Favorite "X-Men" Movie: Rank the Movies

[Old Guy]

What is your favorite X-Men movie? And how would you rank them?

Mod Note: Just a reminder that we have talkbacks for all of the X-Men movies, as well.
-X-Men Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-X2: X-Men United Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-X-Men: The Last Stand Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-X-Men Origins: Wolverine Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

 

[DarkAngel]

What is your favorite X-Men movie? And how would you rank them?

I'd say X-men > X2 > X3. Haven't seen Wolverine yet.

I felt the first flowed the best, as a movie. And I loved the climactic stuff at the Statue of Liberty. X2 might have been the most entertaining, but I didn't care for the end stuff at the dam and the movie felt like a bunch of big action set pieces strung together rather than a cohesive film. X3 just stunk. I think they did some unforgiveable things creatively, wasted the potential, and had so many of the characters acting uncharacteristically.

I liked both X-men and X2. Can't stand X3. I'm hoping Wolverine is much better than 3, though after 3 I also have little interest in seeing it. But at some point, I'm sure I will. Whether that'll be at the theater or later on dvd, I don't know.

 

[Temple Fugate]

As far as the trilogy is concerned, X2 was by far the strongest in terms of theme and acting. X-Men was a decent film by its own merits, though it came at the very beginning of the modern comic book film craze and thus felt more like a regular action-adventure with costumes. The Last Stand set the bar higher than the first two, but unfortunately fell short and didn't utilize some characters as well as possible.

I'll weigh in again once I see Wolverine tonight.

 

[Lord Dalek]

X2 > X1 >>>>>>>>>>>>> The Last Stand > Wolverine

X2 is a film I had to gradually warm to (I seem to recall not generally caring for it much when it was in theaters) but now that I have I appreciate it a lot more than my old fave X1. Last Stand as previously mentioned is just set pieces without much coherence (also killing off Cyclops and, albeit to a lesser extent, Mystique early on wasn't very bright), and Wolverine just blows.

 

[Old Guy]

X2 was the best, obviously. It was one of those VERY FEW movies that FOX allowed the filmmakers some freedom! As for the rank:

1. X2
2. X-Men
3. Wolverine
4. Last Stand

That's right. I enjoyed Wolverine more than Last Stand. Why? Well...Wolverine is, well, about Wolverine. Any damage done is only to Wolverine. While with Last Stand it did damage to A LOT of characters and storylines.

 

[mookie75]

I haven't seen Wolverine yet, but as of right now X2 is my favorite, followed by X1 and then X3.

However, I have to be honest when I say that I don't like any of them as much as I originally did. I watched X1 through X3 this week and I found myself getting really annoyed with the number of clichéd conversations that take place between the characters, the hammy lines (especially in X3), and the generally hollow characterizations of some of the major characters. Sure, characters like Wolverine and Magneto had some depth, but there were many that just weren't explored properly. I even caught myself feeling bored with X2 and that used to be one of my all-time favorite superhero movies.

I still find Scott and Jean's "love" in the first couple movies to be quite humorous because, if the film didn't stop to have them say things like "I love you so much" every so often, you would hardly even know that they were a couple. The only other indication is the fact that Cyclops gets all bristly whenever Wolverine is sniffing around Jean (pun intended ).

They're still enjoyable movies, but the more I watch them, the more I think about how much better they could have been. It's sad to me, in a way, because the various "X" comics were my favorites back when I read comic books. I suppose I'll cut the movies some slack since X1 was one of the first in this latest wave of superhero movies, so it probably came before Hollywood really started to get the pattern right.

 

[Old Guy]

However, I have to be honest when I say that I don't like any of them as much as I originally did.

With the exception of X2, which is the only one I own on DVD, I was never really a fan of these movies. I liked them, but I wouldn't say I loved them. They're okay.

 

[mookie75]

With the exception of X2, which is the only one I own on DVD, I was never really a fan of these movies. I liked them, but I wouldn't say I loved them. They're okay.

Yeah, I can still watch them, but a little of the magic has leaked out of them for me. I have similar feelings toward the Spider-Man movies as well. Perhaps I've just watched them all a few too many times over the years.

