Re-Watch: All 6 X-Men Movies: From X-Men (2000) to The Wolverine (2013)

In preparation for what is probably the movie I am looking forward to most this year, X-Men: Days of Future Past, I thought it made sense to review all 6 X-Men movies thus far. I debated going chronologically but I think it would be confusing so I'm going by release dates. There will be spoilers here, the purpose of this post is to catch up before seeing the new X-Men film.

It's time to prep for DAYS OF FUTURE PAST!

Up first is....

X-Men (2000)

Ah, the start of it all. What a beautiful beginning. This was back before superhero movies were so popular and this film kicked off the entire X-Men universe.

X-Men Poster

This film follows Rogue and Wolverine, two mutants with special abilities, as they make their way to Charles Xavier's school for the gifted. Xavier is one of the most powerful mutants in the X universe having the ability to read and control things with his mind. Xavier, or Professor X, and his team are up against Magneto, an equally powerful mutant with the ability to control metal. Magneto wants to make the rest of the world mutants too, he wants mutant equality and thinks that the only way to get that is through terror and force. Wolverine's power of healing and his adamantium claws make him an invaluable weapon in this fight as well as Rogue's ability to absorb other mutant's powers through skin contact. Much to Rogue's dismay, she can't touch people without hurting them, though. Xavier's X-Men stop Magneto before it's too late and all's well in the X world, for now.

Xavier and Magneto play chess a lot. It's a thing. They're old friends.

This movie has a great cast and does a good job at balancing so many characters in one film. It's a fun universe with a nearly infinite amount of different X-Men characters to choose from and add to various movies. The filmmakers did a good job of staying true to the comics here and it's a great beginning to a franchise. X-Men is directed by Bryan Singer, stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (among many, many others. Halle Berry, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, etc.) It has an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X2: X-Men United (2003)

My personal favorite X-Men movie, the opening sequence is wonderful and amazing. Why can't Nightcrawler be in more of these films?

This poster is all about the hair. Yes, even you Bobby Drake.

This sequel has the X-Men uniting (get it? the title of the movie...) with Magneto and his team to fight against William Stryker, an evil militant man who makes it his mission to use Xavier and Cerebro, his mutant locating machine, to get rid of all the mutants. Stryker is the key to Wolverine/ Logan's mysterious past and how he came to have adamantium throughout his entire body (don't worry that whole story will be explained in X-Origins: Wolverine). Stryker put all the metal throughout Logan's body long ago and he is also responsible for Logan's lack of any memory. The team works together to stop Stryker from killing all the mutants but Jean Grey gets trapped and "killed" letting the X-Men escape from an exploding dam.

Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler.

This movie does a great job continuing to build up the X-Men franchise, there's lots of new mutants and the story is interesting and well-done, the acting is superb, it's better than the first film. This movie is a great example of how a sequel should be done, especially for comic book films. It's one of the best. This movie is again directed by Bryan Singer stars all the same people from the previous film plus Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler and a few others. It's at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

The downfall of what should've been an excellent triology, this movie falls flat of doing anything worthwhile to continue to build up this series. Let's remember what went wrong...

Angel's wings take up half the poster.

This time the X-Men must deal with a mutant cure that some scientists have created from a mutant who's power is to suppress other people's abilities. The film builds up to a suspenseful (somewhat?) climax of Xavier's X-Men versus Magneto's Brotherhood. Mutants must decide between giving up their powers and joining the human race or joining Magneto in fighting a war against humankind. Jean Grey is alive and has transformed into her evil and powerful alter ego, Phoenix (one of my favorite Marvel characters!). She is collected by Magneto and she is the powerful key to their battle against the humans. Mutants added to this film include Angel, Beast and Juggernaut. In the end, Wolverine kills Jean Grey, the woman he loves, in order to stop her destruction of humans and basically everything. It leaves the mutants disheartened, many of them killed like Cyclops and Jean Grey. Xavier is also seemingly dead but in the end of the film during a post-credits scene it is hinted that perhaps he actually is still alive.

Logan getting ready to kill Jean Grey/ Phoenix.

The reason that this film doesn't work is because all of the heart and emotion from the previous two films is gone and replaced with action sequences and explosions. There is a different director this time around, Brett Ratner taking the helm. The acting is still well done and the fact that the previous two films were so good is partly what carries this one but it's not enough to make this film great. It lacks the beauty and precision of Singer's films. It's at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

The title pretty much says everything about this movie. It's an origin story. Unfortunately it's the weakest film in the X-Men canon. Everyone loves Wolverine, right? I'm pretty sure this is the thought process behind those responsible for choosing this as the next X-Men movie.

Gambit, Deadpool and Wolverine in one film? Where did this go wrong?!?

