Dark Phoenix - And thoughts on every X-Men movie up to this point

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

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Aside from having a traditional Dark Phoenix discussion thread, I also want to go over every movie in the franchise up to now and give my thoughts on each one.

As far as I can recall I saw the original trilogy in theaters, as well as Days of Future Past. Aside from that, I think I just saw the rest on home video/dvd after release.

Much akin to Fynn's Kingdom Hearts retrospective, I'll post a little something about each movie after watching them. Except mine won't be nearly as long, or detailed, or good. I'm excited for the release and just want to go through and give each film a re-watch.

I'll go in chronological release order from X-Men to now, starting with the next post. Feel free to chime in when I bring up a specific movie in the timeline.

I'll also be including the Wolverine, Deadpool, etc.

Let's get started with....

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

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X-Men

You know, a lot of people want to give this movie credit for starting the modern day superhero craze of non stop movie after movie. But honestly, I think I'd actually give that to Spider-Man.

I feel like when this came out, it was kind of like Blade in that it could sort of just be passed off as an action packed sci-fi/thriller. Similarly yet unrelated, it's kind of like how Fast and the Furious was a legit urban drama and then the subsequent movies were like "just look at these fast cars".

I'm forever in love with Famke Janssen and I think she's definitely the highlight of the original trilogy for me. I think Seth Green auditioned for Toad, I also remember how geeked people were when they found out Halle Berry would be in this movie.

Looking back at the movie now I remembered that Ian McKellen was seemingly rotating between X-Men and Lord of the Rings movies at the time. I read something like his filming schedule for X1 was scheduled so that he could get out of there in time to go shoot Fellowship and not have to be recast.

I really love the protective Logan/Rogue relationship in this movie. It was the catalyst for so many great scenes. There were a lot of cool shots in general. The senator turning into water and washing away, Mystique changing form mid-fight scene, the final battle at the statue of liberty. Actually, there were a lot of cool Mystique scenes where it's harder to tell which character is actually her. I think in later movies it's more apparent when a character is out of place.

There was a lot of great foundation laid here, such as the eternal struggle between Xavier and Magneto, and the parallels between mutants and racism/immigration.

Other than a few classroom scenes, we don't actually dig into the school aspect of the school for gifted youngsters until X2. But that will come next.

Order: X-Men>2>3>4>5>6>7>8>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Wolf Kanno]

I feel like the first X-Men movie was a pretty solid effort. I wasn't necessarily in love with it, but after years of bad video game movies desensitized me, I felt the film was pretty good considering. I was happy Patrick Stewart as Xavier and Ian McKellian was awesome as Magneto. The big take away was how much Hugh Jackman pulled off Wolverine. Mad props to the man, and I feel bad for whoever they cast to try and replace him going forward with the franchise. I feel bad for Halle Berry though, because she could have done so much more for her character and yet the writing for Storm was just awful. I also found it strange that Mystique rarely spoke, but honestly, I felt the franchise as a whole had a weird obsession with her right from the first movie.

[Del Murder]

The first X-Men movie was pretty good considering there were not a lot of great comic book movies at that time and especially not team-based ones. It is tough to do an origin movie for a team which is why Avengers split it up over like 5 movies. Wolverine and Magneto were fantastic and the young Rogue angle worked well. Most of the other characters were throwaways, but again it's hard to develop 10 characters in a single movie.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

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X2: X-Men United

Up front I'll say this is my favorite X-Men movie. I haven't looked into it enough to know if that's a hot take or not.

We get Nightcrawler in this one and he is awesome. The smoke effects going through walls in the White House holds up well, and the image of Nightcrawler is so startling that it's a perfect character to contrast with the human's apprehension to mutant freedom. He literally looks like a demon to them, unlike other characters who have powers but look perfectly normal.

The makeup reportedly took so long that Alan Cummings decided to pass on appearing in the third movie because the amount of time in the makeup chair wouldn't have been proportionate to the couple minutes of screen time he would have got in X3. Another standout character is Pyro, who's rebellious streak really balances his opposite personality with Ice Man.

