The X-Men film franchise turned 20 years old last week, as the very first installment of the series premiered on July 12th, 2000. The franchise has spawned twelve movies thus far, including an original trilogy, a prequel/reboot trilogy, a trilogy of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) solo films, two Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) movies, and whatever Dark Phoenix (2019) was. Before the franchise breaks new ground with the upcoming horror-superhero mixture The New Mutants (hopefully 2020), let's revisit all of the previous X-Men movies with this ranking!
12. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
Putting Dark Phoenix in the last place was a no-brainer; after all, not much brain work went into making this embarrassment of a film. Not only does it suffer from being a sequel that has no need to exist, its existence actively hurts the franchise: Apocalypse was such a closure-filled full-circle ending for the story of the original X-Men characters, that I can't think of any reason why anyone thought adding one more film as a weird epilogue to leave a bad aftertaste would be a good idea (except for making money, of course).
I haven't read the X-Men comic books, but I've heard several times that Dark Phoenix is one of the greatest storylines in them. When it was adapted for The Last Stand, fans of the comics were disappointed in how poorly that story was adapted. With this film, they tried to re-adapt the same storyline, only to repeat all of the same failures. In addition, this film is absolutely zero per cent fun, as all of the entertaining banter and subtle humor of the franchise is gone - but the film also isn't serious in an awesome way like Logan. It's just a huge bummer as all of the characters are sulky all the time. While I hugely appreciate the work of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Sophie Turner and others in the franchise, their talents are quite wasted with this messy and disappointing script.
11. The Wolverine (2013)
This is a tough one - I really appreciate what The Wolverine tries to do as a movie. The clear vision of a more slow-paced Wolverine movie in an exotic setting that really lets Hugh Jackman show off his acting skills is a great idea on paper. There's just something in its execution that makes the film - and this is just my subjective opinion - extremely boring.
Seriously, The Wolverine is one of the least interesting superhero movies I've watched. I appreciate how good Jackman is in the role, how the character of Wolverine is fleshed out, and how the Japanese setting feels different, but there's just so much pointless dialogue and filler storytelling that I find it to be a very hard film to get invested in. Granted, I've only seen it once - I tried to rewatch it once to see if my initial opinion was just based on watching the film in the wrong frame of mind, but I didn't even get through it due to a majority of the movie being vastly uninteresting. But, like I said, I do appreciate the idea of a character-driven, slow-paced Wolverine movie, and I'm grateful that director James Mangold nailed that idea on his second try (more on that later).
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
It's strange how Wolverine is absolutely one of the most fascinating characters in the X-Men universe, yet his first two solo films were quite the pair of let-downs. I do prefer X-Men Origins: Wolverine to The Wolverine slightly, due to a significant upside similar to what I liked best about 2018's Han Solo prequel: there are a bunch of fan-service moments and easter eggs that are quite fun to see in an origin story movie. We find out how Wolverine got his name, his powers, and even his jacket: this is the kind of stuff that many viewers complain about due it not being "necessary", but in the context of an entertainment-driven comic book movie, I see it as a lot of fun.
However, the film should've had some more substance in addition to its occasional moments of fun - maybe then it would be higher in my ranking. While the films delivers everything one would expect from a Wolverine origin story, it doesn't deliver hardly anything else. Hugh Jackman tries his best, but the script he's given isn't good enough to make for a truly great performance. The film seems to explore Wolverine's origin primarily on the surface, but not from deep within: Wolverine is such an interesting character that a deeper dive into his psyche and motivations might've worked wonders for this film. All in all, it's a flawed and somewhat shallow film, but not without its awesome moments - overall worth watching for X-Men fans, even if it's not likely to top anyone's lists.
9. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
The original trilogy of X-Men films ended with this polarizing climax that left many fans disappointed. While I do agree that the film doesn't quite hold up to its two predecessors, I still like it more than most, and found it to be a very satisfying (if flawed) ending for the trilogy. The primary flaws are the fact that the script is a bit too focused on delivering an explosive climax, making the film much less philosophical and complex than its predecessors, and that the directing isn't nearly as good. Bryan Singer had directed the two first films very skillfully, but for The Last Stand he was replaced by Brett Ratner, who did a semi-sloppy job. Directing aside, my respect for Singer and Ratner as people is equally low, as both faced major accusations in the Me Too -movement - a very upsetting trait for the two original X-Men directors to share.
Everything else in The Last Stand is pretty awesome. There are emotional moments, payoffs to three-film-spanning character archs, and exciting battle sequences. The ultimate showdown that the trilogy had been building up towards is not exactly Avengers: Endgame (2019), but it still comes together in quite an exhilarating fashion.
