Now in all honesty, the X-Men films aren't the greatest in superhero films and I say that because even with all the special effects, the amazing cast line up and so forth, it all comes down to the writing of it. Now in my opinion, the first few films were great, but I think after the third film came out, it all went down hill from there and I'm not just saying that because everyone else said it. As some of you will know, I've already looked at First Class and I've got nothing wrong with that film, but I think that 20th Century Fox are putting far too much effort into these films, thinking that we want more of it and honestly, a lot of us do, but only because they can do so much better than what they give us, but I've gone on too long. Let's take a look at the X-Men films:
X-Men
Serving as the first instalment in the series of films yet to come (at the time anyway), we start by looking at Magneto in Poland 1944 (and for anyone who watched First Class, this scene is nearly the same as the first scene in that film) who gets separated from his parents and tries to use his magnet powers to bust the gates open, but fails. We then cut to the present day where a girl named Marie (played by Anna Paquin and we later know this character as Rouge) is spending time with her boyfriend, but accidentally reveals her mutant powers when they hug, causing her boyfriend's life force to be absorbed, thus killing him. At a press event, a man believes that some kind of act should be passed to allow mutants to reveal their identities to the public, but that is never mentioned again until later on in the film ( not sure if that would count as a Big Lipped Alligator Moment, but it's close). Marie then comes across a man called Logan (played by the only actor to have appeared in all the X-Men films so far, Hugh Jackman), who we later know as Wolverine. The 2 somehow get ended up in a fight with Magneto's forces (Magneto by the way, is now being played by Sir Ian Mckellen) but are saved by Cyclops and Storm (played by James Marsden and Halle Berry respectively) who take them both to the X-Mansion where they then join the group simply known as the X-Men, a team of superheroes who fight for peace with the human race. But sooner or later, Magneto's forces cause a stir with the X-Men and so its up to the team of mutants to put an end to his ways. Overall, this was a pretty good film. It stays true to the comic books, gives us a good back story for some of the characters and does exactly what an X-Men film should do, by having Magneto as the main antagonist. 9/10
X2
I think its fair to say that this film is basically a matter of survival. Proffessor Xavier (who I forgot to mention is played by Patrick Stewart) leaves with Cyclops to see the imprisoned Magneto to find information regarding an attack on the president of the US. This as a result, causes the X-Mansion to be vulnerable and a military force starts to raid the place to capture and subdue the students, however Wolverine is able to stop this from happening and manages to put an end to some of the soldiers and saves a number of children in the process. For the remainder of the film, the X-Men must find and put an end to the culprit responsible for the attack, but have to do it by forming an alliance with Magneto and his forces. Overall, the idea of survival and revenge is a good idea, but has been used in the past. Nevertheless, its a good film that continues to do what we expect from a sequel. 9/10
X-Men: The Last Stand
As the title suggests, this is basically the X-Men VS The Brotherhood in an all out war with each other. The film starts off with some back story to Jean Grey (played by Famke Janssen in the first 3 films) and a new mutant called Warren Worthington III (played by Ben Foster). Then we go to the present where some company have created a cure to allow mutants to lose their powers and become human. While there area few mutants that show an interest in the cure, some feel that its horrific. As such Magneto forms an army that he calls, The Brotherhood of Mutants whom after finding Jean Grey's body, go to war against the X-Men who are outnumbered and lost without Professor X helping them (for reasons that are revealed later on in the film). Now in all honesty, this was the first X-Men film that I saw and I was really confused with it all. There are some good special effects in this film and the fight at the end was good, but ultimately, having now watched the other films, it can be a very confusing film that shows the downfall of what once was, a great series of films. 8/10
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Now initially, I would think that this would be the start of many origin films, but instead, only one was made. The film serves as an origin story for the character Wolverine and while Hugh Jackman pulls off a great performance as always, there are just far, far too many inconsistencies with the rest of the trilogy and a lot of WTF moments. But otherwise, the special effects are great as always and as I said, Hugh Jackman's performance is great too. 7/10
The Wolverine
So in Fox's attempt to try and give Wolverine a better dedicated film than his origin one, we get this film. This film takes place after the events of The Last Stand where Logan has been feeling in a way, guilty for the death of a woman he once loved. In 1945, somewhere in Japan, Logan saved a solider from an atom bomb that exploded nearby and several years later, a woman called Yukio (played by Rila Fukushima) takes him to see Yashida (played by Tao Okamoto) who is the head of a multinational technilogical corporation and the solider that Logan rescued. He is taken to him so that he can say goodbye, but also gets an offer to give up his immortality so that Yashida can be cured. One thing leads to another and then Logan is given the task of looking after Yashida's granddaughter from various gangs, criminals, a woman/mutant called Viper (the actress's name is too complicated to spell) and other things. Now in all honesty, I thought this was a sort of filler instalment with character development going into Jackman's character whom as always, pulls off another great performance. I liked the film because of all the action and the venerable Wolverine thing going on, but it's not one that will please everyone, in my honest opinion. 8/10
So while there are still films being made for this series, I actually like it. Its no where near as good as the Avengers universe (mainly because of the lack of humour throughout the majority of the films as well as it being far too serious), but its a good enough adaptation of the superhero team that does them justice. 8/10
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