The highlight of this movie for me is Babysitter Wolverine watching over the school while Stryker's group busts in and hijacks it. There's a couple great scenes there with Ice Man blowing on soda to make it frosty cool, and creating a giant ice wall, Colossus tearing through the place, and Logan's huge jump off the balcony. There's also the running gag of Logan stealing one of Scott's vehicles.

Speaking of Stryker, this is the first of a few times where we explore the Wolverine backstory. The adamantium bubbling looks cool, as does Lady Deathstrike and her 10 claws. I noticed with this and Sabre Tooth in the first movie that they try to have a counterpoint to Wolverine in both movies in terms of ability.

They did a lot of cool stuff with Cerebro and being able to manipulate Xavier's mind. I remember watching this in theaters and people being excited about the phoenix in the reflection of the water. More on Jean in the next one, I suppose.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>3>4>5>6>7>8>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Del Murder]

X2 was great, my favorite X-Men. The Wolverine origin here was way better than the Wolverine movie. I liked Stryker as a non-powered villain and the irony in using his son to hunt mutants. Magneto's escape, Wolverine getting shot in the head, lot of great moments in the movie. The Phoenix bit at the end was also very exciting. A shame it went downhill from there.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I never did see X-2 or the third one. I enjoyed the first X-men a good amount though.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

76339
X-Men: The Last Stand

I'm the juggernaut, biatch.

We get some of our first glances of CGI-ing people to look younger when Charles and Eric go to visit young Jean at her home. Surprisingly, I think it holds up pretty well.

Ellen Page, Ben Foster and Kelsey Grammer are great additions to the growing cast in this third act. I also like the conflict with the idea of a mutant cure. Storm rightfully says there's nothing wrong with them, but you can also see it from Rogue's point of view where she has the chance to enjoy human contact without hurting anyone. It was nice to throw a positive reason in for wanting to find a cure, other than human fear of what they don't understand and can't control.

I still get a little moved when Mystique takes a mutant-cure dart to the chest for Magneto and he immediately drops her like a dirty shirt. All the loyalty in the world meant nothing when she was no longer useful.

I like when Angel goes to the school seeking a home. It reminds me why I like the school to begin with, a place where misfits and outcasts can come together and form community. I think it's fitting that he uses his flying ability to save his father near the end. It helps drive the point home to someone who was a nonbeliever at that point of the good mutants can be capable of.

The will they/won't they with Jean and Wolverine never sat well with me because to me she always belonged with Scott. The same Scott which gets taken out pretty early on in this movie, by the way. Since this is a war, and the third act of a trilogy, it makes sense that they weren't afraid to kill off more than a few people, I suppose.

Honestly I really liked this one. I know it got mixed reviews but it worked for me. For the most part, anyway.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>4>5>6>7>8>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Del Murder]

Last Stand was horrible. It was so bad they had to revert the timeline with Days of Future Past and then remake the Dark Phoenix saga. Complete waste of Cyclops, Xavier, and Jean. I did like that part where Magneto dumped Mystique after she lost her powers, though.

After I saw this movie I called up my brother (who is also a huge X-Men fan) and told them the next movie better have Bishop going back in time to fix this mess. Took several years and it was Wolverine who ended up doing it but I finally got what I wanted.

[Wolf Kanno]

X-2 is probably my favorite film of the franchise, lot of cool moments for a lot of characters, and while Wolverine took over the plot, it's probably the least annoying time that happened over the course of the films. The Nightcrawler sequence at the beginning is probably my favorite scene in the whole franchise.

X-3... is a terrible film, and combined with the failure of Spider-Man 3, I'm surprised comic book films survived. Both films have the same problem, they are trying to tell too many stories and everything kind of gets lost in the mess. The Dark Phoenix Saga is just too difficult to pull off without the context from the books, which as it stands, is the one thing the 90s cartoon series is the only one to get right. I feel the film would have worked better had they focused on the Cure story aspect, there was just more interesting things to do with it narratively than trying to cram Jean Grey's "evil side" into this mess of a film. The film gave us more fan service with all the X-Men but very little focus for any of them to really shine. I feel it is debatably the worst film of the franchise.

