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

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

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

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

The Buildup: 

After the financial success of three X-Men films, and critical success on two of them, Fox was set to milk this franchise by producing origin story movies for some of the more popular characters like Magneto, Xavier, and Logan. This was touted to be the first in the spin-off series of movie designed to flesh out the stories told in the main trilogy. 

The Plot: 

Witnessing his father being killed, James Howlett discovers he’s a mutant with bone claws. He and his half-brother run away from home and serve in all the major US wars from Civil to Vietnam when they are recruited to a Special Forces team. Wolverine leaves the team and tries to live a normal life but when his brother and past come back to haunt him, he volunteers for a procedure that will give him an adamantium skeleton. He spends the rest of his time getting revenge for what happened to him, ultimately leading to the loss of his memory.
 
What went right: 

It started off seeming to follow his origin which had been recently revealed in the pages of Marvel Comics, and had an epic opening scene for the various wars.

Working The 3-Mile Island incident into the origin kinda fits in with the other movies in the way that they worked the Holocaust, JFK Assassination, and Cuban Missile Crisis into the plots.
Several major character origin plot points were shown in earnest and not just in flashback form.

What went wrong:

12-yr-old James could have had his first rage onset be a bit better scripted/directed. Wade’s faster-than-Jedi propeller sword slinging and Maverick (Agent Zero’s) backflip didn’t just push the bounds of believability – it stepped right over the line into ridiculousness territory. The Native American wolverine/moon story (Kuekuatsheu) was a little too on the nose, and it’s actually about a wolf, not a wolverine. The movie kinda shied away from connecting Victor to the Sabretooth from the first movie, even though comic fans knew. An explanation for why Victor became Sabretooth (like a memory wipe) would have been nice.

In the same way that we didn’t need an origin for Han Solo’s blaster or Chewie’s bandolier in the Solo movie, we also didn’t need one for Logan’s dogtags, especially since the movie implies that Striker made them while Logan is just waiting there in the water. Same goes for his jacket. Naming the old lady Heather Hudson was a bad attempt at fanservice/easter egg because it didn’t fit with the comics, and we would only know her name if we read the credits.

Weapon X as being the Roman number 10 had been a recent thing in the comics and it immediately became movie lore. Same goes for Emma Frost and her diamond skin thing.
Stryker’s facility doesn’t resemble the Alkali Lake set from X2 very much, and somehow, the claws looked worse than the past 3 movies. It seemed like the producers tried to cram almost every action movie cliché into this one – Zero’s backflip, motorcycle escape out of exploding barn, claws to do a 180, Zero’s jump into the helicopter, jump to kill helicopter in slow motion, lighting the trail of gasoline and walking away from the explosion without looking, the jump punch to knock out Blob, and so on.

The fight with Gambit was only in the movie because the pacing guide for the script dictated it in the same way that Jon Peters said there needs to be an action scene every 10 pages (or whatever), and it became Crouching Cajun, Hidden Cardshark during the fight with his “telecardnesis” and “stick climbing” abilities.

Making Emma Frost sisters with Silverfox is just lore breaking and mind bogglingly stupid and inconsistent with comics and future movies, and Xavier walking makes some inconsistencies with future films, and there’s not really a reason to entangle Cyclops into the story – we can have Wolverine’s origin and not include everyone from the roster.

Blob was never part of the Weapon X team (I realize this is a change from the comics and that’s not necessarily a bad thing but it feels like they included him just to include him), meanwhile Silverfox (Kayla) should have been on the team.

Deadpool was really done dirty in this film. They had the perfect actor to play him and they squandered it in the worst way possible. And having 10 powers combined was just a stupid idea to begin with. That said, if DINO (Deadpool-in-name-only) had Cyclops’ powers, adamantium claws shouldn’t have been able to stop the beams, even if the director/producer thought they were heat blasts instead of concussive blasts.

An adamantium bullet as mind-wiper was just a very, very dumb way to set up Logan’s amnesia and contradicts his X-ray in the first film which didn’t show 2 bullet-holes.   
 
