X:Men Retrospective

In just a few weeks time we will see the release of X-Men: First Class in cinemas around Australia, directed by Matthew Vaugn who made a large splash with his previous film ‘Kick Ass’, the next X film also sees the return of the father of the current X film franchise with Bryan Singer taking on a producing role as well as being credited for the story of ‘First Class’.

The original X-Men film directed by Bryan Singer was released in 2000, and represented a turning point for the superhero genre in cinema. With a production budget of approximately $75 million the film went on to achieve a worldwide gross in the vicinity of $334 million worldwide. The film assembled a stellar cast and achieved a perfect balance of remaining in the spirit of the source material, yet allowing enough changes in order for the content to be more suitable for a theatrical interpretation. Logan wouldn’t have looked quite as menacing wearing the classic yellow spandex, and even this is acknowledge by the film as if to make its own argument to any who would challenge it for not being a literal translation.

To address the challenge of beginning a franchise with such an enormous amount of content to draw upon, the first film streamlines things effectively to introduce the critical characters to the audience and to begin building a rich back-story to the universe without overwhelming audiences or becoming too convoluted. One of the greatest achievements of the original film was to bring a story about superheros into a realistic world setting. A notion that had been explored in various comics for some time at that point, but had not managed to establish a niche for itself in the wider cinema experience.

By the time ‘X-Men’ was released, it had been a number of years since the Superman franchise had become dormant, and it was three years since the disaster that was ‘Batman and Robin’ had been released which presented no possibility of continuing in its existing form. X-Men re-opened the possibility of high budget, high quality superhero films and specifically for the Marvel properties. Many of the Marvel based properties had been held back in development hell for a number of years prior to the release of ‘X-Men’ which became one of, if not the first film to deliver something tangible, and it did so leaving fans wanting more.

The sequel X2, also directed by Bryan Singer was released in 2003, having established his vision of the X-Men universe, including introducing the core characters for his story arc, Singer was able to delve into the universe and focus on telling a great X-Men story. The film features a range of interesting characters and achieves a blend of event driven and character based story telling filled with action, and drama. It limits it scope (something the latter films fail to do) and gives the characters and events enough screen time to allow the plots and sub-plots room to breathe.

The attention to detail displayed in this film gives a sense of a sound understanding of the source material by the film makers and includes a certain amount of fan service to reward the core fan base watching the film. With a production budget increased to $125 million, and an estimated worldwide gross of over $400 million X2 surpassed the success of the first film both critically and financially, and in my view cemented itself as one of the greatest films in the superhero genre to this day.

Thematically Singer’s films explore the very real issues of biased attitudes, what it is to be different and the struggles that can accompany that. Combined with the fantastical elements of the X-Men this produced entertaining films which carry a real sense of substance and integrity with them.

The cast of the X-Men films were delivering fantastic performances, Ian McKellen, Patrick Steward, Hugh Jackman, and James Marsden were all providing something worthy of the material they were working with. The chemistry between McKellen and Steward in these films is something wonderful to watch.

However all good things must come to an end, and after having set up a climactic ending in X2, with a nod towards where things were going in the next instalment Bryan Singer made the decision to leave the franchise behind and pursue his dream of helming the next Superman film for a rival studio.

After a turbulent period in pre-production ‘X-Men 3: The Last Stand’ finally found a director in Brett Ratner after several false starts including a brief period with Mathew Vaugn attached to direct. Released in 2006 X3 carried with it the feeling of the end of an era for the X-Men films with this likely to be the last film with the original cast returning to their roles.

Unfortunately the results were something of a mixed bag, and a definite step down from the quality Singer had established with the previous two films. X3 attempted to focus on two major story arcs including the dark phoenix story as set up by the ending of the previous film as well as the leech story based upon a story arc told via the comics.

Combined with the introduction of a number of new characters this simply made for too much material to be covered in one film and resulted in a very rushed and convoluted story. Generally the production values were maintained, the visual effects were sound and the cast delivered good performances, however the plot was something of a mess and overall the film was disappointing. These problems with the film however didn’t hold it back financially, with an estimated gross of over $450 million X3 went on to be the highest performing film of the series.

Following the release of X3, it became increasingly obvious the franchise would not continue in its current form and that the next instalment would either be something of a reinvention or a spin off to the series. ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ was released in 2009, as something of a prequel/spin off entry into the saga focusing on the character Logan prior to his fateful meeting with Rogue at the beginning of the first film.

Directed by Gavin Hood the film included a younger version of General Stryker who appeared prominently in X2, as well as fan favourites Deadpool and Gambit. Once again this instalment didn’t quite meet the quality of the first two films, it took a lighter action adventure perspective on the series and while entertaining didn’t contain the same kind of substance found previously in the franchise. Some of the visual effects didn’t seem to reflect the production budget the film was given and for me certain elements in the story really detracted from my enjoyment of the film. With an approximate worldwide gross of $374 million, this film represented the first decline in revenues from the previous instalment in the franchise.

This brings us to ‘X-men: First Class’, due for release on Thursday 2nd June in Australia, the film takes place during the time of the Cuban missile crisis and will feature the characters Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier in their youth, as well as a number of new characters including Emma Frost, Havok, and Darwin.

The reception to the new X-Men film will be an interesting one to watch for, with such a focus on the Avenger related Marvel films, will the relevancy of the X-Men at this point cinematically be an issue for the film? With the involvement of Matthew Vaughn (directing), Jane Goldman (screenplay) and Bryan Singer (story and producer) it’s reasonable to expect something of a return to form for the franchise with an entertaining action film blended with dramatic and compelling story arcs.

Are you excited for the new X-Men film or are you happily onboard for the Avenger films not needing anything else? Let us know your thoughts and what your favourite X-Men film is so far in the comments section below.

Stay tuned to accessreel.com for our review of ‘X-Men: First Class’, coming soon.