Right now, our family’s on a bit of an X-Men kick as I’ve been taking my kids through the ’90s animated series (which has been highly enjoyable, but that’s an article for another time). Since this franchise is heavily on my mind, I thought I’d finally pull the trigger on a project long brewing, which is to review all 15 X-Men movies to date — and yes, there are actually 15, not counting this December’s Avengers: Doomsday.
So let’s get into the ranking, including all of the spin-offs, prequels, and even one neglected TV movie, going from the absolute worst to the best:
The bizarre thing about the X-Men movie franchise is that it hosts the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And it doesn’t get lower than Dark Phoenix, which tries (and fails) for a second time to adapt the famous titular comic book saga. It’s just boring and sad and Jennifer Lawrence pulled the eject cord and good riddance to her. This is how the mainline series went out in the 20th Century Fox era, and it was such a letdown.
The whole “origins” idea was dumb — it only showed up in this movie — and it didn’t make much sense because we already got much of Logan’s origins in previous movies anyway. This is a sloppy film with bizarre decisions, including Ryan Reynolds’ first stab at Deadpool… the merc without a mouth whatsoever. I’m still salty about how bad Wolvie’s plastic claws look here.
We were riding so high off the perfect one-two punch of the first couple films, and then 2006 came along to completely botch the landing of the initial trilogy. It’s an absolute mess with bad effects, too many story ideas, the first lame adaptation of Dark Phoenix, the inexplicable death of Cyclops and Prof X, a mutant cure that nobody liked, and a big battle sequence that landed with a thud.
Apocalypse had the germ of a good movie in here and was coasting forward on the strengths of Days of Future Past. The opening theme sequence and Quicksilver’s rescue of everyone from an exploding mansion are absolute highlights, but this feels like it sampled the worst of Marvel movies by making an overlong, bloated CGI spectacle with little heart to it. Guys, how could you give us PSYLOCKE and make a bad movie?
Few people are even aware that in 1996, Fox took a stab at an X-Men series with this TV movie. We do get a couple familiar touchstones, such as Emma Frost, Jubilee, and the Xavier mansion, but it’s like the B-team with bad casting. And Matt Frewer as a goofy villain. The effects being bad are understandable (even though this boasted a hefty $3 million budget, pretty good for a pilot), but the lame character writing and weak story are not. It’s a very interesting novelty that I enjoyed exploring, however!
I’m kind of a low-key fan of this strange movie that tried to an experimental approach to X-Men storytelling at the absolute worst time (during the Disney buyout of Fox). It’s kind of cool, with a bit of Breakfast Club and mystery and even horror mixed together as outcasts trapped in a facility have to learn to put aside their differences and work together to escape. I do hope it gets a re-evaluation by viewers in the future.
Wolverine’s own trilogy went from awful to glorious, and along the way, it did The Wolverine, putting it right in the middle. It’s very, definitely, most assuredly fine. I really like Logan’s solo adventure to Japan — it’s very comic booky — and seeing him fight ninja is good times. But the story wobbles fiercely and the end boss is not inspiring, to say the least.
Bringing Wolverine back and pairing him with Deadpool is a team-up years in the making, and I love that it happened. I’m not that crazy about how “Marvel” this feels, nor how much it panders with a whole lot of fan service (even if I was cheering the return of Blade). But the idea of the worst Wolverine in the multiverse redeeming himself alongside the irreverent Deadpool had merit, and there were plenty of laughs to be had. “Flame on!”
There was a time in Mutant Reviewers’ history when we gladly held up the first X-Men movie as THE best superhero film of all time. It’s certainly lauded for its historical importance as it laid the groundwork for the rise of this genre in the 2000s. But apart from all of that, it’s kind of a smaller and more subdued movie that you might remember with characters who aren’t fully formed and some CGI that’s, well, very very year 2000. My favorite aspect is the Wolverine-Rogue mentorship, which has a good arc.
I actually had loads of fun with this sequel (a sidequel sequel!), thanks to so many gut-busting jokes, a pretty cool storyline involving a kid in crisis, and the quite temporary formation of X-Force. Josh Brolin is perfect as Cable, the Brad Pitt cameo shocked laughs out of all of us, and who doesn’t love Peter, a diabetic dude who got caught up in the superhero world? Plus, Dolly Parton.
Doing a Deadpool movie should’ve been impossible, as this fourth wall-breaking character was too flippant and odd to have mass appeal. And yet, they made it (as a foul-mouthed R-rated flick, no less), it was amazing, and it had mass appeal. The mixture of action, heart, and nonstop humor made Deadpool’s origin story an incredible ride.
Yes, the X-Men timeline went off the rails right about here with the introduction of the prequels, but it was a refreshing reboot that needed to happen. This was a more grounded tale that used 1950s history and fashion to look at the start of this supergroup — and the fated fall of the friendship of Charles and Eric. It’s pretty great and works well as a one-off movie, if so desired.
As we get into the top three, there’s no doubt that X2 deserves a spot here — even with that cringy early-2000s title. It took the foundation of the first movie and made a much improved X-Men tale. The studio definitely focused on Wolverine a whole lot more, but Nightcrawler became a fan-favorite (that intro, though!). The three-way faction war between Prof X’s X-Men, Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants, and Stryker’s private human army boiled and simmered and occasionally erupted in some glorious fights.
Director James Mangold, who did The Wolverine, understood this assignment as well. We get Old Man Logan, a grizzled rare mutant survivor in a future largely devoid of them — and where Prof X is basically threatening the world as a powerful telepath with dementia. It’s a redemption story of Logan as he takes X-23 under his wing and fights for family, even though it’s a brutal, bloody, and often bleak battle. It’s not just a good superhero movie, it’s an amazing movie, period.
It’s such a shame that the rest of the prequels couldn’t have been as good as this one, because Days of Future Past shows us how this franchise could be exciting, character-driven, and tell a really darn good story. The old cast and new are linked by time travel, as Wolverine goes back to the ’70s to inspire a young Charles and stop the Sentinel program. You could and should stop your exploration through the main series right here, and this would be a perfect capstone on it.
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