Canon-Strike IV: X-Men

[Neon Ignition]

That's always where I've been snagged, so much was thrown at X3 but it's hard to see what would have been much different had Singer finished the trilogy out. It's very similar in tone and execution, hard to put Rattner at fault either given he took it over 2 minutes before filming. Given its road to camera it's arguably impressive it turned out as well as it did.

[Asura]

Question, was X-Men 2 always known as X2?

I tried to look for it on Disney+ but couldn't find it at first.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, just really daft titling in different regions for that film but I think in the UK it was sold as X2: United

[Neon Ignition]

A three month break for the other threads and we're back to cast our eye over the twisting and winding canon of the X-Men films.

Movie 04 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Audiences loved discovering the story of Logan's origins in X-Men 2 so what could be better than... telling them all over again just six years later in this film that was intended to launch a host of standalone character focused entries. That didn't pan out though and what we received was a fleshed out origin tale for the character that hit all the same beats but included the addition of Logan's lover, his brother and the world's most disappointing incarnation of Deadpool.




Other than a surprisingly solid action game, did Origins bring us anything worthwhile to the franchise canon?

[Asura]

what could be better than... telling them all over again just six years later

I might have the dates mixed up here, but I think this came about because Marvel released a graphic novel, called Origin, between the movies. It was an origin story for Wolverine, who had always been a bit of an enigma (IIRC there was an ongoing fan joke in 90s comics where if Marvel ever ran out of ideas, they could always just wheel out another mysterious stranger from Wolverine's past).

The movie isn't an adaptation of Origin, but I recall that it borrows very liberally from it. The graphic novel was a big success, so that was probably what nudged them to revisit the concept in movie form.

intended to launch a host of standalone character focused entries.

The one which has been in-and-out of production hell ever since was a solo Gambit movie. Last I saw, it was going to be an Ocean's X style heist-movie. I suspect the reason that's taken so long to materialise is that I think the concept is flawed - but I would love to see it, because I can imagine it would be very entertaining if they crack it.

[Dogg Thang]

Origins is such a terrible movie with pretty much no redeeming features. It's awful. The story is bad, what Wolverine does at any given moment doesn't make a lick of sense, it feels awfully cheap, it doesn't know that physics exists and then there's Deadpool. It's a bad, bad, bad movie. Shame on you, Origins. Shame.

[Asura]

Origins is such a terrible movie with pretty much no redeeming features. It's awful. The story is bad, what Wolverine does at any given moment doesn't make a lick of sense, it feels awfully cheap, it doesn't know that physics exists and then there's Deadpool. It's a bad, bad, bad movie. Shame on you, Origins. Shame.

I remember something with a bike, and a helicopter? Like I recall that being the moment I realised this was a jolly.

The one which came later, The Wolverine, was pretty forgettable (in that I remember almost none of it) but I don't remember it for being bad so it probably wasn't terrible.

[cutmymilk]

That was the samurai one.

[Asura]

That was the samurai one.

Are you sure? Pretty sure it was the one with Psylocke, which was the first one

[fishbowlhead]

I watched The Wolverine the other night just as some brain mush, holds up quite well I thought. Logan is fantastic. Origins should be shot into the sun.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, as a low stakes side movie, The Wolverine is pretty good and has a few great sequences in it. Logan is excellent, although it's hard work - deliberately so. It's very effective.

[fishbowlhead]

I watched the B&W version of Logan last month and thought that was great as well. Doesn’t add or subtract anything from it, just a different perspective if that makes sense.

[Neon Ignition]

Movie 05 - X-Men: First Class
After Matthew Vaughn ducked out of getting involved in the scramble to salvage X3, he came back to helm this attempt to tell more tales but side-step the plot issues the original trilogy had. So, we recieved a period set origins tale for the entire cast and our first look at the franchise without a focus on Wolverine. The result was a confident film, well recieved that put characters like Xavier, Magneto and Mystique front and centre and would serve as the primary focus for future installments going forward.



What made First Class work where so many entries were deemed not to?

[Dogg Thang]

I really enjoyed First Class and think it's one of the best of the entire series. It's not like it's a wonderful movie but it's far better than many of the X-Men movies and it works. The cast is great, although some of the actual X-Men featured aren't the most interesting. Fassbender was a superb addition and, wandering accent aside, brought a lot to the character in my view. And the movie felt more secure in itself. Like it knew what it was and was just fine being a comic book movie. I like it.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, it's kind of how I feel. I like it and it's definitely one of the best but at the same time I couldn't really point to anything that's amazing about it. It doesn't really offer up much that's new and there aren't any real shock moments or great action sequences etc. Even the villain is just kind of there but somehow it comes together well. In hindsight I don't think it should have become the basis of a chain of sequels but that lies with Fox, rather than First Class