Does the X-Men Trilogy Hold Up?

Origins doesn't exist thank you very much.

Anyway I was wondering something. I have yet to see First Class but it seems a lot of fans in the wake of it were very harsh on the old X-Men films. Some critics like Spoony even said the old films outright sucked.

Now undoubtedly we've come a long way in the superhero cinema genre. Back when the first X-Men movie came out we were fresh off of, what, Steel? Does that even count? And nobody ever seems to remember The Crow which was actually a good comic-based movie. Anyway the point is that X-Men seemed like pure gold compared to the other shit we were used to.

I guess some people feel the X-Men movies don't stand the test of time? Now that we've got Iron Man and The Dark Knight and yada yada, the X-Men movies are meh by comparison.

What do you all think? Do you consider X1, X2 and X3 good movies? (okay X3 not so much. Focus more on the first two)

In best to worst order, IMHO:

Good tier-

X-Men 2.

X-Men.

X-Men First Class.

Mediocre but Entertaining Tier:

X-Men Origins Wolverine.

Crap Tier:

X-Men 3.

I'd switch the places of those last two, but yeah the rest is about right.

The last hurrah? Nah, I'd do it again.

X-men : Good, but flawed movie.

X-men 2: Legitimately great action movie. I still consider the opening Nightcrawler vs the Secret Service scene to be one of my favorite action scenes ever and Brian Cox is awesome as the Big Bad.

X-men 3: Basically awful on every level.

Wolverine: Embarrassingly bad, but not quite as irredeemably terrible as 3.

First Class: Amazing. Best in the series by far.

edited 18th Nov '12 5:06:11 AM by Millardkillmoore

The first two still hold up. I'd put the first two movies above any of the original Spider-Man trilogy and above anything produced by Marvel expect The Avengers. Certainly X2 is above Iron Man, which largely gets by on the strength of RDJ. It's also better than TDKR, and as good as or better than Batman Begins, and I'd watch it over TDK. The caliber of the actors - not just an individual actor, but the ensemble - in the X-Men films is well above most other comic book movies, and there's stronger emotional impact.

The main place the movies fall down (and First Class is also guilty of this) is stating their themes too blatantly when they're already capable of communicating them via more subtle means. Also, I found the Wolverine-Jean dynamic really unconvincing - by the end of X2 they've spent what, maybe three days in each other's company? And we're supposed to believe this is love?

I still think X-Men: First Class is the best X-film, though. McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence are all great actors, there's a combination of good action and good drama sequences, there are some funny moments, the music is awesome, and it's emotionally stronger than the others. (And has the best romance arc in any comic book movie. You know what I'm talking about.)

It's funny that so many people regard X3 as worse than Origins. Origins is way lower on Rotten Tomatoes, all its attempts at drama or emotional resonance fail utterly, and the plot makes very little sense. But X3 had a lot more potential to squander, it treated the characters worse, and it was just plain bad and unenjoyable, whereas Origins crossed over into So Bad, It's Good and became enjoyable if you refrain from taking it at all seriously.

edited 18th Nov '12 8:17:24 AM by WarriorEowyn

I felt the original X-trilogy spent too much time setting up superhero fights and not enough time giving us reasons to care about the cast. Wolverine and Rogue felt like the only characters in the first with any depth to them, and we all know what happened in the third. The second was pretty decent, though.

Origins: Wolverine was a pretty awesome video game. There was never a movie.

First Class is the first X-film I'd honestly be willing to call good. It gives me hope for the future of the franchise.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

I only really liked the first movie. It had a better sense of realism and suspense then the others did. X-2 had its good moments but I honestly felt like I was just waiting for certain scenes to end just to get to the better parts.

I've seen all the others but can't say I care for any of them.

Back when the first X-men movies came out we were fresh off of Blade. Thank Wesley Snipes for reviving comic book superhero movies.

Oh, and while Origins was worse than X-3, I do not see why everyone assumes Wolverine's brother and Sabertooth were the same person. They had the same powers? So did Blob and Juggernaut, were they the same person too? What about that German circus dude and that guy with the cowboy hat? They had the same power too, unless blue skin is an additional superpower.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

They assume that because Logan's brother in Origins was named Victor Creed, which is Sabretooth's real name. Also, both Sabretooths were refereed to as such in promotional materials.

The last hurrah? Nah, I'd do it again.

I know the first part, but it is silly to assume the movie is going to be following the comics to the letter when Phoenix is not a sentient cosmic force, Juggernaut is a mutant and Victor is also Wolverine's brother.

If the promotional materials said so, well I did not see them but I take your word for it. I do not see why they hired two actors that look nothing alike to be the same person but just another reason to put Origins on the bottom.(Yes, Ironman 2 would have been better with Terrence, they could have just introduced a new character like Transformers did)

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

The first one still holds up nicely,the second one,....didn't care for it at all,so no to that one.

Skipped everything else until First Class,which was decent,though not as good as the first.

They don't hold up as well as Burton's Batman films though or the first two of Raimi's Spiderman.

edited 19th Nov '12 3:40:25 PM by terlwyth

Blade 1 and 2 are awesome movies that still completely hold up. Blade 3 is firmly in So Bad Its Horrible territory.

Cheadle was better than Howard.