What I would have changed:

I would have just adapted the Weapon X story from Marvel Comics Presents in the early 80’s along with the James Howlett stuff that had recently been printed which inspired the first 8 minutes of the movie. There was already a great story there – I don’t see why they had to just make new shit up for no reason.
 
 
 
 
 

The Wolverine (2013)

The Buildup: 

After a couple of disappointing films, the X-Men franchise scored a hit with First Class, and now they’re going back to the well of the most popular character to try another solo movie.

The Plot: 

After being forced to kill Jean, Logan has become a recluse in the woods and vows to not hurt anyone else. He sees flashbacks of his time saving Yashida’s life during the Nagasaki bombing, as well as hallucinating conversations with Jean. He is taken to Japan to bid farewell to a now aged and cancerous Yashida, and charged with protecting his granddaughter Mariko. The Yakuza stage a kidnapping at the funeral, forcing Mariko and Logan to run and hide while his healing powers have strangely disappeared, and it all smells of a sinister plot involving Yashida.

 What went right:

Setting most of the movie in Japan. Hugh Jackman looks even better as Wolverine this time around, and he gets to kick plenty of ass (in a PG-13 manner) while taking in the Japanese culture/scenery. We got to see Mariko and the Silver Samurai, which were important characters to Logan in the comics.

What went wrong:

Viper’s acting is a tad on the cheesy melodramatic side that would fit well in a CW show, but not a major movie like this.

The last act of the movie was a bit cliché with the whole using Mariko as bait in a trap. After two acts that had some good writing, it felt like they gave up and just resorted to typical 80’s action movie fare.

The Silver Samurai as a giant "Iron Man" suit specifically designed to cut off and drill out Logan’s claws was a bit contrived, as was the magical sword that required two hands to work for some reason.
 
What I would have changed:

Let Harada be the Silver Samurai instead of Yashida, and followed the story of the original comics a little more closely. Make Shingen the main villain. Not that the movies need to reproduce every beat and line from the comics – it can be modernized and a few details changed around. But build the story around the established characters using the original story as a framework and alter it to fit within the movie continuity.  

Logan (2017)

The Buildup:

On the heels of The Wolverine, Days of Future Past, and Deadpool, it appeared that the X-Men franchise was experiencing a bit of an upswing in quality. This was touted as the first R-rated Wolverine movie, so expectations were high to see some better action.

The Plot:

In a world where mutants are increasingly rare, Logan is earning money as a limo driver while taking care of an aging Xavier and aided by the mutant tracker Caliban. The plan is to live on a boat away from society so as to not let Xavier’s powers hurt people, and Logan only needs a bit more money to make it happen. He takes on a job to drive a woman and young mutant girl to Canada, but gets involved with some dangerous people who want the girl, who also has claws. Logan helps get the girl to her safe haven in Canada, losing friends and himself along the way.

What went right:

The girl who plays Laura absolutely nails her role and is terrifyingly fierce as a young female Wolverine clone. The action is far more realistic because they didn’t have to stick to a PG-13 level. Hugh Jackman’s acting was on point for both his rage and his pain and suffering.

As usual, we got to see a few new faces, such as Rictor, the Reavers, and Donald Pierce. Whereas Origins: Wolverine movie was about 1/3 good, and The Wolverine was about 2/3 good, this movie was excellent the whole way through.

What went wrong:

While I like the concept of the Old Man Logan story, he shouldn’t suddenly be aging and catching up to Xavier so quickly, and Xavier should be a bit older for the timeline to make sense.

I kinda disliked the X-Men comics appearing in the X-Men film, as it’s a bit too on the nose for my taste. It would be like making a comic book over the Johnny Depp/Amber Turd trial. I also somewhat dislike when movies include other movies or TV shows whose themes are similar for the same reason.

What I would have changed:

While I liked Stewart’s performance in this, I would have eliminated Xavier from the story completely. It’s just weird to think that one of the last two X-Men alive would be Xavier, given his age. If anyone, it would be Logan and Cable. But I think there could have been enough story with just Logan and Laura on the run without Xavier. Cutting him out of the story would just necessitate a few small changes to why Logan was working as a driver. 