[Lord Golbez]

Best to worst:
X2
Days of Future Past
First Class
X-Men
Apocalypse
Last Stand

The original ranks low on my list largely due to the crappy cartoon episode like Magneto plot. Bad introduction to the dynamic. That and the Toad shit. Movie did a lot of things right though, which is more than can be said for the lowest two on my list.

[Cell]

I've never liked Phoenix or Dark Phoenix. Usually ends up with crying over Cyclops/Jean Grey.

Meh.

[Mr. Carnelian]

Me watching the start of X-Men 3: Uhhh, Scott/Cyclops. He’s quite cute, I guess, but God, he’s so annoying.
Jean Gray: [snogs Scott/Cyclops, then immediately kills him]
Me: YAAAAAAS, B***H, WEEEERK!

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine


Whew lads.

When this movie came out, I thought "Origins" was meant to be a concept of things to come. After this movie, I figured we would get something like X-Men Origins: Storm and so on. I read there was a Magneto origin planned but it ended up getting converted/broadened to the concept of First Class.

This is actually "newer" than I thought it was. 2009? I thought maybe it was older than 10 years, but I guess not.

This is a hot mess but let's find some good.

Well, Liev Schreiber is a great actor. Hard to believe this is technically supposed to be the same Sabre Tooth as in X-Men. I think having seen the Deadpool movies makes me appreciate Ryan Reynolds here more, especially knowing the jokes that it leads to later on in the series. Despite his appearance here, there are a lot of cool action scenes like slicing a bullet in half and having it hit the people behind him.

There's a lot of beautiful imagery in the Canadian mountains when Logan goes into lumberjack mode. Moments like these are actually some of my favorites in the series, we see it again in Apocalypse when Eric tries to lives a quiet life. I like when these larger than life characters start families and live in hole in the wall places. There's a similar vibe later in the movie when he briefly stays with an older couple.

This movie definitely has the worst CGI. The claws and the chase scenes look hokey even in blu-ray, despite having a bigger budget than the first 2 films.

I hate Gambit in this movie. I enjoyed the way some of the Stryker material compliments what we know from X2, but wow is this all over the place.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>5>6>7>8>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Lord Golbez]

I didn't rano any of the Wolverine movies but I think even X-Men Origins wad probably bwtter than the utter garbage that is Last Stand.

[Wolf Kanno]

Wolverine: Origins is a film in a death struggle with Last Stand on being the worst X-Men film within the franchise. It starts off promising and then just gets worst and worst as it goes on. While I like the dynamic of Logan and Creed in the film, the plot just never feels like it has any momentum and instead just tries to throw in as much fanservice as possible to distract the fanbase despite a lot of it being bad like the introduction of Gambit. About the only thing the film got right was casting Ryan Reinolds as Deadpool, as he portrayed everything a fan would want from Wade Wilson, until about the last twenty minutes of the movie where the studio showed they really don't understand the characters or books or anything and made Deadpool such an awful surprise that his murder in Deadpool 2's post credit scene got a loud "hell yeah!" from me in the theater. Thankfully, the other two Wolverine movies were actually good. Sadly, the one-two punch of these last two films made me ultimately give up on the X-Men franchise.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

76366
X-Men: First Class

To me, First Class at the time of release didn't feel so much like a prequel as it did a soft reboot. It was kinda both.

They did a great job of showcasing and contrasting the lives of Magneto and Xavier growing up. The beginning of the film opens the same way the original X-Men does, with a young Erik in Poland. Although with added Kevin Bacon. Poor guy gets kind of memed online but he's a good actor.

They retconned Mystique into Charles' life from a young age and the movie is better for their friendship. If there was something between them in the original trilogy it wasn't shown. As far as pre-existing relationships from the original trilogy, we get to see fleshed out what was once just implied. I love Nicholas Hoult as a young Hank McCoy. Except for the part where he makes literally everything (Cerebro, the suits, the X-Jet).

I like that reading peoples thoughts in this movie takes it a little step forward for the audience in the form of thought bubbles we get to see play out, instead of just eerie noise or narration.

