So part 1 of this post was about the first three movies, so I figured I'd talk about the prequel/sequels in this one.
First, let's get it out of the way
X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Almost entirely bad. I didn't re-watch it prior to this post, but I remember it like someone remembers a bad smell. X-Men Origins was originally supposed to be the start of a new franchise of prequels, I believe the next one rumored would have been Magneto. They filmed Origins:Wolverine at the same time of The Last Stand and this is where our first problems arise. The studio was trying to make decisions about the X-Men universe for two movies, one in present day and one set in the 1970's. This led to them deciding some characters couldn't appear in The Last Stand because they might appear in Origins:Wolverine instead.
Here's what I thought worked for the film. First and foremost, Hugh Jackman. I never thought he'd be the guy, but he has Wolverine down, the man can and will play Wolverine for as long as he's still able to make the character work with his real life aging. With the release of Days of Future Past, which I'm sure he'll make an appearance in, it will be his 7th time playing Wolverine, he's the one constant to all these films. He's the only character in Origins:Wolverine that doesn't get dicked around with too much. I really enjoyed the bone claws they use in the film. When they switched to Adamantium I thought the CGI looked terrible, especially considering they had it down in the first X-Men movie.
The other thing I think works really well is Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson. Perfectly cast and Reynolds has expressly stated he wanted to be Deadpool many times before and after this film. The only bad part is that the movie screws him over, giving us a Deadpool that is silent and doesn't make sense with the comics version of Deadpool that everyone loves.
For the bad, pretty much the rest of it. Will.I.Am should not have been in the movie, he was just a famous person who wanted in and they gave him a power that makes him identical to Nightcrawler, but without all the things that makes Nightcrawler cool. The re-writing of Sabretooth also really bugs me. He's in the first X-Men film and Wolverine clearly doesn't know who he is. In this one they've taken a different approach and made him Wolverine's half brother and made him a big villain of this film. So they broke continuity with their own series there. The introduction of Scott Summers doesn't work for me either. If he's a teenager just developing his powers now in the film's 1975, how old is he supposed to be in the X-Men films? I'd put it close to 40, and the Scott Summers of the X-Men films was somewhere in his late 20's. The CGI'd Patrick Stewart at the end of the film was also unnerving. I think they handled the character of Gambit alright, but much like Deadpool they took away a lot of what was cool about him. The whole film feels like a big understanding of how and why the X-Men universe works and what fans want to see from it.
X-Men: First Class
After seeing X-Men 1-3 I was pretty excited for First Class, as I had heard it did an excellent job as an entry in the X-Men franchise and also to help bury Origins:Wolverine and pretend it doesn't exist and ruin a bunch of X-Men canon.
At the beginning of First Class we open once again with child Eric Lensherr (Magneto) in the Nazi concentration camps moving the iron bars, the same as the firs X-Men film. Only this time we see what happened next, with our Nazi bad guy Kevin Bacon.
First Class is a return to form, with director Matthew Vaughn and produced by Bryan Singer, who directed the first two films. I think everyone turned in a fantastic performance, with a lot of credit due to James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, having to portray characters played by two of the finest actors of our time, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, respectively. You get to see their history and connection that is so evident in the first three X-Men films and how they're two sides of the same coin, where Xavier is the light side and Magneto is the dark.
The way the film explains or references things in the previous X-Men movies is a relief because you can tell they want it to make sense within the universe. I liked that they added that Mystique's cells aged at half speed, explaining why she should look no older than 30 in the X-Men films while according to this film have been born somewhere in the 1940's. I also liked her relationship with Magneto, as the things he says to her are things Mystique says to Nightcrawler in X2. I enjoyed seeing college flirt Xavier, the line "A very groovy mutation" got me every time. His relationship with Mystique was also interesting, and explains why she joins Magneto, mostly because he wants her to be exactly as she is while Xavier pushes her to hide herself. The cameo of Wolverine is absolutely perfect. It also makes sense that Wolverine doesn't recognize Xavier or Magneto in the first X-Men film, as it would have been a very brief meeting nearly 40 years prior. The special effects are well done, the story is fun and youthful with more than a handful of nods to the first 3 films. It was exactly the reboot the franchise needed.
I have yet to see The Wolverine, but when I do I'll make a post about it and how it relates to the other films in the series. I'm super excited for Days of Future Past, as it is going to simultaneously tie in to The Last Stand and First Class, which would bring this closed Marvel universe a synchronicity only seen elsewhere in Marvel's cinematic universe.
