These two films in X-Men franchise have
been the most complained about by a lot of fans and some critics. So I thought
I’d deliver my honest opinion on these films.
Before I start, I should say this review is
very spoiler-heavy. Also I am not a comic-book reader, although I have read
about the source material and I have watched the 1992 animated series, which I
heard is very faithful to the comic. I should also note that the first film was
pretty much my first experience with X-Men, I knew of the comics and the
animated series which I didn’t start watching until after seeing X-Men: The Last Stand.
X-Men:
The Last Stand
While this has flaws, I do not think this
is a bad film by any means. The biggest problem I have is that there are too
many characters and it should’ve been longer, so some of them could’ve
benefitted with more screen time. Is that why they didn’t involve Nightcrawler?
What saves this film for me is the chances
it took, they had to have known a lot of fans would rage against these
decisions but they felt were worth taking the risk for.
It didn’t bother me that Cyclops and Xavier
were killed by the Phoenix in the first half, not only is this one of the few
superhero films with the balls to go to kill off big characters but it also
raises the stakes. The Phoenix is a genuine threat to our heroes, whether it’s
Jean or not, and losing Cyclops and Professor X gives us that danger. The X-Men
begin to lose hope and they learn to fight as a team with what they have left
and knowing that they could die. I don’t recall the Phoenix causing any harm in
the animated series (yes I know it’s a kids show).
Yes it does kind of suck that Mystique
loses her powers and Magneto’s abandonment of her is heartbreaking. The scene
is successful, not only does it make you feel sorry for a villain but the sight
of Rebecca Romijn naked does not detract from it. This moment reminds me of
when Bobby’s family disowns him for being a mutant in X-Men 2, in this case
Magneto disowns Mystique for being human. It does show that prejudice is a
two-way street and that it overshadows the love you have.
Rogue taking the cure has annoyed a lot of
the fans, I’m not bothered so much because her tragic arc justifies her doing
so. The film doesn’t set out to tell us that taking the cure was the right
thing or wrong thing, it was that they had the right to choose, as she says
“It’s what I wanted”. It should also noted there is an episode in the animated
where Rogue was considering getting her powers taken away which she didn’t go
ahead with. So I praise this film taking that chance with her going through
with it. Yes, I know Rogue’s not the same tough, kick-ass woman from the comic
and animated series and it’s kind of underwhelming that she was downgraded to a
vulnerable teenage girl. But I do think vulnerable can be just as interesting
as strong, by stripping away all the strength we are left with a sympathetic
character who is afraid of her own power, she can’t touch anyone without
causing serious harm to them. They do a great job using the character to
portray the tragedy of being a mutant. Just watch the train scene in the first
film and try not to feel sorry for this character; I just wanted to hug her, even if it killed me. That being said it would still
be cool to see badass Rogue in the future sequels, if you watch True Blood then you know that Anna Paquin can play a tough
southerner.
Hugh Jackman is awesome as usual, as well
as the returning cast Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn, Anna Paquin, Shawn
Ashmore, James Marsden. Both Ian Mckellen and Halle Berry get the chance to upgrade
their performances as Magneto and Storm from the first two films. New to the cast
– Kelsey Gramer as Beast (absolute perfect casting), Ellen Page as Shadowcat,
Ben Foster as Angel (wasted but great casting), Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut.
The one that steals the show for me is
Famke Janssen as Jean Grey/The Phoenix. There’s been a lot of complaints the
Phoenix saga has been ruined, honestly I didn’t know anything about it before
seeing the film so as a first-timer I enjoyed this plot. Easily my favourite in
the film. It was an interesting look at multiple personalities and how far someone
can be pushed to breaking point. It’s also a look at consequences of taking
regretful actions- Professor X, trying to psychically contain the Phoenix,
thinking he’s doing the right thing but ends up making it worse. I find that
more effective than having her go to space and be possessed by a cosmic force. Famke Janssen
doesn’t overplay it with shouting or laughing, she plays it with subtlety and
successes at being both scary and sympathetic. The final confrontation between
Phoenix and Wolverine was very emotional, the decision for Wolverine to kill
Jean was very well handled, I’m grateful that The Wolverine shows us what an impact killing Jean has on him. The look
of the Phoenix has been questioned like – why not use the fiery eyes and fire-bird?
Why black eyes and black veins on her face? Here’s an explanation I came up
with, which may get contradicted if future sequels decide to revisit it – The
fire was the “Light Phoenix” that Jean was in control of, her powers would’ve
evolved whether the beast in her was freed or not. The fire in her is shown
when she is being heroic, deflecting the missile and the flood. The fire-bird in
the water was probably more of a symbol of her evolving power (presumably from
good Jean’s subconscious while she was cocooned) which goes with her ending monologue.
The black eyes and veins is the “Dark Phoenix”. There are subtle fire
references notice her eyes go a golden colour before turning black, and her
black eyes have a fiery tint in the middle. Also her hair kind of resembles
fire, as it seems to have an orange glow and the way it flows.
This is also the first X-Men film to have a
full-fledged battle between X-team and the Brotherhood. While it sucks that
Mystique, Rogue, Nightcrawler and Cyclops were not involved, it was still an
awesome battle sequence.
My favourite scene in the film, probably
the whole franchise, is the Grey house sequence – we got Wolverine vs.
Juggernaut, Storm vs. Callisto. But Phoenix vs. Professor X as the house rises was
epic, had me on the edge of my seat.
X-Men
Origins: Wolverine
This is the only X-Men film I really don’t
care for. While I don’t think it’s awful, I don’t really see that much point to
it. The film starts off in the right place, from Logan discovering his claws
for the first time as a child to his relationship to his brother to meeting
Stryker. But from then on it all goes downhill.
The scene where he is injected with
adamantium was incredibly underwhelming, I understand it would be too scary to
show to a general audience. But it’s heavily toned down compared to the very
brief but intense flashbacks from the first two films, that it doesn’t match up
well at all. The flashbacks succeed in showing how intensely traumatic it
must’ve been for him, I didn’t get any of that from the scene, maybe a slight
discomfort but that’s it.
From then on the main plot is pretty much exposition
for Stryker’s plot in X-Men 2, which
is pointless because we’ve seen X-Men 2 we
know what happens. Apart from bits of the first act nothing about this prequel
adds anything to Wolverine’s backstory that’s worth knowing or that we already
learnt from X-Men 2. Since Wolverine never remembers the events of the film –
then why should we?
There are no stakes in this in this film,
not only do we know where Stryker’s plot is going but also we were never
worried about Wolverine since he can’t die therefore no danger. That is why The Wolverine works so much better as a
solo film, it found a way to put the character in danger therefore there were
stakes and we cared what was going to happen.
This film wastes a lot of talented actors.
Hugh Jackman is great but he’s not given anything new to challenge his
performance. Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds are well cast but
sadly can’t save the film.
If you are curious about Wolverine’s
backstory then the first act is worth watching, just turn off when you get the
adamuntium scene.