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

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

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

X-Men: First Class (2011)

 
The Buildup: 

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: 

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 4 - Deadpool/Phoenix Trilogy)

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

 

The X-Men Quadrilogy of Trilogies

While there were a few landmark pre-2000 superhero movies like the first Batman and Superman films, as well as things like Spawn and Blade, the current superhero movie craze that is currently starting to die down began in earnest with the release of X-Men, followed closely by Spider-Man. So I’m going to do a few articles about this set of movies. This is one of those projects that I started back during Phase 2 of the MCU but never completed. So now is as good of time as any. 

X-Men (2000)

The Buildup:

As I’ve mentioned before in other posts, I was out of the country and didn’t find out about the X-Men movie until literally during breakfast of the day I was heading to the airport to go back home after more than 18 months of living in Japan. While I was excited, I was also sure that it would most likely suck and I would have to justify liking it in the same manner as I did something like Condorman or Supergirl.

The marketing around it was cautious. It assumed that most people didn’t know what mutants are or who the characters were, so it very distinctly told them who the good guys and bad guys were in no uncertain terms. Outside of Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry, it didn’t look like the star-studded cast that I assumed it would have been. It took me a while to figure out that Jean was Xenia from Goldeneye, and I later learned that Toad was Darth Maul. Rebecca Romijn was somewhat known to my brothers for her notoriety in marrying Uncle Jesse and having also been in Austin Powers 2, but all of that (again) happened while I was abroad so it was totally new to me. I learned that Sabretooth was going to be played by a former pro wrestler who I’d never heard of, Rogue was someone who had been in an artsy-fartsy Oscar-winning movie in the mid-90’s as a kid, and that pretty much everyone else was unknown, so I wasn’t overly optimistic. I was particularly worried about an unknown playing Wolverine, especially since he was Australian.

But, it turns out, it didn’t suck. In fact, it was pretty good. While I would say it wasn’t a total home-run, they at least didn’t screw anything up. Outside of the uniform color changes, just about everything was a somewhat streamlined and simplified version of the story and characters from the comics and animated series. It was also a good jumping-on point for newcomers who knew nothing of the X-Men or Marvel comics.

The Plot:

The world is beginning to find out about mutants: people who were born with powers that manifest themselves at puberty. The story follows Wolverine, who seems to be wanted by a group of mutants (led by Magneto) trying to establish themselves as the dominant species on the planet. He then meets the X-Men, a group of mutants (led by Professor Xavier) who have a school to train young mutants to live in harmony with “normal” people. Magneto doesn’t want a modern-day repeat of the concentration camps of WWII with mutants and tries to mutate the world leaders. The X-Men use their abilities and technology to stop Magneto’s group from causing harm.

 

What went right:

It took the source material seriously, and didn’t shy away from code names (for the most part). It had some of the most popular characters and didn’t overdo it (meaning, it didn’t come on too strongly for normies or have required reading to understand things, nor did it have too many characters to keep track of, which is something I kinda thought might happen because there’s so many good characters to draw from).

It was made (I think) for a mostly new audience who had never heard of the X-Men before, and was able to communicate this world’s rules and mutant-related issues really well.

The change from yellow spandex to black leather was probably the biggest difference, but it was needed to help normies buy into the superhero concept and evolve it past capes and molded rubber suits. Wolverine poking fun at the names/costumes somewhat helped.

The special effects were good, and it had a nice plot twist with Magneto and Rogue, as well as the love triangle between Logan/Jean/Scott. The main villain was relatable and not just power hungry.

While most of the actors were pretty good in their roles, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, and Ian McKellen nailed their roles as Professor X, Wolverine, and Magneto respectively.  I was particularly worried about Wolverine because I heard that Jackman was Australian, so I thought they were going down the same road as Pryde of the X-Men as far as his accent/personality went.

What went wrong:

The main criticism I had of the movie at the time was that there was not enough action, and that Sabretooth and Toad aren’t “actors” as much as strong/stuntmen. The one glaring problem with some of the stunt-work  that stands out is when Toad climbs the train station walls it’s pretty obvious that he is just being pulled up a rope.

