X-Men: First Class (2011)
After
two movies that weren’t regarded very highly, this new release was intended as
a do-over and a prequel, showing the origins of how the X-Men were formed in
the first place. It's widely believed that many of the ideas that were going to be used in an X-Men Origins: Magneto movie that was never made were recycled here and added more elements of Xavier's origin to the mix.
The Plot:
Charles
Xavier and his adopted sister are recruited by the CIA to help them deal with
some mutant problems they have been having. They uncover a plot to send the
world into a war, orchestrated by an ex-Nazi scientist. Xavier and his new
friend Eric gather a team of mutants to prevent this from happening, but Eric’s
desire for revenge and mutant superiority fractures the team and results in
Charles losing the use of his legs as well as losing his sister’s loyalty.
What went right:
What went right:
This movie was overall very good, with some very
accomplished actors giving great performances. We got more Beast and his
backstory (which was similar to the comic origins), and how central he was to
the technology of the X-Men, including suits and jets. We also get some more
characters new to the movie universe, namely Havok, Banshee, Azazel, Angel
Salvadore, and others. But the main focus is on Magneto’s origin and the
formation of his friendship with Xavier.
The X-Men uniforms are comics accurate, though they’re intended as flight suits with some added tech for Havok and Banshee, and there’s also a comics accurate Magneto helmet. Wolverine’s cameo is particularly good.
The history of the X-Men is worked into the Cuban Missile Crisis, just as it had been with the Holocaust and Three-Mile Island incident in previous films. The story is compelling, and the writing is excellent, and it shows how Xavier was paralyzed by a stray bullet.
What went wrong:
The
Xavier and Eric recruitment scene contradicts a similar one in X3 when they
visit the Grey household (unless it’s implied that Magneto is an
on-again/off-again comrade). In fact, there are several continuity-breaking
details, such as Xavier’s paralysis pre-dating his visit to a young Jean Grey
or rescue of Cyclops from Stryker, and the Emma Frost in this movie can’t also
be the Emma Frost that was Kayla’s younger sister from Origins: Wolverine.
Speaking of Emma, January Jones was a dreadful choice for Emma Frost. While she is easy on the eyes and can be dressed up to look the part, she is a terrible actress and recites her lines while tilting her head and blinking like a typical dumb blonde. I’m still not in love with the decision from the comics to have secondary mutations (making Beast more lion-like and Emma’s diamond ability), and it makes it worse with the diamond mental shield she can cast around Shaw.
This new story makes Havok an earlier student of Xavier’s than Cyclops, who had always been the first student in the comics. I know the movies don’t have to follow the comics exactly, but it would be like retelling American history and making Thomas Jefferson the first president or something.
The bullet being the reason for Xavier’s paralysis was more grounded than a psychic battle with Lucifer or the Shadow King, but directly contradicts scenes in both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X3 which show a much older Xavier walking.
Making Prof and Mystique siblings was an interesting choice (seeing how it was never mentioned in any of the movies thus far). While Xavier and Mystique never interact directly in the original trilogy, he did see her with Magneto while reading Senator Kelly’s mind, and might have mentioned that his adopted sister was helping or something.
What I would have changed:
Making Moira an American CIA agent instead of Scottish
geneticist was an odd choice, and seemed like they just took a pre-made script
and changed the character names to ones from the comics. I would have picked
Valerie Cooper instead, as she was actually a government agent.
Beast being able to run so fast and lap Xavier during training was kinda unnecessary – he’s not Quicksilver. It should have been something besides running, like maybe climbing or parkour.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
The Buildup:
After
a reboot of the continuity and a successful Wolverine movie, this one was going
to tie it all together. In addition, the title and main plot points come from
one of the most well-beloved and highly regarded story from the X-Men comics
history. It also hails the return of Bryan Singer, who shepherded the X-Men
onto the silver screen with the first two movies.
The Plot:
The
future is bleak where mutants are hunted to extinction by Sentinels. A small
handful of X-Men avoid getting captured by mentally projecting the date and
time of their deaths to their younger selves, who change locations after being
warned. Once joined by the other remaining X-Men and Magneto, they do the same
thing to Wolverine, sending him back to the 70’s to change one event that is
the lynchpin to the development of the deadly Sentinel technology. Wolverine
must change the past, while his teammates provide protection.
What went right:
We get to see new characters like Quicksilver, Blink,
Bishop, Sunspot, and Warpath, as well as Iceman’s ice slide and Magneto
fighting alongside the X-Men again. The Quicksilver scene in the Pentagon was
spectacularly done.
Sentinels are way scarier in this movie than they ever were
in comics and cartoons. The events are once again tied into real history,
including the end of the Vietnam war, the JFK assassination, and Nixon’s
presidency.
They explained the rules of the time travel and why it had to be Wolverine. What's not explained, however, is how his claws are back to being adamantium after losing them in Japan.
It fixed all of the stupid decisions made in X3 and Origins:
Wolverine, and restored the timeline to how it should have been. It had both eras of
X-Men movies going simultaneously. This could also be the explanation to fix
why some things in First Class contradicted continuity with other movies – that
this starts them on a different timeline so events happened differently, though
it’s never directly addressed.
