[SPOILERS for Logan ahead.]

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When the dust settles, Logan may be considered among the best superhero films of all time. Part of that grand claim is due in part to the film’s focus on character and mood, while eschewing spectacle. The work Hugh Jackman and director James Mangold put into the film may not result in a splashy picture, but the film’s lack of specificity makes for a far more emotional journey. The poignancy is further elevated knowing that this is the last time we’ll see Jackman as Wolvie and that Wolverine may be recast in the future. It could also be the last time we see Patrick Stewart as Professor X, as he’s given an equally brutal and heartbreaking sendoff.

Of course, newcomer Dafne Keen may point towards the future of the X-Men franchise, as an X-23 spinoff is plausible and something the actor is interested in. X-23’s journey may lack a conclusive end, but it provides a vague window of hope following the tearjerker ending to Jackman’s tenure as Logan. We even recently learned that the emotional tail-end of the film was shot differently than the rest of the movie, to give it a unique feeling. Still, the end of the film wasn’t all emotion and no action.

The climactic fight Wolverine and X-23 have against the Reavers is a fitting conclusion to Logan’s violent life. But any fan with knowledge of how movies are made knows a lot of technical work has to go into creating what seems like a visceral, on-the-spot brawl. Hugh Jackman took to his Twitter to show off a video of him recording some of the audio for that final fight, pulling back the curtain on how the scene came together.

Hi. @WolverineMovie @20thcenturyfox pic.twitter.com/dr95Zx1Nmg— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) March 7, 2017

In movies, a lot of the audio can’t be captured in a tonally appropriate way. In order to make certain sounds blend with the mood, rise above the dialogue (which is usually the focus of the mics), and have the impact audiences think they should have, film’s employ a lot of what’s called foley to flesh out the aural vocabulary of a film. Once you know that bone-breaking punch is some audio engineer hitting a slab of pork, or that a grisly knife slashing into a victim is someone cutting into fruits and vegetables, it can take you out of a movie. When the job is done right, however, it’s so seamless that you’ll never notice it.

Having Jackman record his own pants and grunts during the chase and fight definitely helps add some authenticity to the proceedings. Obviously, it’d be hard to mic him in a situation like that, so foley and ADR (additional dialogue recording) is the only option. It also shows just how dedicated Jackman and the crew were to making the film as realistic as possible. If you don’t think it makes much of difference, the next time you’re watching a bad or low-budget movie, pay attention to how off or odd a lot of the sounds and audio cues are and you’ll realize how important good foley can be to a movie. For Logan, it’s just one more thing the film nails.

Source: Hugh Jackman

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