Storm’s hair/accent wasn’t great and could have used some more development time. Also, for someone with a healing factor, Wolverine spent the most time of anyone being knocked unconscious.

The flip side of appealing to normies is that it skipped over a lot of really good history and characters to start in the spot that most people wanted, meaning it didn’t begin with the five original students and somewhat follow the comics from there – it kinda spotlighted a whittled down version of the 90’s team. But I understand why it was done.

What I would have changed:

Mainly I would have fixed Storm’s hair and gotten rid of the accent, or given her a few more weeks with a dialect coach (and maybe hung out with Alison Sealy-Smith from the animated series).

I also would have written that it was Jean who stopped the bullet when Magneto fired the gun outside of the train station. Then Magneto would have said, “I don’t think SHE can stop them all,” before cocking every gun. That seems much more impactful and gives her a reason to be in the scene other than to be Xavier's chauffeur. 

The music was a bit subdued and conservative, so I would add a few more recognizable tracks to the score.

 

  

X2: X-Men United (2003)

The Buildup:

There was a little more excitement about this film, as this was no longer something new to most viewers and didn’t have to serve as an introduction. The superhero movie concept had been elevated since the first movie as well as the Spider-Man movie so expectations were high. The director stated that this is the film he wanted to make, but felt like the first one was kind of a 2-hour trailer for the sequel. In anticipation, X-Men 1.5 was released on DVD that had the original movie plus some extended scenes and previews for the sequel.

The Plot:

Wolverine continues to search for clues to his past, while Professor X is dealing with the aftermath of Magneto’s plot from the first movie. Colonel William Stryker has declared war on mutants and uses any means necessary to eradicate them. The X-Men find themselves temporarily homeless, leaderless, and in the precarious position of having to team up with their enemies for the common good.

What went right:

It picked up the story a few months after the first one ended and seemed like a genuine continuation, and all main actors stayed in their roles (only notable changes were Kitty, Jubilee, and Pyro, who got a much larger role in this movie), with a few new characters including Siryn, and Colossus.

It had a much improved score by John Ottman, which instead of replacing the motif from the first film actually expands upon it and made it more epic. The use of Dies Irae during the attack on the White House was particularly good, as well as showing most of that scene from the POV of the Secret Service. Nightcrawler was excellent in this scene.

There is good allegory to being a mutant is like being gay (or whatever), and it made a good point about not having to permanently stay looking “normal.”

It had one of the coolest jailbreak scenes put to film, as well as Wolverine having a berserker rage.

There are some nice easter eggs for longtime readers, it fixed Storm’s hair/accent issues from the first film as well as expanding her role, and had a great teaser for the Phoenix Saga at the end leaving me wanting to see the next one right away.

The script was good enough that it made us almost start rooting for the villain, and it had just the right amount of action in it. It was adapted from a graphic novel called God Loves, Man Kills.

 

What went wrong:

There was a distinct lack of Cyclops in the film, and Nightcrawler’s interaction with his mom was a bit weird if you knew.

There are a few things that the writer/director didn’t quite think all the way through (because dealing with superpowers opens up a can of worms) such as Iceman being able to help Jean at the end, or what happened to the kids Colossus helped after Wolverine took the car and escaped, or the fact that Wolverine should have been able to smell that it was Raven and not Jean in the tent.

Cracking the neck as shorthand for healing factor is kinda cliché, and Rogue’s continued inability to use a seatbelt properly was a little silly, but most of these things are pretty minor.

 

What I would have changed:

Had something about Iceman and Storm trying to help Jean in the last scene but say something to the effect that it was just too much water to freeze/control all at once.

Maybe add one more scene with Cyclops evading capture and sneaking around before finally being caught and controlled, and I would have thrown in a structure collapse preventing escape from the dam at the end that he has to blast through to give him a little more to do.

 

 

X3: The Last Stand (2006)

 

The Buildup: 

With two successful X-Men and Spider-Man films each in the books, the anticipation for round three was even bigger. However, unbeknownst to the general public, there was a lot of background studio drama that severely affected how this film turned out involving executive Tom Rothman’s pissing match with Marvel Comics’ Ike Perlmutter.

