Way back in the year 2000 Bryan Singer brought the X-Men to the big screen, and fair to say; it was a bit of a thing. Watching it more than 20 years later, it can feel almost low key, despite the stakes. The humble beginnings of what would become a massive franchise. In that respect it does make a great starting point, establishing many rich characters for audiences to follow. This includes some rather interesting relationships, including those between Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), and Rogue (Anna Paquin) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). While some don't get a lot to do here - and unfortunately some never really will - there is enough that we look forward to seeing them grow and develop in future movies.
In many ways, the plot is oddly generic, following the same pattern or structure as many superhero movies that had gone before it. But the threat posed by Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants actually holds up. It's even logical in a messed up kind of way. There isn't a lot of action to speak of, and the X-Men do seem limited to only using their powers in a fight, leaving them feeling a little out of their league. Thankfully this doesn't apply to Wolverine who - claws drawn - never fails to get stuck in, even if he occasionally bites off a little more than he can chew... or at least slash. This first outing also includes some of the best... shall we say... deployments of Wolverine's claws; how he uses them to pin the guy's neck to a post during the bar brawl, seeing that middle claw slowly extend towards his throat, not to mention his unique way of giving someone the finger.
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After his success with X-Men, Singer came back bigger and better with X2. From the off it's clear that this is going to be a very different movie to its predecessor. Nightcrawler's White House attack makes for a phenomenal opening to what is still one of the best movies in Fox's X-Men universe. Then there's the assault on Xavier's mansion. More specifically Wolverine's decimation of the assaulting force. It's great to see him let loose for a full-on rampage - minus the blood and gore, of course. The only thing is, every time I see it, I want more! But it isn't just the action that sets it apart, for X2 has a much darker and more sinister tone.
Whereas with X-Men you have two clear sides: those wanting to co-exist with humans, and those who want to rule over or exterminate the humans. Here everything's a little more complicated, the lines more blurry, with mutants on both sides - as well as some simply caught in the middle - forced to work together, because the humans are now getting in on the fight. Enter the magnificent Brian Cox as Colonel William Stryker, a man on a mission, and one who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Cox brings layers and intensity to what could have simply been an evil man, and while Stryker is far from relatable, you can at least understand where the man is coming from.
Stryker's plot to eradicate all mutants intertwines perfectly with Wolverine's search for answers - a story handled way better here than in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Unfortunately this does leave some characters, like Cyclops, with little to do. X2 also perfectly sets up the Dark Phoenix storyline with Famke Janssen's impressive portrayal of Jean Grey's struggles within herself. All of which leads to an incredibly emotional finale. It's just a shame that all of that build up, and the intrigue it created, was squandered.
If X2 is a perfect example of a sequel outdoing the original, Brett Ratner's The Last Stand is the perfect example of a movie rushed into production. Gone is the gritty, realistic setting that reflects the world we live in. Replaced with something more sleek, soulless, and bordering on absurd. Like how to advertise your super secret mobile prison. There are two major plotlines - the mutant cure and Dark Phoenix - both lack any real weight or compulsion. A lot of the major events have little to no effect on the story, mainly because they've been undone by the time the movie ends. So there's not even chance for a good character arc.
All of the major players look like they are contractually obligated to be there, and nothing more. Cyclops (James Marsden) and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) might as well not be in it. Rogue's story is handled very poorly. In fact, rather than exploring her feelings towards the cure in a meaningful way, they pay it mere lip service in what feels more like an easy way to side line a team member with a difficult power to write for, than an actual story. Angel (Ben Foster) was a big part of the marketing, but apart from spreading his wings a couple of times, does nothing. While the rest - many of whom have already played their characters at least once - all give good performances, they just don't really have anything interesting to do.
The only real positives to The Last Stand are seeing Storm (Halle Berry) as the leader of the X-Men, and Kelsey Grammar as Beast. Oh and that training scene in which Logan is flung at a Sentinel is quite fun. It also happens to be the only action scene - of which there aren't many - that's actually memorable.
At this point we travel back in time to get an idea of how one of the X-Men film franchise's favourite characters came to be. The only problem is: X2 already explored this story, and quite frankly, did a much better job. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a movie that truly deserved its Honest Trailer. Sure, Hugh Jackman is still great as Logan, the opening montage of his experiences throughout the many wars is pretty cool - even if it does gloss over a major part of his history - and Liev Schreiber is good opposite Jackman as Victor/Sabretooth. The movie also proved that Ryan Reynolds is perfect for the role of Deadpool... despite only being on screen for about two minutes before the character is completely butchered.
Other than that, there's not really anything positive to say about X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The story is anything but compelling, which is strange for the origin story of such a beloved character. It's not surprising to hear that the movie went into production without a completed script, and that changes continued to be made throughout the shoot. Too many details were changed from both the previous films (an ongoing trend with this franchise) and Wolverine's comic origins. What's with the whole 'finding his inner animal' bit? Since when did Wolverine have trouble unleashing his rage on anyone? But throughout the movie it's as if he's being held back like some very angry Scrappy-Doo. That first bout with Victor is painful - it's like he's not even trying. And don't get me started on his girlfriend's fake death.