One of the things that does make this reboot-ish is the liberties they took with Emma Frost. She's in this movie as well as X-Men Origins but they aren't the same person. And depending on who was asked in interviews, maybe it was a sister, maybe it was just a legit new interpretation.

Something that didn't stick for me was the naming process. Mystique basically says "Hey, why don't you be Professor X and you be Magneto"? Okay.

The Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Romijn cameos were great and didn't feel forced. This movie is pretty good, certainly better than X3 and X Origins imo. Although a lot of the characters get killed off screen between this and Days.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>6>7>8>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Wolf Kanno]

I remember everyone being excited by this film saying they finally made a great X-Men movie again. I waited for the video version and I don't regret that decision.

I love the relationship between Charles and Erik in this film, and I liked the period piece elements as well. What I don;t appreciate was having the team filled with what most fans would call C and B-list X-Men instead of doing the original five, and I don't appreciate the liberties taken with the Hellfire Club. This film also begins the franchises strange obsession with Mystique, who has always been a pretty stellar villain/frenemy of the X-Teams, but trying to create some silly love story aspect just kind of felt wrong to me, and I wish she had been closer to her character from the books.

This film ultimately highlighted the major problem with all of the X-Men films. None of them are about the X-Men. They are either Wolverine films or Xavier films, but so many of the actual team get no real characterization or screen time that its hard to really feel like the films are about a team. I think outside of Beast and Banshee, I can't really name another member of the team in this film. I often forget Cyclops and Storm are even in the second and third films. I also don't agree that its just too difficult to do, just looking at the X-Men 90s cartoon, you can see how the writers of that show really establish the "team" aspect of the franchise in just the simple two part pilot. The problem has always been the Hollywood issue of needing a star to wrap a story around.

[Del Murder]

I agree with WK. First Class was very good and a return to decency for this franchise. But it still lacked any development for the team and for some reason stocked the X-Men with randos, most of which were forgotten by the next movie. Fassbender was a great Magneto although it was hard to connect that character with the one eventually played by Ian McKellen (though I agree this was just a disguised reboot so whatev). The dynamic between Xavier and Magneto was great.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

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The Wolverine


We finally get to a movie without X-Men in the title.

Starting off with Wolverine taking the brunt of a nuclear blast and waking up next to Famke Janssen is a great way to open the movie. You're kind of dropped into the start not knowing what's going on and then the plot develops around you.

For all intents and purposes this is basically X-Men 4 in terms of positioning, except without the team, as it deals with the ramifications of the death of Jean and its effect on Logan. You could probably also watch this as a stand alone film and not be missing too much.

The Japanese setting works so well, and is a refreshing change of location for the franchise. The ronin archetype tracks very well with Logan's journey up to this point. And there's a nice mix of traditional and modern locations. It's so cool to see a fight on top of a bullet train and a stay in a Mars themed hotel room.

Not often do we get to see a "superhero" movie that's more of a character study. So much went into the idea of Wolverine's immortality and living forever while the people around you don't, and feeling the loss. I wish it kept that steady beat and tone throughout, which it almost did until the final act. The last battles against a super robot and Poison Ivy-Lite steeped more into traditional comic book flair.

The scene of "Porcupine Wolverine" is really well done and it's hard to think of this movie without also picturing him full of arrows. The extended cast in this movie work really well together, it helps that it's partly a family drama so they're all parts of a larger whole, instead of a school full of mutants each trying to find their place to shine.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>The Wolverine>7>8>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Wolf Kanno]

The Japanese arc in the 80s era comics was always one of my favorites and one of my favorite arcs for Wolverine, so bringing in Mariko and Silver Samurai just felt right for this film. This was a surprisingly better film than it should be, and the first real hope that Fox finally figured out the franchise. I agree the film is pretty good up until the final act, but I loved watching Logan being haunted by the death of Jean and seeing her ghost. Hugh Jackman has always done a great job with the character, but he really shined best in this film and Logan.

[Mr. Carnelian]

This was a good moment for X-Men films, I was definitely pleasantly surprised by both First Class and The Wolverine.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

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X-Men: Days of Future Past

It was really exciting to be able to see the original cast again. When X3 came out it felt like a goodbye, so when it was announced the prequels would have a connection with the originals I was glad.