 

The Plot: 

Jean comes back from the dead tremendously powered up, and Magneto intends to use her as a weapon. Meanwhile, a scientist has developed a cure for mutants, which has caused a rift in mutantkind. The X-Men deal with both problems when they collide together, as well as dissent from within after the death of Professor X and Cyclops.

 

 

What went right: 

Storm, Colossus, Iceman, and Shadowcat all got more action. The Danger Room finally made an appearance, along with the Fastball Special and Sentinels. Iceman finally iced up all the way. Kelsey Grammer nailed his role as Beast, and some of the chess themes continued.

 

What went wrong: 

A lot, and a significant chunk of it can be put at the feet of Tom Rothman, a Fox executive who had been embarrassed by Bryan Singer’s success with the previous films. Their pissing contest led to Singer’s firing and James Marsden’s and John Ottman’s departures. What was left was a mishmash of a script combining ideas for what was to be (I assume) the third and fourth movies together. They combined the Cure story with the Dark Phoenix (and skipped right over the first part of the Phoenix saga) while giving neither story the time to develop properly. The Dark Phoenix saga is the clearly bigger and more well-known story, but it took a back seat to the Cure, and turned Jean into Stephen King’s Carrie, Alcatraz edition. Because both stories were happening simultaneously, it required cross-country teleportation to make any sense.

The new production also brought along with it a bloated cast with a director who didn’t know how to do an ensemble movie in the same way that, say, the Russo Brothers could have done. I also noticed that there is a lot more yelling in this film between the X-Men. Maybe a reflection of how the production was going?

Callisto is given a combination of Caliban and Quicksilver’s powers. I’m not against new characters, but there are so many good characters to draw from there’s no need to just make shit up. Apparently there’s a girl with purple hair that is called Psylocke, but she’s never mentioned by name, does anything, or says more than 3 words. Why include her? Also, their take on the Juggernaut was marginal at best, but what makes it worse is the inclusion of internet meme culture for a cheap laugh (“I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!”).

Angel’s story might as well not have happened as he never really did anything that impacted the characters or story, and he felt “tacked on” for the sake of having a founding team member represented in the movie. It seemed like parts of the movie were there for shock value (like Xavier dying out of nowhere) and others were there because the script template said there had to be an action scene every five pages.

While I liked Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, she is now the third actress to portray her, which makes it seem like there wasn’t a lot of forethought put into casting during the last two films. In other words, I wish it had been her in all three movies. Though there was one bad part with her – when she was escaping Alcatraz with Leech she should have fully expected to phase through the wall, but she instead braced for impact because it wasn’t a CGI wall like the others she walked through to get in. And we suddenly get a “power level” system that isn’t explained at all, making it seem more like technobabble from a sci-fi movie.

Finally, the post-credit scene is vital for future movies but it wasn’t well advertised to watch past the credits so I think most people still don't know about it.

 

What I would have changed:

So much. But the major things would be to keep Bryan Singer on as director, and make the Cure story the main plot point, with Jean’s resurrection and transformation into the “good” Phoenix part of the development, then save the Dark Phoenix story for the 4th movie. Keep Xavier and Cyclops alive.

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

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

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

Nintendo Systems (Collection Part 3)

Zelda Manga (Collection Part 1)

Zelda Games (Collection Part 2)





Onto Hardware!

Now that my Zelda collection was basically complete, I wanted to have a Nintendo collection. No, not one of every game or anything crazy like that - just one representative from every system so that I could kinda have my own, “Museum of Nintendo” exhibit at my house similar to the one we had collectively done at the 3DS meetups.

Side note: I had the same attitude about hardware that I had about games, and a lot of it stemmed from being cheap or thrifty (your choice). Once I had a Game Boy Advance, I felt that I could play any GB, GBC, or GBA game on it so there was no need to spend the money on a slightly better unit (the GBA SP / Micro) that only added a backlight to games instead of letting me play a new/different set of games (or worse, took out backwards compatibility), and I couldn’t really afford/justify the purchase of a DS when they came out due to college/employment/family financial concerns. I just wanted to get by on minimum hardware. So a GBA and a 3DS would suffice for any Nintendo handheld game, for instance. Had I known that the only Zelda games for the WiiU were going to be HD remakes, I might have skipped the console entirely (though I’m now glad that I didn’t).

