero teams into a "dark and gritty" film like "The Dark Knight" and it fail spectacularly. The film received terrible reviews and bombed at the box office.

What most people also fail to realize is that dark moments in films often have more emotional power when they follow a lighthearted scene or previous film. People often remember how the darker tone in "The Empire Strikes Back" created emotional character moments for the characters we love.

However, what people often forget is that those darker moments in "The Empire Strikes Back" wouldn't have the same impact without the previous film "A New Hope" and its lighter tone. The first film used a light and adventurous tone to introduce you to these fun and lovable characters. This made it more tragic and emotionally engaging when bad things happen to them in the sequel because we care so much about them. Scenes of darkness are often enhanced when they follow scenes of levity.

This is used to great effect in "Logan" (Spoiler warning). There is a nice scene involving a dinner table and a family that really gives the characters a measure of levity and humanity that was desperately needed at that point in the film. It was nice to see our protagonist rest and relax for a brief moment. Only to have that calming mood yanked away in one of the darkest scenes I have ever seen in a comic book film. It was the slight comedy and fun of the previous scene that really made the following scene more impactful and emotional. Then you have something like "Man of Steel", which has a constantly bleak tone and hero. The constant angst of this Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) leaves no impact on me when the film tries to have a darker moment.

Why should I care when nothing changes in his mood? He started as a sad and mopey character and he stays a sad and mopey character throughout the film. There is no levity or happiness to be lost. There is darkness, but no tragedy.

"Logan" is a great film and the dark tone and violence is a part of that. However, the tone and violence is, ultimately, just a tool used to enhance the story it wants to tell and advance the characters in a meaningful way (the dark tone really shows how sad Logan's (Hugh Jackman) life is and makes you want to see him achieve some level of redemption).

I've already seen articles asking for more R-rated superhero films similar to "Logan" and the equally successful "Deadpool"; and while I hope we do get more, I hope the R-rating comes at the service of the story and not the other way around. I don't want to see a repeat of the mistakes made after "The Dark Knight" and get dark, R-rated versions of heroes that are inherently lighthearted and kid friendly. The last thing I want to see is a dark and gory version of Spider-Man or the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"Logan" is a unique, dark interpretation of a violent anti-hero and it's greatness partially comes from the fact that it is unique and not "the norm". However, I'm glad that not every film is like "Logan" and I hope it stays that way. Some heroes work great in dark and violent films, and others work better in fun and adventurous films. Everything works out when we can have both.