The only good live-action Batman movie before Batman Begins was the Adam West one. The others started off mediocre and just got worse with each movie. The first 2 Spider-Man movies are great. I still think 2 is in the top 3 superhero movies ever.

edited 19th Nov '12 4:17:37 PM by Millardkillmoore

...Blob and Juggernaut don't have the same powers.

Ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who disliked Blade Trinity. My fave of that series is still the first one.

I liked the first X-men movie, but I don't remember the latter two very much. Origins was mediocre, but it was fun seeing all of the mutant characters on screen. First Class was pretty good.

Bringing things back to Blade, I liked his first movie better than any of the X-films, except maybe First Class.

If you wanna have some fun, peep comicsalliance.com's reviews of the X-films, esp. III and Origins, among other superhero flicks. They're great.

edited 19th Nov '12 7:58:19 PM by BearyScary

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency

Hmmm, now you're making me want to rewatch the first two*

As for the more modern two: I can't decide whether I liked First Class the most, or the most excluding the first film.*

Also, I know I liked Origins more than X3, because at least Logan was a lumberjack in that one

People never remember The Crow was a comic-based film. I thought that was an awesome movie too.

edited 19th Nov '12 8:41:58 PM by Nikkolas

Blade 2 was my favorite. I felt that the action was better and that the sillier, more over-the-top schlocky tone was extremely enjoyable.

edited 19th Nov '12 9:53:54 PM by Millardkillmoore

Blade was just brilliant. The second one? Not so much. The third one, made as a fore runner to a telly series that no-one ever cared about? Nope. Never happened. Lalallala, can't hear you.

But at least I have watched all three of them. I have never watched the entirety of a X-men movie in my life. Not once. Even though I like a lot of the work that the actors in the films have done previously or since.

I do not know which Blade movie I liked better. The first had better characters but the second one had a better plot. They kind of remind me of some horrible 90s comics I would rather forget but the first two were good. Trinity was terrible but I think the only thing I could add to that sentiment is that I did not like Hannibal King, who everyone else insisted was the "redeeming" part of the film. It would have been more satisfying to just watch Wesley Snipes main Triple H in an extended fight scene.

Only thing? Maybe not. The second movie took a plot from the comics, modified it to fit in with their established world and made it better(removed the Tryk's Nausea and the reaper's fantasy elements). The third movie took something from the comics, removed everything interesting about it(what are the Nightstalkers without Blade? How does that happen in a Blade movie?) and generally failed to make the setting more interesting. They should be compared back to back. How to do a comic book movie and how not to. Ironman would be like 2, somewhere in between the two would be Ghost Rider movie and Origins would be Trinity.

And yes. Movie Juggernaut's mutant power is hitting things really hard and letting weapons bounce off of him. Movie Blob's mutant powers is hitting things really hard and letting weapons bounce off of him. Just like Wraith and Nightcrawler both have "disappear". Two guys having claws would not be that strange, since besides not looking the same, Victor does not have Sabertooth's all black eyes or roaring just like Wraith does not have Nightcrawler's blue skin.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Movie Juggernaut's power is that once he gets moving, you can't stop him. Hence the, ah, full body lockdown thing they had going with him. Oh yes, and the part where they explicitly explained his powers.

Movie Blob's power is that he can't be pushed around by pretty much anything at all. Which he demonstrates, quite a bit. Again, pretty sure this is explained clearly in the film.

This really doesn't support your hypothesis at all.

edited 20th Nov '12 11:03:13 AM by CorrTerek

Fine, the rest still works. They should have made them two different people. A Victor vs Sabertooth fight would have probably put butts in seats regardless of how bad Origins was.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

They set up, I thought, a pretty clear arc for Victor. All through Origins, he's the one who's giving in to the beast more and more. Give him fifteen years of being completely unrestrained and yeah, he might look more like what we see in the first movie. Not to mention the fact that it's pretty obvious that Sabretooth and Logan have history.

And yeah, Nightcrawler's skin is part of his mutation, as is the prehensile tail. Wraith's powers also seem to work differently, since he doesn't materialize all at once when he teleports (if he did, Sabretooth wouldn't have been able to grab his spine). Nightcrawler does.

So yeah, while Nightcrawler and Wraith can accomplish similar things, that's all they have in common. Might as well claim that Jean Gray and Professor X have exactly the same powers since they can both do some similar things.

Origin's Sabretooth is the same as X-Men's Sabretooth. They just have different actors. Just chalk it up to Early-Installment Weirdness. You can't have "Victor fight Sabretooth" because Victor is Sabretooth.

The contrast between X1 Sabretooth and Origins Sabretooth is actually reflective of the source material. Classic Sabretooth was quite a bit like the portrayal in the first movie while Origins portrayed Weapon X-era Sabes.

I'm still not sure if I consider X-2 or First Class to be the best of the bunch. Mostly, I thought First Class was an excellent film with great performances, but it squandered pretty much everyone who wasn't Erik, Charles, or Shaw. The actual X-Men were largely inconsequential to the plot, teenybopper romances aside.

Give him fifteen years of being completely unrestrained and yeah, he might look more like what we see in the first movie.

"Being completely unrestrained" has the power to add half a foot or more to his height? Do tell.