I decided to not take a Game Boy with me when I moved out on my own because 1) I had the Super Game Boy to play all of my Game Boy games, and 2) because in my mind they were owned by the family and not just me, though I now wish I had taken one because I suspect my brothers wouldn’t have missed them anyway. But at the time of the original model GBA releasing, I felt even less of an urge to keep one of the original Game Boys. 


Anyway, when it came to hardware, I was mainly missing variations of systems and a couple that needed replacing. The original NES and three Game Boys my family owned had long since been scrapped, so I bought an NES from a local store and a Game Boy from eBay. The other variations of things I needed include:

• the original “fatboy” DS
  
  
  
• DSi and DSi-XL
• 2DS and 2DS XL
• 3DSXL and NN3DS (the non-XL one)
• Game Boy Light (only sold in Japan)
• Game Boy Color, Pocket, and Micro
• SNES-101 (aka SNES Jr.)
• Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini
• Switch Lite

(like I said, it's mainly variations and revisions of stuff I already had)

While having boxes for each of these would be nice, I think I’m going to only get a couple of reproduction boxes for some of the main representatives (like getting a DS Lite box to represent the entire DS line).

I have procured more than half of the list, and at the moment I’m only in need of the Game Boy Pocket and Micro, the 2DS and 2DSXL, and the 3DSXL and NN3DS. As these are a bit more expensive, getting some of these is going to take a bit longer because I’ll have to save up my self-imposed allowance to pay for them. I anticipate editing this particular part somewhat often as I get closer to my collection goals. 

Since the N64, release dates have been pretty much simultaneous between Japan and North America, and the hardware has basically been identical. But I kinda think having a Famicom / Disk System and Super Famicom / Satellaview would be a nice piece to add in the future. (Update: Got everything including a Famicom, Famicom Disk System, Super Famicom, Satellaview, and a DD by Summer 2023)

And then finally, the last thing I’ll need is proper display shelving and space to put all of it in, as well as ways to hook them all up when needed. I figure once one of the kids move out and we can reclaim their bedroom I can turn it into a bit of a museum. But all of that is several years into the future so I have time to think about it.

Zelda Games (Collection Part 2)

Zelda Manga (Collection Part 1)

Once my Zelda Manga series was nearing completion, I turned my sights closer to the original source material: the games themselves. Now, I have (almost) always had all of the games in some form, and some way to play them basically at all times. The few exceptions are getting the original Legend of Zelda after owning A Link to the Past, a 6-month gap between Four Sword Adventures coming out and getting it for Christmas, and not being able to play the DS games due to not having a DS. But what I prioritized was being able to play a game in some fashion, and not necessarily having every version. Like comics, I was less interested in the merch but was into the puzzles and story, so I didn’t rush out and get Ocarina of Time 3D when it first came out just because of some quality-of-life improvements and upgraded graphics. There wasn’t any new content or more Hyrulian history to learn about so I didn't feel compelled. Likewise, if Four Swords hadn’t been included, I might not have gotten the GBA port of ALttP.

As another example, I didn’t really feel the need to own the Zelda Collector’s Edition because it seemed redundant due to still owning the original hardware and cartridges in working condition (and being able to also play them on the Wii VC). Nor did my wallet feel the urge to get both the Wii and GameCube versions of Twilight Princess, because it was basically the same game other than being mirrored. I only bought the GBA re-releases of the NES games because my son had a GBA and I didn’t feel like hooking up the NES.

So once I set my sights on obtaining a complete collection, I started off by making a list and noting the things I was missing. These were things like the GameCube version of Twilight Princess, the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild, a physical version of Wind Waker HD (I only had the digital version up to this point), and the Collector’s Edition disc. All of this would be a bit of spending so I gave myself a $100 per month limit, both to avoid putting us in the poor-house and to make the collection process more fun by spreading it out over several years rather than all at once.

