Movie Micro Reviews: Edition 105 - X-Men and Me

While on vacation, we did a marathon of X-Men movies.  Today's Micro-reviews gather all of those together.  I want to caution you:  I am Very Easy when it comes to X-Men movies.

The X-Men were, by far, my favorite superhero group while I was growing up.  My first X-Men comic book was the beginning of the X-Men renaissance, Uncanny X-Men #94, which was the introduction to the new team -- well, except for Giant-Size X-Men #1, which was very hard to find once the new team took off.  I was among the group of comic lovers who got swept up by Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and the rest. 

The way I remember it, that particular issue was among a short stack I brought along on a vacation with my family in 1975.  I'll have to check with my parents, but I think we were visiting Canada, though it might easily have been a Lake trip.  In any case, the story was thrilling, I read it many times on that trip and in the ensuing years, so these characters -- these X-Men -- have been a part of my life for a long, long time.

(They also have a connection to my marriage, but that's a story for another time.)

You will see below that I have down-graded some of the ratings over time.  (And raised a couple, too.)  But I am still pretty certain I rate them higher than most other reviewers.  And, you know what? I can live with that.  These micro-reviews are my reactions to movies, not some assignment for a film criticism class in college.  So, here they are: the collected micro-reviews of the X-Men movies, to date.

X-Men	92 88 82	[I meant to review this way back in Edition 8, but apparently never did. Last rating was back in Edition 91, the last time I did an X-Men movie marathon.  We’re doing it again.] OK, Batman was darker, and more stylized.  But I can't say it was better.  Certainly this was more true to the characters.  It whets my appetite for more.  Oh, and I was wrong: Hugh Jackman and Wolverine were the center of the movie for good reason.
X-Men 2: X-Men United (aka X2)	90 84	What a fun, intense story!  We get Nightcrawler!  We give Phoenix a reason to arise.  We get some of Logan’s mysterious past, but not all of it.  And we see just how dangerous mutants can really be.  Loved it.
X-Men 3: The Last Stand	85 68	Re-reviewed. Sadly, it doesn’t hang together.  Some good scenes; some good concepts; but as a complete story – sorry.  My initial excitement at Dark Phoenix carried me away. --- (initial review) --- Excellent movie for traditional comic book story and action.  Characters sometimes acted out-of-character, though.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine	88 83	Very fun, and since I didn’t know most of the story ahead of time, I got to be surprised.  “The best X-Men movie?”  Not quite.  But very good.
X-Men: First Class	82 84	A worthy entry in the genre. I liked the Xavier/Lehnsherr relationship.  Kevin Bacon made a good villain.  Mystique as a teenager – loved it.  Consistency with the comics must be sacrificed.  A couple of cameos made me smile – even laugh!  Rating: Remember this – I am “easy” when it comes to the X-Men.  Always will be.
Wolverine (The)	77	Wolverine had two loves of his life.  This is the story of the second.  Pretty good, too.  I like the tie-in with Japanese history.
X-Men: Days of Future Past	80 85	I didn’t believe they could have so many heroes and villains in one movie and still make the movie flow.  They did it!  The time travel aspect was well done, the key actors got good work, and the action and story were quite comic-book fun!