So it's been a long time since I've done one of these reviews. The last movie I did was actually Shazam a few months back and I haven't been back since. I still love movies a lot and love going as much as I can, but it's not exactly easy to go every week (mostly cause of expenses and whatnot). I decided to come back because of this special movie that came out this week by the name of Dark Phoenix. The X-Men movies have always had a special place in my heart for many reasons. X-Men has always been my favorite comic book series and I grew up watching the X-Men cartoons and playing the crappy X-Men video games (and the decent ones). The X-Men movies growing up were awesome and I think really set up the current landscape of comic book movies. Not that it was the first successful one, because we had Superman and Batman movies before this, but it really did bring them back to the limelight. The thing about the X-Men movies is that they kept going all the way up to this moment. It had its highs and lows, but it never went away. Sadly, Dark Pheonix is probably going to be the end of this X-Men saga that started in 2000. So with all that, I figured I would give it a nice sendoff by reviewing the last movie and also ranking all the X-Men movies from worst to best (not including Deadpool, cause those are probably still gonna be going?).
DARK PHOENIX
So Dark Phoenix is the latest and probably final X-Men movie from the long-running series started in the year 2000. This series has gone through many changes and timeline messes, but it all ends here. Dark Phoenix takes place about a decade after Apocalypse, in a world where humans and mutants finally seem to be getting along. The humans idolize the X-Men as a superhero team that protects the world. The X-Men are called to go to space to save a spaceship full of astronauts from their damaged rocket. While rescuing the humans, the X-Men encounter a mysterious force of energy that is going to destroy the humans. Jean Grey is left of the rocket while trying to rescue one last astronaut and is hit with the mysterious force nearly killing her. She is somehow able to absorb its power. This power inside of her is too much for her to handle and it starts making her do things and hurt people she doesn't want to hurt. Things get weirder when a mysterious lifeform seeks Jean's new power to use for herself and her species.
So X-Men movies have had a problem with keeping a constant quality over the years. Every time it seems they are getting back on track, they kind of ruin it with strange storytelling decisions and timeline issues. This movie sort of falls in the middle of all that. It's not a terrible movie by any means, but it's also not good either. I was entertained enough for most of the movie's runtime, but I also found myself not caring too much about what happens to the characters. The problem is that most of the character's don't really have a connection with me. The movie focuses a lot on a mix of characters that were introduced in First Class and those that were introduced in Apocalypse. The characters from First Class like Professor X and Magneto are the characters I cared about because of their great performances from previous movies. The characters introduced in Apocalypse I found myself not caring much about because the only movie I had to get to know them wasn't very good. It also sucks that one of the coolest characters, Quicksilver, isn't really in the movie too long and just kinda disappears early on.
The best part of the movie was definitely James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Prof. X and Magento. They are still amazing at playing those characters and bring a lot of needed emotion and stakes to the movie. The newer characters are okay, but never really deliver great moments. The focus of the movie is on Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner. She does a fine job at playing the tortured character of Jean Grey and showing her struggle between good and bad. It's kind of brought down though by the weak villain played by Jessica Chastain. Chastain is a great actor, but the motivations and the climax of the movie are pretty weak and it just feels like another wasted villain (much like Apocalypse).
I found enough good in this movie to enjoy my viewing, but it definitely left me wanting more. The sad part is that this is probably the end of the saga and a farewell to two amazing performances in Magneto and Xavier. It wasn't the ending it deserved, but maybe it gives me more hope that things can get back on track in the future of the X-Men. The great cast will be missed and I hope they find other great roles (maybe some can come back). This is definitely not goodbye to these great characters, but a see you later.
RANKING
So now for the ranking. From worst to best:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - A fairly easy choice for the worst movie. Honestly, it's not just the worst X-Men movie, but one of the worst comic book movies ever made. It ruined a lot of great characters like Gambit and... DEADPOOL (for a long time). The story was a mess and only made watchable by Hugh Jackman, but even that wasn't enough. Actually, this movie did have a really cool opening with Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting in all the major wars. But, this movie also took away Deadpool's mouth so... yeah.
X-Men: Last Stand - The final movie of the original trilogy took all the greatness that was built in the first two movies and wasted it all on a botched Dark Phoenix storyline. The movie was kind of all over the place with its story. You got Jean killing everyone on one side, a war between the good and bad mutants and the humans creating a weapon to permanently take away mutant powers. It was... a mess.
X-Men: Apocalypse - What promised to be an awesome new villain for the series ended up being a pretty big waste of time. You get the usual great work from Xavier and Magneto and a strange cameo from Wolverine. There's also the great Quicksilver scene. Besides that, it introduces a lot of the main X-Men again, but not in an interesting way.
Dark Phoenix - Falls around the lower middle, where it belongs.
X-Men - The first X-Men movie feels pretty dated in a lot of ways. The cheesy dialog and special effects are very 2000. Regardless, it's still a very fun watch. The cast is great and it's a great introduction to the world of mutants. The first time we see Hugh Jackman's Wolverine? Pretty special looking back.
The Wolverine - I really like this movie, it made up a lot for the first solo Wolverine movie. It's got great action, an interesting story, good performances and it's in Japan, who doesn't love Japan?
X-Men: First Class - Kevin Bacon is in this movie so, that means it's good right? A great introduction to all our favorite X-Men in their younger days and also a lot of cool new ones. This one takes place in the early '60s, which means that Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique all age really well since the series ends in the 90s and all the characters look pretty much the same. The two main actors (McAvoy and Fassbender) had some big shoes to fill and they exceeded all expectations.
X2 United - A sequel that took everything good about the first and built upon that. Add a really good villain in Stryker and you got yourself a great movie. Unlike the first X-Men, this movie doesn't feel nearly as dated. It took things a little more seriously and it really pushed the story forward for all the characters, including the introduction of favorites like Nightcrawler.
Days of Future Past - A great mix of the new and the old to make this awesome movie that brought everything together. Also, this movie has Peter Dinklage, so yeah. It's about as emotional as an X-Men movie can get with an all-star cast that brings their A-game. Michael Fassbender really shines bright in this movie and brings the character of Magneto to new levels of awesome.
Logan - What else could it have been? Not just an amazing comic book movie, but an amazing movie period. How did Patrick Stewart not get an Oscar for this? Shame.