This film tells the origin of Wolverine, his brother Victor and how Wolverine got to be the lonely wanderer we met in the beginning of X-Men (2000). Basically, Wolverine aka James Logan and his brother Victor Creed both have sharp claws and healing powers and were born prior to 1845. They travel through wars together (the beginning sequence of them throughout the various wars is a highlight of the film, actually) and fight along side each other. They are found by William Stryker during Vietnam and he convinces they to join his team of mutants. They travel to find a meteorite in Nigeria and when the group uses unnecessary brutality on the local townspeople, Logan leaves. We find him years later living with his girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox, leading a quiet life. Victor is hunting down members of the old team, long disbanded, and Stryker comes to warn Logan about "someone" killing off the group. Stryker uses Logan's anger at learning that Victor is killing the mutants to put the adamantium in Logan's skeletal system.

Post-Op

Logan hears that they are planning to kill him and use his DNA and healing to create something more powerful. He escapes and is hunted down by Stryker's team. Some of the old team is still alive and Logan looks to them for help in finding Stryker and hunting him down. Logan learns that Gambit is the only one to escape from Stryker's prison and he takes Logan there. Logan learns that Victor and Kayla were both working for Stryker and that Stryker is building an "all powerful" mutant. He had Victor help him collect dozens of mutants and he put their powers into a single body known as Weapon XI. Weapon XI is formerly Wade Wilson, a member of the old team, aka Deadpool. Kayla helps Logan free all the imprisoned mutants and he goes and fights Weapon XI controlled by Stryker. Victor helps Logan out and they both defeated him by chopping his head off. Kayla dies and Stryker shoots Logan in the head with an adamantium bullet erasing all of his memories. He only knows his name by the dog tags around his neck saying Logan on one side and The Wolverine on the other. Stryker lives for now but is later killed off at the end of X2.

He was a great Deadpool.

I like all the different mutants and fan favorites, Gambit and Deadpool, in this film. The shame is that once they turn Ryan Reynolds into Deadpool they stitch up his mouth so he can't talk. Deadpool's smart mouth is one of his best qualities in the comics. The general dislike of this film is due to the story and it's lack of originality. It's too cliché and makes the film difficult to remember an hour after seeing it. (I had to go back through a plot summary to remember all these points to type up here). Once Victor and Logan separate in the film it loses it's focus and can't regain the momentum. Liev Schreiber delivers a great performance and Hugh Jackman is great as always in this role, he's played it enough times to have an incredibly strong grasp of the character. The film is directed by Gavin Hood and has a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X-Men: First Class (2011)

For all intents and purposes this movie is a reboot for a struggling franchise... and it succeeds! First Class breathed a much need new breath of life into this series.

I HAD to choose this poster because everyone's face is ridiculous. That's also why I made it so large.

This film follows the beginning and inception of the X-Men from Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, and Erik Lensherr/ Magneto, played by Michael Fassbender. It shows how they met and how they were once friends. Kevin Bacon plays the bad guy here, Sebastian Shaw, and it's so nice to have a fresh new villain to deal with in this movie. It makes the plot much more interesting and sustainable for the story here to make sense. The film is set in 1962 and the military enlists Xavier's help to stop Shaw from starting World War III by releasing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Magneto holds a grudge against Shaw who killed his mother in front of him during WWII when he was held in a concentration camp. Magneto often gets blinded by his need for revenge, a need that Xavier does not share and it ends up tearing apart their friendship in the end. BUT! Before that happens they work together to try and recruit other mutants to help them and fight against Shaw together, i.e. the First Class of the X-Men. I should mention that Mystique was taken in by Xavier when they were young children and he helped to raise her but in the end of the film she leaves him to join Magneto who has gone a separate way from Xavier. They end up stopping Shaw and killing him but Magneto changes and becomes the vengeful mutant that we know from the previous films and it breaks apart some of Xavier's team who decide to join Magneto instead.

See look, they're playing chess again. I told you it's a thing.

There's lots of great mutant characters in this film. We get to see how Hank McCoy turns into Beast, there's Alex Summers who is brother to Scott Summers (Cyclops from X-Men 1 and 2), Emma Frost and many others. The act is superb here, each of these actors knows how to use their craft in the best possible ways. The script here is strong, logical and most of all fun. The cast isn't mostly men anymore with a few women thrown in for good measure, the females here are powerful and can definitely hold their own. The best part of this is all the cameos. Hugh Jackman even makes a cameo giving him the right to say he's been in every X-Men movie. The movie is directed by Matthew Vaughn and has an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Wolverine (2013)

The most recent X-Men film, The Wolverine takes place chronologically AFTER The Last Stand giving us a nice reprise from two back to back prequels.

ARM VEINS!!!!!

This film is a solo film and is done very well. It's difficult to break the audience away from the group cast format of all the previous X-Men films but this movie's successfully storytelling could open another branch for the franchise to create more solo films... Deadpool??