8. Deadpool 2 (2018)
To be honest, this film might be considerably higher on my list if it weren't for the fact that it doesn't have the positive shock value of the first Deadpool film due to being the second one to be released. Basically everything in this film - the clever meta humor, Ryan Reynolds's performance, the directing and production values et cetera - is just as great as it is in the first one. It just isn't as revolutionary and groundbreaking here. But for viewers like myself who loved Deadpool and wanted more, this sequel sure delivers.
The merc with a mouth is back, for more quips, more violence and more fourth-wall-breaking. The plot has its forgettable moments, but the film is so hilarious and entertaining that it really doesn't matter. Also, I'm a huge fan of meta humor (avid readers of this blog will know this due to my constant raving of the self-aware commentary in Community (2009-2015) and Rick And Morty (2013-Present)), and this film outdoes even the first Deadpool in how meta it gets. The more outrageous and layered meta-storytelling gets, the better (at least in my book), and Deadpool going back in time to stop Ryan Reynolds from starring in Green Lantern (2011) is one of the most earth-shatteringly meta things I've ever seen - I think it's outdone only by the Rick And Morty episode "Never Ricking Morty".
7. X-Men (2000)
Now that we've had The Dark Knight (2008), Logan (2017) and especially Joker (2019), I'd say that by today's standards, the original X-Men movie feels a bit cheesy and not like one of the more serious comic book movies. But let's not forget that 20 years ago was a very different time for the genre - for the time being, X-Men was a game-changing comic book movie due to how serious of a film it managed to be. Sure, there are campy action sequences and whatnot, but the film also begins with a flashback to a Nazi concentration camp in 1944, to establish very grim and real-feeling motivations for the film's villain. The adversarial relationship of Charles Xavier (Sir Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen) isn't the typical good-guy-bad-guy dynamic of popcorn superhero cinema, but rather a complex feud based on some interesting philosophical questions.
While many X-Men films are even better than the first one, the original is to be thanked for all that followed. The film's biggest asset is definitely the acting: no superhero movie before it had featured nearly as impressive of a cast, and very few after it have come to the same level. It's not just that there are big names like Stewart, McKellen and Jackman in the fold: an important distinction is that they're not there to cash an easy paycheck as is often the case with a-list actors appearing in blockbusters. The actors truly give it all with their performances; Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are among my all-time favorite actors, and in both cases, their respective performances in the X-Men franchise are honestly among the best roles I've seen them in. Especially by superhero movie standards but also by overall cinematic standards, the acting in X-Men is phenomenal.
6. X2: X-Men United (2003)
X2 takes everything that worked about the first film and makes it slightly better. The actors get to show even more of their range, the story is paced wonderfully, and the ethics get even more complicated. The beginning of the film channels Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) with its way of slowly and intriguingly returning to our favorite characters through various scenarios, after which the stakes of the story start to escalate.
X2 has it all - awesome fight sequences, memorable dialogue, cool mutant powers and an emotionally charged ending that leaves things wonderfully open for the final installment of the trilogy. It would be ranked even higher, but somehow the prequel/reboot trilogy pushed my buttons so uncannily with its updated style, that even at its best, the original trilogy doesn't quite hold up to it in my book.
5. X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)
The second installment of the reboot/prequel trilogy did something magnificent: by adapting the famous Days Of Future Past story arch from the X-Men comics, it managed to bring the cast of the original trilogy into the same movie with the cast of the reboot/prequel trilogy. We jump back and forth between future and past, getting to see both Ian McKellen's and Michael Fassbender's versions of Magneto, as well as both Patrick Stewart's and James McAvoy's versions of Professor X. Coupled along with Hugh Jackman's one and only Wolverine, this makes for the X-Men movie with the best acting by a long shot.
The time travel itself is very well written, as the concept of one's consciousness temporarily shifting into an earlier version of themselves is fascinating and very different from most versions of time travel in movies. There are also many individually awesome sequences, a favorite of mine being the Pentagon heist that immediately put Quicksilver (Evan Peters) very high on my list of the best X-Men characters. All in all, Days Of Future Past is an ambitious effort that worked out wonderfully.
4. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Most fans didn't like the final installment of the reboot/prequel trilogy all that much, but I sure did. While Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) isn't quite the fleshed-out villain that Magneto was, he is the perfect villain to go up against in an epic final standoff (I'm saying "final" because I try my best to be in denial about Dark Phoenix's existence) - an immensely powerful, absolutely evil ultimate big bad who has intriguing lore behind him and who poses an unforeseen level of threat to the main heroes.
