X-Men Movie Franchise

With the release of Logan just around the corner, I thought I’d deliver my honest opinion on each of the X-Men films.

Before I start, I should say 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 these films were 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.

This superhero franchise is about people known as mutants who are each born with a special gift, due to the next stage of evolution. This explores the theme of prejudice, humans vs. mutants. This is an allegory to real-life prejudices that have gone on the world i.e. racism, in fact the leader characters Professor Xavier and Magneto are often compared to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

The mutants and their gifts include: Wolverine – rapid-healing and retractable claws; Professor Xavier – telepathy and mind control; Magneto – manipulate metal; Jean Grey – telekinesis and telepathy; Cyclops – laser eyes; Storm – weather manipulation; Rogue – absorption of life force and mutant powers through touch; Mystique – shape shifter; Nightcrawler – teleportation; Iceman – ice powers; Shadowcat – phase through solid objects; Beast – animal-like physical attributes; Quicksilver – super speed and so much more…

X-Men

Excellent first installment to the franchise, it does an excellent job at introducing the characters and their abilities as well as the social commentary. Not the best installment but it is exactly what an X-Men movie needs to be, our X-Men battling against the Brotherhood mutants trying achieve the same thing, which is to overcome the prejudice inflicted on them from humans.

Hugh Jackman here makes his star-making performance as Wolverine and defined the role as his own, that it’s so hard to imagine who could takeover after he retires the role. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are excellent as Xavier and Magneto, when you see them together you can sense the years of conflict but also respect they had for each other, that you can see this is no standard good vs. evil story. Famke Janssen and James Marsden make a good support as Jean Grey and Cyclops, Halle Berry while she does try is miscast as Storm. The standout to me however is Anna Paquin as Rogue. Yes, I know she’s not the same tough, kick-ass woman from the comic and animated series and it’s 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. Anna Paquin does an amazing job at playing that soft side of the character, I felt so sorry for this character. Every time she was onscreen I just wanted to hug her, even if it killed me. Another scene-stealer is Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, a blue-scaly henchwoman to Magneto with amazing acrobatic fighting skills, Romijn demands so much attention without any dialogue, seriously she has only one line in this film.

The action is still great even some slightly dated special effects, Wolverine’s fight with Sabretooth on top of Statue of Liberty is still breathtaking.

X-Men 2 or X2

Our heroes and villains have to work together as William Stryker has a plan that will kill all the mutants in the world. It's cool seeing how all the characters interact with each other, especially Magneto and Mystique with Wolverine and Rogue after what they’ve put them through in the first film but now they have to be civil despite their detest.

Hugh Jackman gets to expand Wolverines character as he gets to explore his past and confront it. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen continue to be brilliant. Halle Berry while still miscast as Storm does a better job as she gets more to do, James Marsden sadly wasted here as Cyclops. Famke Janssen gets to more time to shine as Jean, as she is struggling to control her powers. Anna Paquin gets to continue Rogue’s struggle for human contact with her relationship with Iceman. Speaking of which Shawn Ashmore gets to more to do as Iceman, as he has to tell his family he’s a mutant. Brian Cox does a great job as Stryker, despite being an evil character there is a tragic backstory regarding his family to stop him 1-dimensional villain, Stryker's connection to Wolverine's past was brilliantly handled. But we can’t talk about this film without talking about Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler. What an awesome character, he is fun but also tragic. The heavily detailed make-up on Mystique was already impressive but they did with Nightcrawler tops it with the self-inflicted scar patterns. Cumming is absolutely amazing, it’s almost a crime that he did not reprise his role any of the sequels.

Nightcrawler’s attack at the Whitehouse is one the best scenes in the franchise.

There are other stand-out action scene like Stryker’s infiltration of the school and the fight between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike.

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. 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 were worth taking the risk for.

It didn’t bother me that certain characters were killed in the first half, not only is this one of the few superhero films with the balls to kill off big characters but it also raises the stakes.

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.

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 that taking the cure was the right thing or wrong thing, it was just a decision that has to be respected, 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.

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 Magento and Storm. New to the cast – Kelsey Gramer as Beast is absolutely perfect in the role, Ellen Page as Shadowcat, Ben Foster as Angel whom is wasted but is a great casting choice, Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut. It is Famke Janssen however who steals the show as Jean Grey and the Dark Phoenix. There’s been a lot of complaints the Phoenix saga wasn't done justice, honestly I didn’t know anything about it before seeing the film so as a first-timer I enjoyed this plot. It was an interesting look at multiple personalities and how far someone can be pushed to breaking point. It’s a look at consequences of taking regretful actions- Professor X, trying psychically contain the Phoenix, thinking he’s doing the right thing but ends up making it worse. Famke Janssen doesn’t overplay it with shouting or laughing, she plays it with subtlety and successes at being both scary and sympathetic.