This film follows Wolverine as he struggles with accepting killing Jean Grey (remember, in Last Stand?) and he is called to Japan by an old acquaintance who he met during WWII. Wolverine is living a completely secluded life out in the woods when he's found and collected by Yukio to go to Japan and say goodbye to Yashida, an old friend of Wolverine's. He saved Yashida's life and Yashida saw Wolverine's healing ability first hand. Now old, Yashida wants to take this healing power from Wolverine so he can live forever and Logan can live out the rest of his life normally. Logan refuses but one of Yashida's people, Viper, comes into Logan's room that night and suppresses his healing power so now he can be injured. Logan also meets Mariko, Yashida's granddaughter. They end up having a stereotypical, she doesn't like him but he is entranced by her and she helps him get over Jean and they have a thing, etc. etc. Yashida dies and Mariko will inherit everything and be the most powerful person in Japan. She is constantly captured and we find out that her own father was trying to kill her before the will was read. Mariko is taken by Viper to one of Yashida's facilities in the mountains. Logan removes Viper's "curse" on his healing power and Logan is back to normal. 

This is the giant samurai that Logan fights.

Viper leads an army of black-suited ninja's that Logan must fight through in order to reach Mariko at the top of the facility. He passes out due to the ninja's having arrows dipped in poison. He wakes up in the facility and he is strapped down. Viper tells Logan that Yashida was stocking up on adamantium due to his obsession with Logan's skeletal system and he built a giant mechanical samurai out of the material and therefore it can kill Logan. Viper provokes Wolverine into extending out his claws but prevents him from retracting them back and the giant samurai is about to cut off his claws when Mariko distracts it and he cuts Logan's restraints instead. Yukio arrives and battles Viper while Logan fights the samurai who cuts off one of his adamantium claws revealing bone underneath it. Logan slashes it's head off one handed and the samurai is spazzing out of control but one of his swords falls and cuts off Logan's other adamantium claws. Inside the suit is Yashida, who faked his death and drew Logan to this facility in order to take the life from him which he does but as the life is draining from Logan, Mariko comes and stabs/ confronts her grandfather. Logan kills Yashida and he finally dies and the life returns to Logan. Logan leaves Mariko as she inherits her grandfather's corporation and her duties lie in Japan. Yukio happily joins Logan and they leave together on an airplane going to an unknown location.

Wolverine vs. Ninjas. Sweet.

This movie is a great example of a solo film, it isn't advertised as an X-Men film because it's not a group picture but Wolverine is such a familiar character at this point that this movie has a wide draw. Hugh Jackman does an excellent job once again. This movie has the emotion that Logan has to deal with following The Last Stand and that emotion is the strongest part of the film. The film stays in Japan, which is nice and gives a lot of beautiful exteriors all around Japan. Again, lots of strong female characters here too and it's a welcome change from what easily could've been a completely male dominated story. While it's not the strongest film it is worthwhile to see as the action sequences are well done. Some of the dislikes of this film are that Wolverine's evolution throughout the film aren't very interesting, as though he's just going through the motions. See the film and judge for yourself. This film is directed by James Mangold and has 69% on Rotten Tomatoes.

**POST CREDITS SPOILER:

After the credits for Wolverine there is a short scene of Logan walking alone through an airport and a TV commercial shows an ad for Trask Industries (Bolivar Trask is the villain in Days of Future Past). Suddenly everything metallic begins to float and Logan (and the audience) is familiar with this and he ejects his bone claws and turns around to see Magneto (Ian McKellan) and he freezes Logan in place and asks him to lower his defenses. Logan then sees that everything around them is frozen in place (cue audience excitement as we know this sequence too) and the camera shows a wheelchair weaving through the frozen crowd (cue me jumping up and down in my seat due to excitement) and we see Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) definitely alive and Logan is speechless. Magneto tells Logan that they need him to save all of mutant-kind. (Cue me suppressing an excited scream because I'm so looking forward to Days of Future Past). 

Fine, fine I'll post this clip below. Here's the post-credits scene:

Here's the movies listed chronologically:

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (It begins in 1845)

2. X-Men: First Class

3. X-Men

4. X2: X-Men United

5. X-Men: The Last Stand

6. The Wolverine

Days of Future Past is a time traveling film to attempt and fix some of the mix-ups in the X-Men timeline so it takes place after The Wolverine and then time travels to after First Class. So now you're pretty much all caught up with everything X-Men and you're ready to see Days of Future Past as it's released on May 23, 2014! Days of Future Past currently has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Very high critical success so far, which bodes well. I personally can't wait to see it and for those who want to see more here's a trailer for Days of Future Past:

This trailer still gives me chills. Oh man it's so good.