{"id":31377,"date":"2019-06-10T07:12:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T11:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=31377"},"modified":"2019-06-10T07:12:06","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T11:12:06","slug":"five-things-foxs-x-men-series-did-well-and-five-things-it-destroyed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/10\/five-things-foxs-x-men-series-did-well-and-five-things-it-destroyed\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Things Fox\u2019s “X-Men” Series Did Well, and Five Things It Destroyed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The FOX \u201cX-Men\u201d movie era is officially over marked as the end with \u201cThe Dark Phoenix.\u201d Now that Disney has absorbed FOX\u2019s properties, there\u2019s a strong chance we will be seeing the \u201cX-Men\u201d again on film and or television very soon, just not in the way FOX Studios imagined it in 2000. As an \u201cX-Men\u201d fanatic, I can\u2019t say that the series delivered very much but it did offer some small nuggets that are worth appreciating. What did you think of FOX\u2019s \u201cX-Men\u201d series overall?<\/p>\n

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5. Did Well:<\/strong> Kelsey Grammer as Beast
\nKelsey Grammer as Beast was brilliant casting and it\u2019s a damn shame we didn\u2019t get to see him in future films. Grammer is just so well suited for the role of Hank McCoy and he deserved a huge spotlight alongside Professor X and Wolverine. And no, Nicholas Hoult doesn\u2019t count. Grammer was one of the very few elements of \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d that worked.<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Destroyed:<\/strong> Apocalypse
\nApocalypse is one of the most menacing, threatening, supreme, and scary villains that the X-Men ever faced. He\u2019s the first mutant, the mutant with powers reaching near god-like proportions, and\u2026 well, \u201cX-Men: Apocalypse\u201d turned him in to just another stock villain. Along with the boring motivations, and cheesy powers, he came off more snarling and mustache twirling than sentient and possessing a high intellect. And don\u2019t even get me started on how he was the reason two of the most powerful X-Men in the series realized their full potential. Storm and Jean Grey deserved better.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Did Well:<\/strong> Nightcrawler
\nIt\u2019s a shame that Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner are so notoriously awful to work for, as we might have seen Alan Cumming return for the rest of the \u201cX-Men\u201d movies. Who knows what could have been if he\u2019d been brought back and allowed to further develop his iteration of Nightcrawler. In either case, one of the very few shining points of \u201cX2\u201d is Alan Cumming who embodies Nightcrawler and could very well have led his own \u201cExcalibur\u201d spin off movie under better circumstances. For what limited time he has Kodi Smit McPhee also does a very good job in the role, and is allowed to shine much more in \u201cDark Phoenix.\u201d Here\u2019s hoping the Fuzzy man returns in the inevitable reboot.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Destroyed:<\/strong> Diversity
\nDiversity has never been the entire movie series\u2019 stronger points. What is a comic series filled with so many people of color, size, and appearance, is basically watered down for a series primarily focused on the white characters. There\u2019s Wolverine, Magneto and Professor X, Mystique and then Jean and Scott. The minority characters are included mainly to act as cannon fodder or props as a means to help the main storylines progress further. Even the women don\u2019t get to do a whole lot. Bishop, Storm, Darwin, Psylocke, they\u2019re all mainly walk ons and supporting players never quite given meatier material, in the end. I hope Marvel remedies that.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Did Well: <\/strong>Deadpool\u2014Yes, Deadpool
\nDeadpool was probably the only real series of \u201cX-Men\u201d films we\u2019ve had since the property was at Fox. Not only did Ryan Reynolds save the character offering us two really entertaining and fun films featuring the Merc with a Mouth, but we also got loyal iterations of the X-Men universe. Colossus was built like a tank and was actually Russian, Juggernaut was humongous and sinister, Cable definitely held true to his character, and even Domino managed to convey so much of the original character\u2019s aspects down to the sly wit and relationship with Deadpool. Hell, we even got X-Force\u2014uh for five minutes. But still!<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Destroyed: <\/strong>Most of the X-Men
\nWhere to begin? Pretty much all of the X-Men that didn\u2019t get love from Bryan Singer, or FOX were given the shaft from the starting gate. Jean Grey didn\u2019t do much, Scott was depicted as a pompous ass, Rogue basically does nothing but play the damsel in distress, Psylocke has zero dialogue in \u201cApocalypse,\u201d Angel has three versions that never amounted to much of anything, Bishop, Dazzler, Jubilee, The Morlocks, Multiple Man, Gambit, Storm\u2014well, you get it. It\u2019s such a vast humongous team and they\u2019re all written as forgettable background extras. Shame.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Did Well: <\/strong>Wolverine
\nIt\u2019s not hard to do Wolverine well in any format since, let\u2019s face it, he\u2019s not a very complex character. He is one of the big shining successes of the FOX series was Wolverine. Thanks to Hugh Jackman\u2019s top notch turn as arguably the most popular X-Man of the property, Wolverine gets some banner moments, and a really good film with \u201cLogan.\u201d Jackman might be hard to top when Marvel reboots it eventually.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Destroyed: <\/strong>Continuity
\nThe continuity is all muddy and often incoherent when it comes to the whole series. Factoring in all of the cameos and whatnot, nothing in the whole series makes sense at all. It\u2019s almost as shoddy and confusing as the \u201cTerminator\u201d movies timeline. Apologists often excuse the huge gaps and inconsistencies to \u201ctime travel\u201d but it still doesn\u2019t add up. Like why are Professor X and Magneto in their forties in 1992, but their seventies in 2000, where \u201cX-Men\u201d is set to take place? And is Deadpool in the same universe or different timeline from the new \u201cX-Men\u201d timeline? Jean realizes she has the Phoenix force as a child, but why is it awakened as a teenager in \u201cApocalypse,\u201d and then explained to have taken hold of her later in \u201cDark Phoenix\u201d? How did Professor X get resurrected after dying in \u201cThe Last Stand\u201d? It\u2019s all so dizzyingly confusing and sloppy.<\/p>\n

1. Did Well: <\/strong>First Class
\n\u201cFirst Class\u201d originally started out life as a Magneto spin off and origin story, and was remolded to be an X-Men prequel\/reboot, and it\u2019s about as close to a great X-Men movie with a team in the whole series run at Fox Studios. For the first time ever we get Banshee, and Havok, and some great mutants like Darwin, not to mention the story with Mystique and her relationship with Hank McCoy and Charles Xavier is engaging. Also the recasting of Professor X and Magneto is quite good. In a great X-Men movie, these iterations would have been the quintessential takes on the characters.<\/p>\n

1. Destroyed:<\/strong> Interesting Stories
\nFor the most part, the \u201cX-Men\u201d movie series all failed to deliver any kind of narratives that thought outside of the box or gave us a reason to care about the fate of the characters. In all the menaces that concocted their own megalomaniacal schemes involving the fate of the mutants, none of the characters ever really came together to deliver the team we\u2019ve been told this movie is about. It\u2019s \u201cX-Men\u201d on some occasions, with the primary focus on one or two characters. There\u2019s no sense of everyone giving their unique talents or having their own personal stakes like we saw in \u201cThe Avengers\u201d or \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy.\u201d It\u2019s too bad, as the X-Men are filled with unique, original and amazing characters. Hopefully we can see them on film someday very soon.<\/p>\n