Fortunately the time travel aspect isn't too much of a head scratcher. Wolverine's mind goes into the past while his body stays in the present, and when he wakes up the history he helps create becomes the new normal. Movies never "get it right" when it comes to this type of thing, so the simple explanation is serviceable for what the movie's trying to do.

Interestingly, there was a character named Trask in X3 but it's not the same Trask as Peter Dinklage's character. The character in X3 didn't have a first name and of course it's later on down the timeline, so it wasn't a recast. This isn't an Emma Frost switcharoo.

Raven's costuming/make up looks pretty consistent from the last film, but Beast is hugely improved. In First Class he looked like a stuffed animal stuck in a jacket, but the increased use of CGI and a tweaked design made his movements more fluid.

Evan Peters killed it as Quicksilver. It was interesting to see him and the Quicksilver from Age of Ultron release around the same time. Both Kick-Ass stars do a great job, but I think this is one instance where people would say that the X-Men adaptation was preferred over the Marvel Studios one. I can't speak to the source material, but I mean in terms of cool scenes. The scene of Peters getting Erik out of the Pentagon rivals even the entrance of Nightcrawler in X2.

Much like First Class the future timeline gets a bunch of randoms to help Iceman, Storm, and Colossus to take on the sentinels. It was impactful to see Magneto get injured and see the future deaths of Storm et all because we've spent time with them. But the randos? Not so much. It was still cool, though.

The events of this movie make it so it's as if X3 never happened. It was a unique way to continue this prequel timeline while at the same time retroactively giving original trilogy fans a happy ending for character's like Scott and Jean. Plus, I can't explain how cool it is to see young Charles go into Logan's mind and talk to older Charles.

It's a shame Apocalypse is abysmal. More on that later.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>The Wolverine>X-Men: Days of Future Past>8>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Also, I didn't watch the Rogue Cut this time around. When given the option I definitely prefer the version with more content, but I borrowed a box set with the regular edition.

Since Dark Phoenix is out now, if anyone wants to cut the line to talk about it go ahead. I'll keep trucking along.

[Wolf Kanno]

Days of Future Past is the last film I did see in theaters, and a large part of that is because we get to see the return of some of the first gen X-Men actors. The other reason is that this is actually my favorite Chris Claremont story and the one that I think is more iconic for the franchise than the Phoenix Saga. Finally, getting Peter Dinklage to be Bolivar Trask was a nice touch and between this role and his one in Inifnity War, I feel this role gives his acting more clout.

The future sequences are nice but again, we're kind of filled with randos taken from more recent versions of the team that modern readers would recognize. A lot of liberties are taken, especially with making Wolverine the lead, but again, Hollywood prefers star power and the producers would rather have an iconic character that even non-fans would recognize over bringing in Kitty Pride into the story. I will give them props for having the Mystique/Xavier dynamic from First Class giving a bit more of a touch in this film. Quicksilver's sequence is certainly the highlight of the film in terms of memorable scenes, but MCU Quicksilver is far closer to the source material in terms of characterization. Pietro is an unlikable asshole who always looks down on people, not a spazzy ADHD kid. Likewise, he becomes like Mystique in the sequels where he always now shows up.

The one aspect I did always like about the soft reboot entries is how each film takes place in a different decade, so the 70s vibe of this film and the fun sequence with Wolverine in the beginning when he first shows up in the past was a nice touch. I always appreciate period pieces. In fact the past sequences are probably some of the best and it was nice to see Beast get a larger role. While the scripts for these films have always been questionable, I will say the X-Men films have largely been blessed with good actors at least.

I dodged Apocalypse, but I would honestly say this is probably the best of the soft reboot films, and judging by the reviews the next two X-Men films got/are getting, that seems to be a sentiment most fans share.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

76371Deadpool

After hearing Ryan Reynolds voice the Deadpool "test footage" in 2014, I couldn't wait for this to be real. And good on them for committing to the R rating. I remember reading stories about disgusted parents walking out of theaters with their kids. I don't feel bad for them. Ratings exist and if you choose to ignore them because you see a dude in spandex, it's on you.