Speaking of heroes, another reason for this film ranking so high on my list is that one of the franchise's best characters, Charles Xavier, is at his absolute best here. James McAvoy gives it all in a tour-de-force performance, as the character's motivations and personal arch reach a point of absolute heroism and tying up all of the franchise's main themes in a beautiful manner. There are also nice full-circle moments as the film sets the table for the original trilogy's events (all the more reason to be pissed about Dark Phoenix messing the timeline up) towards the end of the film.
However, perhaps the biggest reason for Apocalypse being this high on my list is that it has undoubtedly my favorite scene of the entire franchise and one of the greatest superhero movie moments ever: the Quicksilver mansion scene. From Eurythmics's Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) creating a perfect soundtrack for the scene and the overall combination of humor, intensity and skillful directing, this is a masterful scene that I often find myself re-watching from Youtube because it's so damn entertaining.
3. Deadpool (2016)
If you're wondering how such an awesome film is only on third place, I'm wondering the exact same thing. Deadpool is inches away from first place, as my top 3 films from the X-Men universe are practically a three-way tie; the hardest part about making this post was deciding what order they were going to be in. However, if I had to say, this meta masterpiece would have to be barely edged out by the two (very slightly) even better films.
So, what makes Deadpool great? Well, for starters, there's the humor, and then...well, it doesn't really need anything else. It's one of the absolutely funniest movies ever made. The opening credit sequence made me laugh more than some comedy films in their full length. The meta humor shows no boundaries and is absolutely delicious, and Ryan Reynolds is the perfect actor to deliver the punchlines. Sure, the action choreography is well-done and the story is interesting, but let's be honest - none of that is what makes Deadpool into such a modern classic. It's the unique, unbridled and absolutely rambunctious mix of clever meta jokes, adolescent toilet humor and grotesque dark comedy wrapped into a perfect mix of sheer entertainment that gets the job done. This movie doesn't merely break the fourth wall - it utterly destroys it with a sledgehammer.
2. Logan (2017)
I'm not a baseball fan of any kind, but even my mind goes to a baseball analogy when thinking about the solo films of the character Wolverine. Strike one (the first Wolverine movie was disappointing), strike two (the second one was even worse in my book), and then, with your last swing, you hit a home run. Hope had seemed lost for us ever having a properly good Wolverine film despite him being the best part of multiple X-Men films, but with their last try, the bastards did it. Logan was Hugh Jackman's ninth and final appearance in the role, and what a bombastic send-off it was.
Logan feels more like a gritty western than a traditional superhero movie. It's serious, it's slow-paced and it's cynical - in an absolutely perfect way. The film feels true to the character's essence, allowing Jackman to top all of his previous performances in the X-Men universe and accomplish an amazing swan song for the role. Jackman gives his everything, as does Patrick Stewart, who plays Charles Xavier for the last time here as well. As raw and grim as the film is, it's still one with a lot of heart and many of the franchise's most emotional moments.
1. X-Men: First Class (2011)
That's right. For me, the first reboot/prequel film is better than Deadpool, Logan, or anything from the original trilogy. There is no big individual reason for that - none of the film's single elements is as impressive as the grittiness of Logan or the humor of Deadpool. But, First Class has a multitude of small elements that I absolutely love and that form an end product that is beyond anything else from the franchise in terms of pure enjoyment.
For starters, the casting. I'm convinced that out of all the people in the world, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are literally the best possible picks to play the younger versions of Xavier and Magneto. Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon and others come together to form an impressive supporting cast. Then there's the soundtrack - infinitely more epic than any other X-Men movie score. Then there's the intrigue of the prequel format - seeing how the X-Men got formed, why Charles is in the wheelchair, how his feud with Magneto started et cetera makes for a huge amount of moments ranging from cool easter eggs to powerful and epic revelations. And then there's the plethora of epic moments in the film's story: Wolverine's hysterically funny cameo, the fist-pumpingly awesome training montage and the dramatic final fight sequence to name a few.
All of that comes together to create an entertaining film with an absolutely magical atmosphere. For me personally, no other X-Men movie feels so fresh and exciting or has as much re-watch value. First Class is the highpoint of my emotional investment in the franchise, its story and its characters.
Thank you for reading! Next week's post will be a bit different and for a significantly smaller target audience than my usual posts, but I'll be back for normal posting in two weeks with a ranking of Christopher Nolan's films!
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