What went wrong:
I understand why they included Kitty as the one sending
people back in time (since it was she who was sent back in the comics), and why
Bishop was the messenger (also a time traveler), and why it was Wolverine
in the movie (he can heal and he’s also the most popular character). But what
they don’t explain is how Kitty got such powers, when she could only walk
through walls before.
The serum that inhibits powers also giving Xavier his legs back was a little odd. It’s not made clear how the two are connected.
What I would have changed:
To fix the leg-restoring but power-inhibiting serum, I would
have made Xavier depressed instead of a drug addict. Combine the loss of legs
with the loss of students in Vietnam and that’s enough to make anyone lose
hope. I know part of the arc was to have Xavier lose his way and have to find
it again, including the use of his powers, but I would have said that he is so
depressed that he can’t use them because he’s not in between rage and serenity
(referencing what he told Magneto in First Class).
I also would not have had Stryker's eyes flash yellow after Wolverine is pulled up out of the water. It would draw a more direct line between what happened in this movie and where he ended up in Apocalypse (even if I wouldn't have made that movie). As it is, it seems like Mystique rescues him (like she did to Alex and the others in Vietnam) and Logan somehow still ends up in the Weapon X program with Stryker.
Other than that, just explain how Kitty got her new time-traveling projection powers.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
The Buildup:
After the post-credit teaser for Days of Future Past, many comics fans were
looking forward to seeing Apocalypse, one of the major and more fantastical villains from the comics. The movie being directed by Bryan Singer gave it some additional clout, as he had been involved in 4 of the 5 good X-Men movies thus far.
The Plot:
A mutant from Ancient Egypt who was sealed in a tomb is accidentally released by Moira. He befriends Storm, learns of humanity, and declares them to have lost their way. He finds four mutants, including a reformed Magneto whose family has just been killed, and powers them up as his Horsemen. Meanwhile the X-Men get a few young recruits, and they are called upon to save the world from this existential threat when Xavier is taken by Apocalypse.
What went right:
This
movie helped bridge the gap between the First Class cast and younger versions of the X-Men cast, making the series a little more cohesive. In particular, having Havok introducing
Cyclops to Xavier helped connect the movies together (even if it bugs me that Scott is the younger brother in this continuity).
Seeing Wolverine in the Weapon X getup and properly kicking some more ass (PG-13 style) was satisfying as a brief cameo. James McAvoy finally allowed his head to be shaved for the finale of the movie. John Ottman once again gave us a good score.
We get to see Storm, Nightcrawler, CIA Moira (though I still would have preferred Valerie Cooper), and Angel/Archangel again, and quite a few other small cameos. The character bits and setup from the heroes side of things isn't too bad in the first two acts, but the villain setup is rather clichéd. Overall, about half of it is pretty good but the bad parts are pretty bad.
I think it's safe to say that Cyclops being introduced differently than how it was depicted in Origins: Wolverine is not a continuity break as everything post-DoFP should be different. However, this doesn't apply to First Class continuity errors.
What went wrong:
I know destroying the mansion every couple years happened in the comics, but it felt unnecessary here. And even though it was only the second time in the franchise, the Quicksilver
scene felt like going to the well one too many times. The cage fight between Nightcrawler and Angel also seemed like a retread of how we first met Wolverine.
Near the end it seemed like it fell into the clichéd floating garbage rings in the sky as a way of demonstrating a world-ending event. In fact, that seemed to be Magneto's whole purpose: to throw garbage into the sky until it was the right time as determined by Apocalypse. The plot was very by-the-numbers and wasn't very inventive, even though it was loosely based on the Fall of the Mutants crossover from the comics.
Apocalypse wasn’t nearly menacing enough - he should have been much bigger physically and the voice modulation should have been on all the time (like he was in the psychic plane). In the "real" world, he had very vague powers that seemed to be whatever the script required. Defeating him was a matter of throwing enough colored light powers at him simultaneously. Sophie Turner was not great as Jean Grey, and while Olivia Munn looked perfect for Psylocke, her acting wasn't very good nor was Storm's, which mainly consisted of grunts other than the scene of her and Apocalypse getting acquainted.
It teased Mr. Sinister (one of my favorite villains) but just gave us blue balls because the movies never delivered on this (except for New Mutants, and the less said about that film the better). Even though they were more comics accurate, some of the costumes looked like cheap rubber foam. And there were probably one too many winks toward the audience (like Cyclops saying hoping they never run into Wolverine again, or Jean saying the third movie in a series is the worst).
The ending teased the Phoenix story again, which I had hoped they wouldn’t touch and just leave well enough alone. I much prefer the original concept of the Phoenix (a cosmic entity that inhabits her body) and not the retconned one that has been used in the movies and recent comics. She's too overpowered at too young an age.
And while it's not as bad as Superman's "brick-building vision" from Superman IV, Jean and Magneto just putting the mansion back together like it was a Lego set is kind of silly. And they leaned in kinda hard on the dramatic entrances, slow-motion, and turns/reveals.
What I would have changed:
This might be controversial, but I just wouldn’t have made
the movie at all. I would have just ended the X-Men series on a high note with
Days of Future Past and the, “ . . . happily ever after,” ending that they
showed. Honestly, even after owning the movie on Blu-Ray for several years, I
still haven’t seen it since watching it in the theater until reviewing it for this post.
The X-Men Movies (Part 3 - Wolverine Trilogy)
The X-Men Movies (Part 3 - Wolverine Trilogy)
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