The whole climax is fantastic from Magneto moving the Golden Gate Bridge to Wolverine’s tough decision at the end. The Grey house scene with Phoenix vs Xavier, Wolverine vs Juggernaut and Storm vs Callisto while the house rises is amazing, had me on the edge my seat- easily my favourite scene in the whole franchise.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

This is the only X-Men film I really don’t like, I don’t see any point to this prequel. The film starts off fine 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 was 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 at all. Also the trauma he would’ve suffered was hardly portrayed, I always thought the mass amount of trauma from such a procedure would’ve caused his amnesia, but no! There’s more plot so, Wolverine just gets over it as we another plot to go through. The said plot is pretty much just a rehash of X-Men 2, followed by the dumbest explanation how he loses his memory. Apart from a bit of the first act nothing about this prequel adds anything to Wolverine’s backstory that was 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 are never worried about Wolverine since he can’t die therefore no danger or threat.

Anything to like? I did like Liev Shreiber as Sabretooth and the film did provide something for Ryan Reynold’s eventual true depiction of Deadpool to stamp on.

X-Men: First Class

I really like this film but I disagree with the reviews that call this the best and even calling it The Dark Knight of the X-Men films.

This has created a lot of plot holes to the first three films, that it was very difficult to determine if this was a genuine prequel or a proper reboot.

Jennifer Lawrence and Nicolas Hault are very talented and are good choices as young Mystique and Beast, but the writing for the characters are inconsistent that it makes it very difficult connect them to adult versions played by Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are truly what keeps this film going, they take the characters of Professor X and Magneto and make them their own while still honoring Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

Plus Wolverine has an awesome cameo.

The Wolverine

Now this is how to do a spin-off for Wolverine, it fixes the big problem – it puts Wolverine in danger.

Hugh Jackman has been the show stealer for all the previous installments, even his small cameo in First Class was awesome enough to steal an entire film. But this is Hugh Jackman’s best portrayal of the character to date. Apparently the Japan saga in the comics that this film is based on is Hugh Jackman’s favourite and it really shows. It was great to see these multiple sides to the character that we haven’t seen before. The biggest problem though is that it tries to be a stand-alone while still trying to connect itself to the series, one minute it’s serious and gritty and the next it’s silly and over the top, that at times it feels like we are watching two films at the same time.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

By far the best of the franchise! This is an example of a sequel that takes flaws and plot holes of the previous installment(s) and turn them into positives. It’s also usually a bad sign to introduce time-travel this late into a franchise, but it works.

The future is in a terrible place as humanity is under control of the Setinels, robots designed to kill mutants. Their only hope is to go back to the 1970’s and stop Mystique from assassinating Boliver Trask, the creator. How? Shadowcat’s power can now phase other people’s minds through time, they send older Wolverine’s mind to younger Wolverine, Hugh Jackman plays both as Wolverine ages slowly.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender get to expand their roles even further, especially McAvoy as Xavier has hit rock-bottom.  Jennifer Lawrence and Nicolas Hault get to show their talents this time as Mystique and Beast, especially Jennifer this is where I truly sympathized with Mystiques character but also gets plenty of fight scenes to be almost as awesome Romijn’s Mystique.

Of the original cast returning besides Hugh Jackman, we have Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore and many more. They are all welcome returns, sadly they don’t get as much screen time as before but they still have their moments.

New to the cast is Peter Dinklage as Boliver Trask, for such a small guy it’s so believable how he has so much power. Evan Peters as Quicksilver is excellent and has one of the best slow-motion actions ever.

The contrast of the future and the past is excellent; the future is pretty dark and cold while the past is quite light and warm.

The Rogue Cut is the true version of the film, not only does add back in Anna Paquin’s Rogue, whom doesn't appear in the theatrical cut, but it helps flesh out other characters, especially the original cast and adds more action as well.

X-Men: Apocalypse

I was skeptical about this actually because after Days Of Future Past I wanted to see a continuation of the new future with the original cast not the new cast. The reviews for this film were also not very complimentary. But I was thoroughly entertained by this. I thought the younger cast were excellent Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler and Alexandra Shipp as Storm do fantastic jobs at capturing their predecessor portrayals while still making them their own. Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse was very menacing, maybe a little 2-dimensional but still awesome. The returning cast are great as usual, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicolas Hault have slightly less to do, Evan Peters as Quicksilver however gets more to do. Rose Byrne makes a welcome return as Moira, while Olivia Munn and Ben Hardy as Psylocke and Angel are good with the very little they have to do. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are again top-notch as Xavier and Magneto.

The whole climax was amazing and every one of the characters had their fair contributions to it. Probably not the most thought provoking of the X-Men films but certainly one of the more entertaining ones.

Also Wolverine has another cameo, one that puts the Origins movie to shame.

I’m not going to be discussing Deadpool as I feel that’s a topic for a separate review. I know it goes without saying but, it’s awesome!

This is certainly one of my favourite superhero movie franchises, dare I say I love this even more than the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Actually yes I do. Not saying these are better movies, I’m just saying these connected with me more on a personal level.