Even after he gets the adamantium coating and lets the animal out, he's still all mouth and no trousers. A lot of growling and posturing, but he never really delivers on what he promises. Obviously this takes the fun out of pretty much every bit of action we get. Most of which is already pretty bad thanks to a heavy reliance on some crappy CGI. How is it that Wolverine's claws looked monumentally more real in a movie that came out nearly a decade before? Add to that a fire escape, a pretty mediocre chase scene, a couple of big explosions and the world's unluckiest bathroom and things start to look really bad.
Right, time to change things up a bit. How does a mutant/X-Men/Cold War spy thriller sound? Pretty awesome, right? We've seen how Logan got his claws, but what about Professor Xavier, Magneto, Mystique and Beast? How did they come to be involved in the fight for mutant rights? By saving the world from disaster, of course. The new cast does a fantastic job of taking over these roles - not an easy thing - as we explore the effect their varying upbringings had on who they become, not to mention their increasingly complicated friendship. Actually, given what an awesome origin story First Class is, it's almost a shame we know where this is headed.
Matthew Vaughn certainly breaks a worrying trend with First Class, in that every X-Men movie between it and X2 has been disappointingly mediocre. Taking the franchise in a new direction - as well as setting it in a new decade and giving it a spy movie aesthetic - was definitely a wise choice, although I do find the part reboot/part prequel approach a little odd. It's like they tried to both distance First Class from everything that came before it, and somehow tie it to those movies, all at once. They're almost like puzzle pieces that don't quite fit (another common trend with this franchise). Every character is recast - they kind of had to given the 60's setting - but Hugh Jackman makes a cameo as Logan. Maybe it's a subtle hint at the multiverse. Maybe it's just a little fan service and I'm reading too much into it. Who knows? It's just a little messy. But on the bright side, it does mean they get to expand on that chilling opening from X-Men, and seeing a young Charles (James McAvoy) using the opening monologue from that movie as a chat up line is pretty funny too.
Erik's suffering at the hands of the Nazis is a perfect introduction for Kevin Bacon's 'Sebastian Shaw' - a mutant with a powerful gift and the most interesting villain to grace this franchise since Brian Cox's 'Colonel William Stryker'. Shaw isn't simply a villain. In fact, even though he's willing to do some pretty evil shit to just about anyone to achieve his goals, he sees himself as the hero, the saviour of mutants. Although, even as a mutant struggling to fit into a society that hates and fears me, I'm not sure I'd want to live in an irradiated wasteland! His extremist mentality makes Shaw's relationship with Erik (Michael Fassbender) quite fascinating. Erik hates Shaw, despite the fact that he's just like him, and by killing him Erik essentially becomes Shaw. And credit to Fassbender, seeing him switch between the good and bad sides of Erik - both reasonably extreme - in an instant, is quite something.
Along with Shaw, First Class introduces a whole host of new characters, including Riptide (Álex González), Azazel (Jason Flemyng), Angel (Zoë Kravitz), Emma Frost (January Jones), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Havok (Lucas Till) and Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne). All of whom get to cause both the US and Soviet governments a little indigestion with their antics. But it's not until the cold war boils over that they really get to show what they can do with that epic finale featuring Hank's custom Blackbird and Magneto levitating a submarine. After which it's actually quite sad to see them all go their separate ways.
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But I have revisited it a couple of times over the years. The theatrical cut continues to disappoint, but the Unleashed Edition turns it into quite a different movie. For the most part it's an intriguing look into Logan's psyche, and the toll his long life has had on him, mixed with bouts of rage in which he decimates legions of Yakuza. He's not in a great place after the events of The Last Stand, as that fantastic opening would suggest. I really like his affinity with the bear, which makes his reaction to its unfortunate end quite understandable. It also means we get to see Wolverine going a little berserk. Something that - rather enjoyably - continues throughout, with the funeral scene, the train fight, and his final confrontation with Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada). Setting The Wolverine well apart from its predecessor. His hindered healing factor does take a little of the fun out of it, but at least his adamantium claws look real this time!
It's a shame then that after enjoying this slower paced, more character driven story about Logan struggling with his immense trauma whilst dealing with this incredibly fucked up family, that the movie falls back into mediocre superhero movie mode in the third act. Also, Hiroyuki Sanada should have been given a bigger role because he is truly vicious as Shingen, with some cutting lines that he delivers perfectly. But after their cool fight Logan must go deal with the knock-off Hulk Buster armour and his snake friend, in what is a surprisingly forgettable finale. Unfortunately, Mariko (Tao Okamoto) and Yukio (Rila Fukushima) are also forgotten, with the ending setting up Days of Future Past, they're never seen again. I can't help wondering, however, if what happened to Wolverine during that final fight led to his condition in Logan.
So this is as far as I got before Deadpool & Wolverine was released. But I will say that revisiting these movies has been a lot of fun. Sure, a couple of them aren't great, but for the most part this is still a highly entertaining film franchise. And I look forward to covering the remaining movies in the near future.
Click here to read my review of Deadpool & Wolverine.
Find Part 2 of my X-Men | Moustache ReWatch here.
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