There's so much to love about this movie outside of edgy comedy. Even the way the film is made, with the opening credits names being changed to like "Directed by some overpaid tool". It ribs itself, the franchise as a whole, Ryan Reynolds past work, and breaks the 4th wall in imaginative ways.

They actually subvert the trope of the hero's girlfriend just being there as like a set piece. He "buys" her, and opts to take her out to an arcade to get to know her instead of just taking her home to sleep with her and becoming a couple overnight. They play the sex montage out over the course of several holidays and it's sweet and humorous.

The roles of his friends compliment the journey well. The guy from the bar, the cab driver, his blind roommate, and of course the 2 X-Men because the studio "didn't want to spend the budget on more" lmao.

Ed Skrein does a good job, even if he does play a generic mustache twirling villain. It's hard to find an equal opposite to a larger than life character like Deadpool. I know there were doubts that an "unknown" character could hold their own movie at the time even though Guardians of the Galaxy did well, but fortunately they took a chance on it. It made back something like 12 times the budget.

The post credit scene was definitely meant for theaters. He tells the screen Cable is going to be in the next movie, but they don't know who they're casting. And then he reminds you to pick up your garbage before you leave.

Chica-chic-ahh.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>The Wolverine>X-Men: Days of Future Past>Deadpool>9>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

76381
X-Men: Apocalypse

I won't be spending too much time on this one. There's a scene where the kids are walking out of "Return of the Jedi" and they say the third one's always the worst. That doesn't take the sting out of it being true in the case of this movie.

This movie is utter dogtrout. A color by numbers X-Men movie through and through. They do the "will he betray them or not?" with Magneto for the 50th time. Apocalypse searches for his 4 horsemen and they're literally the first 4 mutants he comes across.

The one crowning jewel of this movie is when we get to see Erik living in Poland with his famly in seclusion, and the way it goes horribly wrong. Those few scenes alone are some of the best X-Men has ever done. It's also nice enough to at least see a dozen new mutants including Jubilee and young Storm but none of them really get enough time to shine. That's kind of been a problem since X1, though.

Oh, and the Professor X "You're in my house now" mind game scene was cool.

To be fair, maybe i'm being too harsh because i'm starting to get burnt out after 9 of these.

Next.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>The Wolverine>X-Men: Days of Future Past>Deadpool>X-Men: Apocalypse>10>11>Dark Phoenix

[Slothy]

No you're not being too harsh. The scenes you said were good are the best parts of the movie but the rest is really, really, shit.

[Del Murder]

I never saw Apocalypse don't really feel the need to. Deadpool was fun though, almost forgot it is in the X-Men franchise sorta.

[Wolf Kanno]

I have never really counted Deadpool as part of the franchise and always treated it as something different, but hot damn if they aren't great movies.

I skipped Apocalypse as soon as I saw his design. Hearing how bad it was afterwards made me feel vindicated anyway.

[Mr. Carnelian]

Controversial opinion: Days of Future Past and Apocalypse were a bit of a mess, but not that much more than Infinity War and Endgame. Plus, I much prefer these two films relatively subdued and small-scale climaxes compared to Infinity War and Endgames overstuffed CGI battle-orgies.

[Del Murder]

The difference is, you actually were able to care about the heroes in Avengers because they were each given their own build up with stand alone movies. Only Wolverine, and to a lesser extent Xavier and Magneto, were ever given that kind of treatment in the X movies. So regardless of how messy and CGI heavy the plots were, at least it involved characters you were familiar with and could root for.

The other thing is that the Thanos plot was built upon since the first Avengers movie and really since Thor 1. Each of the X films falls into the same problem Justice League has in trying to do too much in one or two movies. It is very challenging get the audience engaged with a team of heroes as well as a villain, as well as other side plots, in a single film. By Infinity War we may not have known all about Thanos's motivation but we at least knew who he was and what he wanted, and we could also name all the core Avengers and know their personalities and backstories.

