The Uncanny Rankings Of The Astonishing X-Men Films

And here we are, at the end of the X-Men retrospective.  A series that is hitting 5/7 really.  And in this retrospective, the one I didn't care for the most, I found an angle and some things I overall liked with it.  As I've said before, when it comes to superhero franchises that matter most to me, its these crazy mutants and Batman.  And that's mainly because they're the ones I got closest to and were a part of my comic book, film geek upbringing most of the way.  I was incredibly satisfied with the most recent entry and am looking forward to Age Of Apocalypse as well as Channing Tatum as Gambit (yes, I'm a C Tates fan, dude will be just fine in the role.  You'll see).  As a matter of fact, I was so high on DOFP that I'm leaving it out of the rankings as for me, its too early to have a complete thought on where it stands here and I'd like to see it a couple more times before I make up my mind.  Right now though, it'd easily fall somewhere 1-3 for me.  I loved it.  But without further adieu...as always...the ranking!

6.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine

This one was much more amusing on my second visit.  Its still not a very good film, but there was a throwback aspect I liked in it.  The ending is a complete mess, but somewhere in the first 2/3 there's a pretty watchable, pretty entertaining pure action film with mutants in the cast to be seen.  Overall though, this film was one nobody was asking for, wasn't necessary and ultimately hasn't been accepted or wanted by filmgoers and fans.

5.  X-Men: The Last Stand

Not the film we wanted, not a good X-Men film, but still an entertaining bit of superhero action.  There are some great set pieces in here and work to keep you entertained the entire time (even though the narrative might be irritating).  Aaron Neuwirth has mentioned the fight in Jean Grey's childhood home and I agree its wicked awesome.  I think people are right to sort of angry at some of the choices the film makes, but calling it a terrible film...I just can't agree.  Average maybe, but its still plenty entertaining from a popcorn blockbuster standpoint.

4.  X-Men

At one time, a king of superhero comic book movies.  But since its been lapped a number of times.  I still think its a good film, but as a "great" one its been surpassed on multiple occasion.  It gets a lot right and is a solid entry point for the series.  Its still very good stuff, but even its own series would easily be able to top it.  But, a great start.

3.  The Wolverine

I really really find myself liking this movie a lot and more with each viewing.  In time, this one may actually climb higher than this, but I'm keeping it here.  Its such an interesting movie and one that stands out not only in the world of X-Men films but in the today's superhero climate as well.  It wasn't afraid to be a complete and focused one off story and not be some be all end all to everything.  Its low key nature and personal aspect are all very appealing to me.  But it also manages to excite and impress in some of the action scenes as well.

2.  X2: X-Men United

Still one of the best superhero movies ever made.  And really, there's not many like it in terms of comic book superhero movies.  It may be the Star Trek ribbing, but it works.  This one isn't afraid to split our heroes and only center in on certain ones to get the job done.  It ups the ante but doesn't overdo it.  We add one good guy and one bad guy.  And I want to drool again over the cool ass intro scene in the movie that makes Nightcrawler a total badass.  This film has been high own people's lists of superhero movies since it first was released and rightfully so.  But...for me...one of these surprisingly surpassed it...

1.  X-Men: First Class

Call me lame, but Wolverine has long been my favorite X-Man and one of my favorite comic characters of all time.  So, let it be the one movie he's not in (aside from a brief cameo), led by Xavier and Magneto to be by and large the best X-Men film.  I love love love the decision to do a full on period piece with this one and embrace the 60s culture with outfits, style and film tropes.  I dig it.  Plus this one takes the age old Xavier and Magneto social battle to its core and makes it more interesting than ever.  And there are fantastic performances all over the place in this one (not you January Jones).  They managed to take what makes the X-Men tick and add some more color and a little more sense of fun to it.  Its a fantastic time.

What's your order Jen G (biggest X-fan I know)?

There's a clue for the next retrospective in one of the pictures I've already used here in this piece.  Really easy.  I think you can figure it out...maybe?