The X-Men Movies (Part 4 - Deadpool/Phoenix Trilogy)

The X-Men Movies (Part 1 - Original Trilogy)

The X-Men Movies (Part 2 - Prequel Trilogy)

The X-Men Movies (Part 3 - Wolverine Trilogy)

Deadpool (2016)

The Buildup: 

After years of being denied a second chance at the role, Ryan Reynolds “leaked” some test footage onto the internet once Tom Rothman was gone from Fox. He and the director arranged to get a small amount of funding to make this happen, and it looked like it was going to be almost perfectly comic accurate. The movie was releasing on Valentine’s Day, so some of the ad campaign made it seem like a love story so men could get their unaware girlfriends into the theater. Another side of the ad campaign were videos about testicular cancer checks from Deadpool on YouTube.

The Plot: 

Wade Wilson is a smalltime mercenary who falls in love with Vanessa before finding out he has cancer. In an effort to save his loved ones the pain of seeing him die, he opts for an experimental treatment that turns out to be a operation that makes mutant soldiers sold as slaves. In the process he gains phenomenal healing and regenerative abilities but is left permanently scarred. Taking the name Deadpool, he works his way through the criminal underworld to get revenge on the people who transformed him and kidnapped his girl.

 What went right:

Just about everything. Deadpool was perfect in this. It exactly encapsulated the character, his antics, fourth-wall breaking, and inability to shut up. The story wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but it didn’t need to be – a simple revenge story mixed in with a love and kidnapping subplot was plenty. Plus, Wade and Vanessa had great chemistry together.

We got to see Blind Alfred, Vanessa (Copycat), and a comics accurate Colossus (finally). Negasonic Teenage Warhead was changed from the comics version of a telepath and precog to be closer to something like Cannonball. Gina Carano was a brilliant choice for Angeldust, as it was very believable that she knew how to throw a punch.

There were plenty of jokes poking fun at the Fox producers, Reynolds' past role of Green Lantern, how terrible Deadpool was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the confusing X-Men timeline, etc.

What went wrong:

A few jokes didn’t land as well as they could have, and some of the funniest bits were kinda spoiled in the trailer.

What I would have changed:

Not a damn thing.

 

 

Deadpool 2 (2018)

The Buildup: 

Deadpool is back and he’s got some new friends this time, as well as a bigger budget since the first movie was so profitable. Deadpool took over Blu-ray releases, as all of the cardboard slipcovers were replaced with Deadpool versions of basically every Fox-produced film at stores like Wal-Mart. Fans of the first movie know what to expect so there wasn’t a fakeout campaign, though there was a PG-13 re-release where Deadpool read the story of Deadpool 2 to an adult Fred Savage in a recreated bedroom set from The Princess Bride with the proceeds going to cancer research.

The Plot: 

After a job goes badly, Vanessa is killed in a revenge hit, sending Wade in a spiral and he ends up being an X-Men trainee after attempting suicide. Meanwhile in the future, Cable’s family is also killed by a fire-powered super villain, so he uses a time-travel device to return to the present to take the bad guy out while he’s still a kid. Wade ends up attempting to save the kid from Cable, while teaming up with Domino, Colossus, and Negasonic before finding out who the real villain is.

 What went right: 

Mostly everything again. More fourth-wall breaking, referencing the Logan movie's success, and poking fun at the Origins: Wolverine movie. Seeing the Juggernaut and Cable done properly.

What went wrong: 

The movie had a few more jokes that didn’t land than the first one. Due to the plot being about Vanessa’s death, she had very little screen time despite being one of the bright spots of the first film.

What I would have changed:

Cut the budget by a few million and see if it turns out better. I somewhat feel like the budgetary constraints the first movie had forced the director/writer/Reynolds to be more creative, and with an increase in budget a commensurate increase in quality wasn't there. 

 

 

Dark Phoenix (2019) and The New Mutants (2020)

The Buildup:

I went in to Dark Phoenix expecting a train wreck, and I got it. The only reason we went was because we were meeting family in Vegas on the weekend it released and we had 4 hours to kill before checking in to the hotel, and there was air conditioning in the theater. I watched New Mutants once at home after downloading it, because it kept getting delayed because of Covid, the Disney/Fox merger, and reshoots. 

The Plot:

Don’t Care. I couldn't tell you what happened despite having watched it. Didn't even buy it on DVD. 

What went right:

There's always a new character to see on screen. 

What went wrong:

A lot. 

What I would have changed:

Like Apocalypse, I just would not have made either movie, period.

The Wrap Up

The X-Men franchise is about half and half when it comes to good, quality superhero movies. I'm glad that they were able to enter the scene and pave the way for Spider-Man and the MCU movies, and I'm happy that when I refer to something from the X-Men in conversation there's a decent chance the person will know what I'm talking about, which wasn't the case when I was in high school. But I would rather them have made fewer movies that were good than more that are mediocre. If we just excise Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix, and New Mutants from the onscreen canon, then what we see is only a couple of bad movies (X3 and Origins) whose problems were eventually fixed with time travel in Days of Future Past. 

As much as I have always been a little pessimistic about Fox's handling of the franchise, I'm not super optimistic about it being in the hands of Disney at the moment. For now, I just hope they give it a rest and let people absorb what's come so far before shoving more down their throats and giving everyone superhero fatigue from bad movies.