This would complete the games, but to make them a bit more presentable, I found a shop that specializes in making reproductions of the original game boxes as well as the instruction manuals. So I added those to the list of things to buy. Luckily, I still had all of the boxes and manuals from Ocarina onward, so I really only needed to replace the boxes for the NES games, ALttP, both versions of Link’s Awakening, and the GBA re-releases of the NES games.

I figured I might as well do the same for the spin-off games as well, so I imported the 3 Tingle DS games from Japan, got the 3DS and Switch version of Hyrule Warriors, bought a Game & Watch Zelda, and found a seller who made physical copies of the BS-X games along with custom manuals and boxes. Unfortunately, the CD-i games were prohibitively expensive, so I resorted to making my own versions of the discs and jewel cases, knowing full well that they would never be played. My work was . . . adequate, but then I learned of a British place that made much better replicas, so I ordered some. And for the three other games that only got digital releases (FS:AE, TMTP, and MNP:TP), I made custom cases using Photoshop and some cheap cases I got from a used game store.

In addition, I also got Japanese versions of the first six games (including both disk and cartridge versions), the Japanese FSA (because it has Navi Trackers), and a set of the Barcode Battler II cards for ALttP. The only thing that doesn’t have a box is the Nelsonic Game Watch. I could buy one with the packaging, but I’m still a bit too cheap at the moment and would rather spend my money elsewhere. Perhaps in the future, maybe. But all of this wrapped up in April of 2022 with a complete Zelda game collection.





What’s next? I’m glad you asked . . . (Part 3)

Zelda Manga (Collection Part 1)

As I’m writing this, it’s the summer of 2022. For the past couple of years, I’ve aimed my collecting habit in a particular direction, and it should come as no surprise that it ended up pointing at Zelda.

As a side note, I think I’ve always had the collecting bug. When my mom bought my brother Matt and me a baseball card starter pack, I wanted to get all of them, despite not knowing a whole lot about the MLB. Later in life it turned to X-Men Cards and then Comic Books. At one point around 2002, I was collecting Sobe bottles.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

But about three years ago, I decided to invest into some Zelda stuff. When it comes to branded merchandise, I’m not usually one for stuff like mugs, pillows, keychains, stickers, etc. My love for the series is centered around playing the actual games and the joy of completing quests and solving puzzles, and not around wearing a different Zelda shirt each day of the week to advertise my geeky-ness. While having some of that stuff is nice, it’s not the actual content. As another example, the reason I was reading/collecting X-Men comic books is for the art and the story, not for the merch. So a Wolverine telephone wasn’t something that I would purchase myself, but I got one for Christmas. Truth be told, had the money been spent on 10 back-issues that I didn’t have, I probably would have been more excited.

So even though spending money on a Hyrule Crest window decal wasn’t all that enticing, the thing that caught my eye are the Manga books, specifically the ones by Himekawa. And the difference is that this isn’t just some typical Zelda-themed item of something I already owned – like a T-shirt, drinking glass, or Rubik’s Cube – this is actual new content that, admittedly isn’t canon, but related to and based on the original games.



Once I had made that decision, I started out by making some lists from information I found on a few Zelda fansites and let Anne know about my plan. I asked for a few of them for Christmas and Birthdays for the next few years and have slowly been amassing the ones that have been translated into English. At the moment, I have all of them except for the last two volumes of the Twilight Princess series, as well as the 4-book set of hardcover books made by Dark Horse (Hyrule Historia, Art & Artifacts, Encyclopedia, Creating a Champion).

For nearly all of the other non-translated stuff, I have digital scans that I have found in various places on the internet. It should come as no surprise that in Japan there was a lot more material available that didn’t make it to the West. Maybe someday I’ll get actual prints of these. Despite formerly having a grade 6 reading level in Japanese, I don’t know that I want to spend the time meticulously going through one of these books in its original language, so I’m kinda sticking to the English stuff.