Regardless of what you can say about the writing of the MCU movies (and I think a lot of them are pretty good), they really succeeded in creating a foundation of characters and themes that were continually built and individually focused upon, leading to the climax in IW and Endgame.

[Slothy]

Controversial opinion: Days of Future Past and Apocalypse were a bit of a mess, but not that much more than Infinity War and Endgame.

You're wrong, but we love you anyway. ;)

[Mr. Carnelian]

Controversial opinion: Days of Future Past and Apocalypse were a bit of a mess, but not that much more than Infinity War and Endgame.

You're wrong, but we love you anyway. ;)

:blush:

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

76388
Logan

Much like The Wolverine and to an extent the original X-Men before it, this does not feel like a comic book film. This could have been a black and white noir film, or even a western as well. If this is truly the final goodbye for Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in these roles, this is a fantastic way to go.

One of the things I love about giving a film like this the R rating is to properly show what you know is always going on in the background. Of course there's nudity and extensive blood in the X-Men world, but it's not showcased when they're conscious of the fact that everyone of all ages enjoys an X-Men film. Giving it the R rating shows a film that has grown with its audience and doesn't pull punches. Of course Wolverine has seen breasts. Of course he's stabbed people in the face.

In this movie Logan tackles not only the responsibilities and consequences of fatherhood, but the culmination of his inner demons physically manifests itself in the form of another version of him. While the "self vs self" battles are hard fought physically it's clear the film identifies it as a mental struggle as well. Certainly there's layers to it on a philosophical level.

I also enjoy that one of the plot points of the movie is they're going to a location which Logan's daughter has seen in a X-Men comic she carries around in her belongings. The meta homage is a nice touch and I laughed at Logan taking a dump on the comics and saying "Only about 25% of this is real anyway". I wonder if that's a double wink to the people who feel that way about the movie portrayals of the comics? Might be looking too much into it.

At times bittersweet, heartbreaking, poignant, it's hard to find anything that's even bad about this film. The cast is so well put together and it's nice to see both Charles and Logan take on roles that they've never had in this long legacy, fatherhood and the unfortunate decay of old age. Stephen Merchant plays well in dramatic roles, as comedians seem to have a flawless time transitioning into. The young new actress portraying Logan's daughter is great in every single scene.

This is neck and neck with X2 as my favorite film in the franchise. If i'm honest this is the better movie but it's slightly edged out by X2 due to sentimental value.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>The Wolverine>X-Men: Days of Future Past>Deadpool>X-Men: Apocalypse>Logan>11>Dark Phoenix

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

76389
Deadpool 2

I've started to see other people do re-watches now that the new movie is out and a few are leaving out the Deadpool movies. I think that's a mistake if you're rewatching everything else.

Out of all the movies these may be the ones that are the least related to the others, or non canon to them, but there's enough in-references and complimentary material to the other films to make them worth the watch. Plus they're just good movies. Peters, McAvoy, Hoult and others literally reprise their roles as background characters for 3 seconds in the school. At the very least they're X-Men adjacent movies in the Fox timeline, and that's good enough for me.

The opening credits don't start til about 20 minutes into this thing but it feels natural when it comes. If you liked the first movie you're going to like this one, as well. It's more of everything. More comedy, more action, more characters.

The movie isn't weighed down by having too many people in it. Unlike X-Men where the idea is all these characters are supposed to be important and central to the story but lacking screentime, in this movie all the extra characters used to assemble the team are meant to be in and out pretty quickly, most leading to comedic deaths. Zazie Beetz steals this movie for me. I love Domino.

I think this movie has my favorite credit scenes ever. I usually don't laugh out loud when I watch funny things, sometimes I'll smirk but mostly I just enjoy the entertainment. This one gives me a gut busting laugh and I had already seen it before.

There's nothing better than Deadpool going back in time to kill the X-Men Origins version of himself and then kill Ryan Reynolds for reading the Green Lantern script. In a strange way, it also wraps up the post credit scene for Origins, too. We were lead to believe that Wade was still alive in the rubble at the end of that movie. Now he's definitely not lol.

I'll be going to the movies later. One more to go!

