With everyone’s favourite pre-sequel Days of Future Past having been released on DVD and Blu Ray this month, we decided to get our claws into the X-Men series. This will be a short review of all the X Men films and being that Days of Future Past may have people confused with the timeline, we’ve ordered the movies in timeline order (X-Men First Class then X-Men). 21st Century Fox announced that X Men Origins Wolverine would not be part of the X Men universe of films, probably due to it being distressingly awful.
X-Men: First Class (2011) Dir: Matthew Vaughn – Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence
Constantly being compared to the original X-Men and X-Men 2, First Class is often dubbed as the best of the series up until 2014. At the time of it’s release the franchise was on a real low and Wolverine Origins was very flat, especially coming off a mostly disappointing 3rd film. First Class breathed new life into the X-Men franchise. Wonderful direction and vibrant performances from the two leads make this a delight to watch. First Class is so fantastic it re-started the franchise starting off it’s own new trilogy. (8.6/10)
X-Men (2000) Dir: Bryan Singer – Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James Marsden
The first really serious comic book film that wasn’t Batman or Superman was unnervingly good, No one at FOX expected it to reach the incredible heights of popularity it did. After Batman & Robin, it was truly thought that comic book movies had gone the way of the dinosaur. It’s widely speculated that this film paved the way for all the comic book films we have today. As a film it’s solid, it hasn’t quite got the replay value but a good time for any first viewing. (7/10) ‘What’s a Magneto?’
X-Men 2 (2003) Dir: Bryan Singer – Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stwewart, Ian Mckellan
Like a sequel should do, X2 raised the stakes and made the series darker. An amazing step up, X2 built on the civil rights theme of the first. Introducing Nightcrawler the mutant with the ability to teleport made action sequences new and different to anything audiences had seen in the past. Characters are dealt with more maturely and developed better. Wolverine’s past is revealed and the team face new challenges causing them to fight alongside Magneto. An impressive film for it’s time X2 is a movie so well made, it’s surprising talking to someone born in the 90’s or before who hasn’t seen it. (8/10)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) Dir: Brett Ratner – Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ian Mckellan, Famke Jansson, Ellen Page
Well…it’s strange isn’t it?. First X-Men then X2, the films were getting increasingly better so as you can imagine the excitement for this film at the time was manic. But faster than Quicksilver can run, we learnt that all good things come to end. A disgustingly lackluster screenplay with absolutely pointless sub plots just to point out characters that aren’t important to the overall plot. Strip this film down to the bare bones (Phoenix Saga story, Angel, Beast, Kitty and Colossus joining the team plus a mutant who’s power suppresses other powers) this film had so much potential. (5/10)
The Wolverine (2013) Dir: James Mangold – Starring: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima
21st Century Fox made sure they wiped away the dreadful nightmares that Wolverine Origins manifested in the minds of comic book and X-Men fans alike. The Wolverine is a film that is genuinely cared for by the director. Even though most of us have had enough of ‘The Wolverine Adventures’ at this point, the film delivered the idea that the studio were on the up and getting us ready for something big next year. The Wolverine is well directed, well written and the background of Japan was a freshen up from the standard American cities we’re all weary of seeing. (7.2/10)
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) Dir: Bryan Singer – Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence…
Using hindsight to it’s advantage, Days of Future Past seamlessly binds all the best from the past X-Men films, even the two casts from the different time periods. Fast paced, funny and emotional. Despite Vaughn’s great job on First Class, you can tell with this film how much the series truly missed Bryan Singer. Also diversifying by adding a whole load of visually entertaining mutants like Bishop, Blink, Sunspot and Quicksilver. It’s almost perfect from the score, editing, visual effects to the script. A plot driven blockbuster is something everyone craves, it even solves continuity issues created by past films. (9.5/10)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhkJ77mJr28?rel=0]
Looking Forward; The next film confirmed in the X-Men series is X-Men Apocalypse. Set in the 80’s after the events of Days of Future Past, The X-Men will face an extinction level event. With the cast of the younger X-Men returning (James McAvoy and co.) plus notably Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine and Evan Peters as Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff and finally Channing Tatum appearing as Gambit for the first time. There will also be of younger versions of Cyclops and Jean appearing. Apocalypse will be in cinemas May 27th 2016.
Spin offs for X-Men include Deadpool (starring Ryan Reynolds), which is set for release in February 2016. The Wolverine 2, with Hugh Jackman reprising his role and James Mangold back to direct looks set for 2017. Gambit, starring Channing Tatum, has not yet had a release date announced.
Who’s your favourite mutant to feature in the X-Men franchise so far? Comment down below or tweet us @indie_pendent, and let us know!
Words by Levi Eddie Aluede