There are a few other adventure books and comics that came out in the 90’s, mostly somewhat based on the Animated series. If I had known about them, known where to buy them, and had money to do so, I might have bought them back in the day. But finding out about these kinds of things in a pre-internet era small town would have been rather difficult, plus I don’t know if I would have kept them in good shape all of these years.



Anyhow, I’ve read all of them except for the Twilight Princess ones – I’m waiting for the series to conclude before diving in so that I don’t forget details along the way.



And that got me started onto something else . . . (Part 2)

(Or skip ahead to Part 3)

Deep Mode instead of Hard Mode

Many games include a hard mode, which often is just a matter of increasing enemy health/strength/accuracy, and decreasing the player’s health/defense. Occasionally it will also include more/harder objectives (like 00 Agent mode on Goldeneye007). Several of the Zelda games can be pointed to with their “Hero Modes” that don’t give the player recovery hearts on top of the aforementioned enemy buffs. Capcom apparently thought that Mega Man 2 was too difficult for the NA release, so it had an easier mode labeled as “Normal,” which lowered enemy hit points, with the original mode called, “Difficult.” While I appreciate that developers include these options, I also think that the way it’s done for most games is kind of a lazy way of doing it. What we need is a Deep Mode for serious gamers who have hundreds of hours to dedicate to the game, and a Casual Mode for those who only want to spend 5-10 hours (or less) on a game and be done.


This is similar to the oft-repeated argument that there should be a “dad-server” of sorts for those of us who want to play and enjoy a game without the necessary 300 hours of practice needed to “get gud.” This is beneficial to those who only get a couple hours a week for gaming or for those who dump 10-15 hours into a game before moving onto the next one. To give a sportsball analogy, it would be no fun to show up to a neighborhood pickup game of basketball and have Steph Curry or LeBron James on the other team, which is why they have their own elite league. Nor would it be any fun if a game of chess required that both players to know what the Benoni Defense is before being allowed to play (full disclosure: I have no idea what that is - I just googled it). 

In Dark Souls, when a new weapon is found, the player is greeted with a page of statistics about it. By comparison, Breath of the Wild whittles the weapon stats down to one number, so it’s easier to compare which weapon is better. That works great for small kids (who don’t need a 16-point breakdown of every item) and dads (who don’t have as much time). The thing is, there actually are those stats in BotW but they’re just not shown to the player. Croton on YouTube has done several videos breaking down hidden stats of each weapon and shield, like its breakability, shield-surfing speed, and how the game calculates what Link can and can’t block. Personally, and because I’m such a Zelda aficionado, I would have liked a deeper weapon/armor rating and upgrading system, but I can see how for a lot of people, less is more, and its simplicity probably contributed to its mass appeal. On the flip side, for something for which I’m not heavily invested (such as Dark Souls), I would appreciate some simplified gameplay and a better tutorial. I know that the point of the series is to be insanely difficult, but a casual mode would open doors for a wider audience that might not have discovered their love of the games if there is always such a steep learning curve.


Besides weapon/armor stats, here are some other ideas I had for Casual Mode;


Weapon Crafting - Weapon crafting was simple in the fishing game on 3DS Mii Plaza (Ultimate Angler) - Rod A combined with Rod B produced Rod C and there was a simple chart showing how that happened. Games like Fallout or The Outer Worlds have a whole page of stats for weapons and the crafting system is deep and intricate. Games that have crafting could have an option for either a simple or detailed system.


A Standard Ending - Instead of having 8 endings depending on choices made or completion time, have a “regular” ending for those who only want to go through the game once and not try every class/combination of characters or speedrun through it. 


Streamlined Skill Tree - While some people enjoy tweaking every little decision with characters and their abilities, games could have just a “normal” path that takes some of the decision-making out of the ordeal.

There could be other things, depending on the genre. More narrative-driven games could have more obvious in-text clues, or in adventure/exploration games there could be a companion guide of sorts. 

So what I’m proposing is that in addition to a difficulty selector (one that increases enemy health/accuracy), there could be a second option for Casual Mode that is good for kids/dads/beginners who just want to have fun or Advanced Mode for serious players who are already veterans of the series/genre.