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>The Wolverine>X-Men: Days of Future Past>Deadpool>X-Men: Apocalypse>Logan>Deadpool 2>Dark Phoenix

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

You know,

In hindsight I should have made one of the Deadpool reviews a Green Lantern review, not addressed it at all, and then moved on to the next movie.

Someone should steal that idea.

[Slothy]

Could always edit it into one of the former reviews and copy paste the rest into the new order. Really mess with people who haven't read the entire thread.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

76390Dark Phoenix

I got to the theater at 10:30am and only 3 other families showed up. I know it's not opening weekend but it's the second Saturday. I'm not complaining. I love empty theaters.

And you know what? I loved this movie. I'll tell you right now it's in my top 3 X-Men films. This is being billed as the definitive end to the journey we've been on since the original X-Men. As far as I know, New Mutants is still meant to come out at some point, and potentially Deadpool 3? I'll be interested to see going forward what they decided to keep or reboot now that the films are in new hands.

Despite not having X-Men in the title, to me this has a classic X-Men feel that we haven't seen since the original trilogy. Storm, Cyclops, Jean, Beast, et all going on missions as a school. It's interesting the way things go without having Wolverine take center stage. Despite being central to Jean, I feel like everyone in this movie gets sufficient time to shine .

A little bit of time has passed between Apocalypse and now. Storm is an established member of the school, where as in the last one she was the big bad's lacky. Scott and Jean are head over heels, where as Scott was the new kid in school in the last movie. It's nice for them to have time to shine as a couple without Mr. Steal-your-girl being around. And they also brought back the Hank and Mystique relationship which previously only had breadcrumbs since they started flirting in First Class. They make a point to show that these 2 are the only veterans left from that movie who aren't the professor and Magneto.

There are a lot of fun scenes in this movie. Ranging from a mission to space in the X-Jet to a train fight, this group of mutants works so well together, especially when Nightcrawler and Quicksilver team up and show us a great scene of teleportation and speed closely timed together.

I think Sophie Turner does an amazing job in this film. Maybe it's the accent, but I don't see her as Sansa Stark when I watch this, and that goes a long way to enjoying the experience without imagining someone else. She also portrays the loneliness and isolation so well of someone who is uniquely strong with their powers and the ease with which it can hurt the people you love.

Jennifer Lawrence had this to say about reprising her role as Mystique for the 4th film:


My contract was up, I didn't have to do another one, but if I didn't do another one, what would her story be? I felt like I owed it to the fans, and I owed it to the character to follow her journey, to be fair to the movies, and not be like, 'I don't want to do another X-Men!' And then I just never show up and everyone's very confused about the Mystique they've been following for the last three films.

I think she did a great job. Everyone was great in this. The critics are hit and miss with the enjoyment of this movie, but honestly I didn't read into the reviews. Just saw the scores, ignored them, and enjoyed myself anyway. This franchise gets kind of a bad rap for not being good, but it's not really fair because people enjoy at least two thirds of every one of these trilogies.

I thought I'd end this with ranking them by favorites. Keeping in mind that I really don't dislike any of them, I definitely have an order.

1. X2: X-Men United
2. Logan
3. Dark Phoenix
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past
5. Deadpool 2
6. X-Men
7. X-Men: First Class
8. Deadpool
9. The Wolverine
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
11. X-Men: The Last Stand
12. X-Men: Apocalypse

Thank you for reading along with my thoughts over the past couple weeks. Maybe I'll do this with another series in the future.

Order: X-Men>X2:X-Men United>X-Men: The Last Stand>X-Men Origins: Wolverine>X-Men: First Class>The Wolverine>X-Men: Days of Future Past>Deadpool>X-Men: Apocalypse>Logan>Deadpool 2>Dark Phoenix

[Jiro]

As a casual fan of X-Men, Logan was definitely the film that felt most satisfying. It definitely benefits from a lot of external context, but I love that film. I'm also amazed that a franchise could have done so well with Professor X / Magneto twice. Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan are badass and lend so much gravitas to the earlier X-Men films. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are also incredibly talented and help sell the newer stuff really well.