I hope everyone out there enjoyed my little synopsis'/reviews here. How do you feel about the X-Men movies? What are your thoughts on Days of Future Past? Leave a comment below.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Almost entirely bad. I didn't re-watch it prior to this post, but I remember it like someone remembers a bad smell. X-Men Origins was originally supposed to be the start of a new franchise of prequels, I believe the next one rumored would have been Magneto. They filmed Origins:Wolverine at the same time of The Last Stand and this is where our first problems arise. The studio was trying to make decisions about the X-Men universe for two movies, one in present day and one set in the 1970's. This led to them deciding some characters couldn't appear in The Last Stand because they might appear in Origins:Wolverine instead.
Here's what I thought worked for the film. First and foremost, Hugh Jackman. I never thought he'd be the guy, but he has Wolverine down, the man can and will play Wolverine for as long as he's still able to make the character work with his real life aging. With the release of Days of Future Past, which I'm sure he'll make an appearance in, it will be his 7th time playing Wolverine, he's the one constant to all these films. He's the only character in Origins:Wolverine that doesn't get dicked around with too much. I really enjoyed the bone claws they use in the film. When they switched to Adamantium I thought the CGI looked terrible, especially considering they had it down in the first X-Men movie.
The other thing I think works really well is Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson. Perfectly cast and Reynolds has expressly stated he wanted to be Deadpool many times before and after this film. The only bad part is that the movie screws him over, giving us a Deadpool that is silent and doesn't make sense with the comics version of Deadpool that everyone loves.
For the bad, pretty much the rest of it. Will.I.Am should not have been in the movie, he was just a famous person who wanted in and they gave him a power that makes him identical to Nightcrawler, but without all the things that makes Nightcrawler cool. The re-writing of Sabretooth also really bugs me. He's in the first X-Men film and Wolverine clearly doesn't know who he is. In this one they've taken a different approach and made him Wolverine's half brother and made him a big villain of this film. So they broke continuity with their own series there. The introduction of Scott Summers doesn't work for me either. If he's a teenager just developing his powers now in the film's 1975, how old is he supposed to be in the X-Men films? I'd put it close to 40, and the Scott Summers of the X-Men films was somewhere in his late 20's. The CGI'd Patrick Stewart at the end of the film was also unnerving. I think they handled the character of Gambit alright, but much like Deadpool they took away a lot of what was cool about him. The whole film feels like a big understanding of how and why the X-Men universe works and what fans want to see from it.
X-Men: First ClassAfter seeing X-Men 1-3 I was pretty excited for First Class, as I had heard it did an excellent job as an entry in the X-Men franchise and also to help bury Origins:Wolverine and pretend it doesn't exist and ruin a bunch of X-Men canon.
At the beginning of First Class we open once again with child Eric Lensherr (Magneto) in the Nazi concentration camps moving the iron bars, the same as the firs X-Men film. Only this time we see what happened next, with our Nazi bad guy Kevin Bacon.
First Class is a return to form, with director Matthew Vaughn and produced by Bryan Singer, who directed the first two films. I think everyone turned in a fantastic performance, with a lot of credit due to James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, having to portray characters played by two of the finest actors of our time, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, respectively. You get to see their history and connection that is so evident in the first three X-Men films and how they're two sides of the same coin, where Xavier is the light side and Magneto is the dark.
The way the film explains or references things in the previous X-Men movies is a relief because you can tell they want it to make sense within the universe. I liked that they added that Mystique's cells aged at half speed, explaining why she should look no older than 30 in the X-Men films while according to this film have been born somewhere in the 1940's. I also liked her relationship with Magneto, as the things he says to her are things Mystique says to Nightcrawler in X2. I enjoyed seeing college flirt Xavier, the line "A very groovy mutation" got me every time. His relationship with Mystique was also interesting, and explains why she joins Magneto, mostly because he wants her to be exactly as she is while Xavier pushes her to hide herself. The cameo of Wolverine is absolutely perfect. It also makes sense that Wolverine doesn't recognize Xavier or Magneto in the first X-Men film, as it would have been a very brief meeting nearly 40 years prior. The special effects are well done, the story is fun and youthful with more than a handful of nods to the first 3 films. It was exactly the reboot the franchise needed.
I have yet to see The Wolverine, but when I do I'll make a post about it and how it relates to the other films in the series. I'm super excited for Days of Future Past, as it is going to simultaneously tie in to The Last Stand and First Class, which would bring this closed Marvel universe a synchronicity only seen elsewhere in Marvel's cinematic universe.
I hope everyone out there enjoyed my little synopsis'/reviews here. How do you feel about the X-Men movies? What are your thoughts on Days of Future Past? Leave a comment below.
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