MZ's "X-Men" franchise review bonanza...

[Neil]

Well, I recently saw the Wolverine movie, then I got the X-Men trilogy box set (I'd seen none of the X-Men movies until this past week) - and as such, here's what I thought of the whole lot (in chronological order, which was also the order in which I saw them): X-Men Origins: Wolverine: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05...wolverine.html X-Men: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/x-men.html X-Men 2: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/x-men-2.html X-Men 3: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/x-men-3.html For the most likely naff all people who've not seen X3 yet, this review/musing contains a bunch of spoilers. Aren't you missing one (now)? AICN is raving about it! eg: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/49887

[Mitchified]

I know this is kind of an old post and whatnot, but since it's been revived from the dead, I wanted to comment on one part of the Wolverine review: For someone, such as I, who hasn't seen anything X-Men before (but was aware of it), Origins fills in all the right blank spots at the same time as acting as good fodder for the fans. The movie didn't act as good fodder for the fans. In fact, the vast majority of X-Men fans and Marvel fans in general have panned the movie because of what it did to a number of fan favorite characters. There's reinterpretting of the material, and then there's whatever the hell Wolverine was. The biggest criticisms are aimed at the portrayal of two characters, Gambit and Deadpool. In the comics, Gambit is Cajun and that's a big part of his characterization, but in Wolverine he's got some sort of hillbilly accent and acts like a goof. You have to keep in mind that Gambit is in no way a minor character; for years the major argument between X-Men fans was who was the better character, Gambit or Wolverine. His relationship with Rogue has been one of the most important threads in the series for over twenty years now. Now you have this movie that basically portrays him as a throw away character that's there for comic relief. While I'm not necessarily as disappointed in Gambit as some people were, I completely understand and agree with the heavy criticism leveled at how the movie portrays Deadpool. It actually starts out okay. Ryan Reynolds is a perfectly serviceable Wade Wilson. It's when they start adding in a bajillion superpowers and MAKE HIM MUTE that things start getting out of hand. Deadpool is basically known for one thing and one thing only: his mouth. He delivers more one-liners and insane comments per comics than any other character in the history of the industry. The Fourth Wall basically doesn't exist where Deadpool is concerned; he's constantly talking directly to the reader and interacting with things outside of the comic itself. So when they made him some serious villain that couldn't speak AT ALL, they completely pissed all over the character and his fans. As for X-Men: First Class, it's the best X-Men movie by a long shot, and I'd go so far as to say that it's Marvel's version of the Dark Knight.

[MinionZombie]

Neil - I'll pimp my thoughts on First Class as-and-when, but I saw it yesterday and I rather enjoyed it. Loads better than Last Stand, and easily better than Wolverine. Fassbender was particularly impressive - and there's a couple of nice cameos (that I won't spoil). Full thoughts in due course. Mitch - well considering I was reviewing Wolverine before I'd seen any of the X-Men movies, then that explains an awful lot doesn't it?

[Mitchified]

Mitch - well considering I was reviewing Wolverine before I'd seen any of the X-Men movies, then that explains an awful lot doesn't it? Well, um, not really in this case. I mean, it would if I was simply saying that it was the worst of the X-Men movies, but I'm not (well, it was, but that's not what my point in my post was). I was simply pointing out the heavy criticism that the movie has received from X-Men fans in response to your comment that the movie was "good fodder for the fans". It wasn't. It basically ignored the fans and source material to the point that some of the major characters were completely unrecognizable. In short, crap is crap. With that said, I did enjoy the reviews for the most part. I disagree with some points, such as when you state that the pacing in X2 was off, but they were still a good read.

[MinionZombie]

And what I was saying was that the "good fodder for the fans" comment was based on me seeing Wolverine prior to the actual X-Men movies (I wrote the review several days before getting around to posting it, by which time I had started watching the X-Men movies for the first time, but I wasn't arsed-enough to re-write my review based on watching the movies) - so the comment was coming from a position of seeing Wolverine purely on its own (and going on what friends of mine said about it at the time compared to the original movies, which they'd seen, but I hadn't). Plus - look at the word I use - "fodder" ... which doesn't exactly scream "100% prime beef quality" - 'fodder' means bulk food for animals, or indeed buy-in-bulk cheap anything - and also "A consumable, often inferior item or resource that is in demand and usually abundant supply". Now there's crap fodder, but there's also good fodder. Wolverine is inferior to X1 and X2, but it's easily above X3, and even after watching it a second time I felt it was still good fodder, even if it wasn't particularly great. Glad you liked the other reviews anyway, but of course these are more "musings" if you will ... more off-the-cuff generally, and first impressions have more of a sway perhaps. Also, I'm not mad-keen on X-Men personally. I liked the movies (X2 was definitely the best one, while X3 was definitely the worst by a country mile), but I never read any of the comics or watched any of the cartoons growing up.

[EvilNed]

I'm kinda amped about First Class, actually. I thought Wolverine was a serious setback for the series.

[clanglee]

First Class was just wonderful. From a fan's perspective. . yeah. . they changed some things. . but all the changes felt right and made sense. There was a little cheeze, but in total the movie felt like the most "adult" Comic/Movie since Dark Knight. I loved it.

[Neil]

First Class was just wonderful. From a fan's perspective. . yeah. . they changed some things. . but all the changes felt right and made sense. There was a little cheeze, but in total the movie felt like the most "adult" Comic/Movie since Dark Knight. I loved it. I liked "First Class" but I prefered 1 & 2...

[MinionZombie]

I liked "First Class" but I prefered 1 & 2... My full thoughts on the flick here: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2011/06...e-musings.html X-Men: First Class: The first two movies were good-and-great respectively, but the third (Last Stand) was cobbled together style over substance, and then Wolverine was decent fodder but it curiously lacked the depth of X1 and X2 ... and, odder still, it lacked the x-factor (if you'll excuse the pun). Now with this sort-of-reboot for the franchise, we're transported back to the era of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the birth of the X-Men themselves. The script bounds along quite nicely, although at times it does feel a tad overloaded with characters - which results in the weaker side characters (Salvadore, Banshee, Darwin, Havok) falling into "don't care" territory as our primary focus (and that of the filmmakers) is the main cast of characters, at the heart of which are the young Professor X (Charles) and the young Magneto (Erik). The latter is played thoughtfully by Michael Fassbender, who is fast carving out a career as a quality mix between character actor and leading man. Indeed, it is the central duo (the other half charmingly played by James McAvoy) that provides the main thrust for the script with a growing schism between the two men and how the mutant/human relationship should be carried out. The movie is most impressive when it is busy delving into the motivating experiences of the leads, and once again the best work in the movie in this respect comes from Fassbender, who really sinks his teeth into the seething want for vengeance possessed by his concentration camp survivor who, as we all know, goes on to become the revenge-fuelled Magneto. It's this superhero-version of the civil rights movement (or indeed any discrimination felt by many in our society) that makes the X-Men franchise stand out, and such deep concerns are key to this prequel. I initially groaned at the idea of First Class, but down the line here (with smart direction from Matthew "Kick Ass" Vaughn), it makes a lot of sense. While X1 and X2 were probably just a bit better, First Class entirely blows Last Stand out of the stratosphere with ease, and easily beats the not-as-good-as-it-should-have-been Wolverine. In fact, you could go so far as to say it's up there with X1 - although X2 remains the pinnacle of the lot.

[Neil]

Seems we basically concur then