 

[Jedigreedo]

As much as I prefer the story from X-Men over X2, I prefer X2 overall. The quality of acting as everyone has settled into their characters is far more interesting, the effects were better, the feeling was consistent and Cyclops wasn't wearing a virtual boy anymore. Some things could have been handled better such as Rogue constantly being emo, but it's still easier to watch multiple times than the first one. The third was just downright horrible, Ratner really went in every single wrong direction he could - and when that wasn't enough, he violently crashed it into a direction it should have never gone. Quite honestly, it's because of X3 that I don't care for the story of X2, because the latter left you highly anticipating the follow-up. Much like the most delicious pie you could ever imagine, but you go on to find a roach in your next bite. Or rather, a Rat.

I'm intrigued about Wolverine and have been attempting to not pre-judge, but I read spoilers over the last week and am rather disappointed with the fate of a character I found incredibly intriguing. That, along with other mixed feelings from others, leaves me not having much confidence in it.

AThe Last Stand set the bar higher than the first two, but unfortunately fell short-

It's a little more like they set the bar ridiculously high, then tripped, knocked the bar loose, and watched as it plummeted and smacked them in the face. Yes, the failure of X3 can be summarized with a slap-stick scene.

 

[Gold Guy]

X-Men: The Last Stand. It was awesome, and Phoenix rocks!

 

[Kolbar]

1. X-Men
2. X2
3. X-Men: The Last Stand
4. Wolverine

Pretty much exactly the order in which they were made, although you could really interchange 1 and 2 because I loved them both. I take back anything negative I ever said bad about "The Last Stand," because it was a masterpiece compared to "Wolverine." It's awful how far the X-Men franchise has fallen in movies.

 

[monkey D Goku]

Wolverine was aweSOME

 

[Batman]

1. X2

2. X-Men

3. Wolverine


Hated The Last Stand

 

[Old Guy]

I have similar feelings toward the Spider-Man movies as well.

I still love the Spider-Man movies.

 

[Wind-Dive]

Here it goes.

1. X-MEN: The Last Stand
2. X2: X-MEN United
3. (tie) X-MEN and X-MEN Origins: Wolverine

Personally, the reason why I put X-men and Wolverine as a tie is that first of all, X-MEN was ok but there was not much action as I hoped it would be and secondly, Wolverine was just too short, maybe there's something wrong with my mental health but it was too short and I didn't really get the gist of it.

 

[Old Guy]

1. X2
2. X-Men
3. Wolverine
4. Last Stand

I'm changing this to:

1. X2
2. X-Men
3. Last Stand
4. Wolverine

I'm re-watching Last Stand on FX right now and it's actually better than Wolverine. Quality-wise they're about the same but I'll give the advantage to Last Stand because it was a good story that was badly told. While Wolverine was just a revenge story. There was nothing special there. Atleast Last Stand had something good to tell except they screwed it up. I'll give them extra point for effort.

 

[Spideyzilla]

I thought X-Men was great, while X2 was awful. Seriously. X3 was the best.

 

[Old Guy]

I thought X-Men was great, while X2 was awful. Seriously. X3 was the best.

You're in the minority there.

 

[Hobbes829]

x2
x-men
wolverine
x-men 3

 

[desi]

I'm changing this to:

1. X2
2. X-Men
3. Last Stand
4. Wolverine

I'm re-watching Last Stand on FX right now and it's actually better than Wolverine. Quality-wise they're about the same but I'll give the advantage to Last Stand because it was a good story that was badly told. While Wolverine was just a revenge story. There was nothing special there. Atleast Last Stand had something good to tell except they screwed it up. I'll give them extra point for effort.

By "they screwed up" you mean they killed Cyclops. People dismiss the movie just because of his death. No one ever realizes the advances the movie made over the last two movies even with the shoestring budget, missing cast members, and missing director. Honestly, if you listed all of Magneto's main motivations and plans from the first two movies, you will realize he has a lot in common with Superman Return's Lex Luthor. The man turned Senator Kelly into a fishman, attempted to turn politicians from all around the world into mutants using a machine, and also attempted to kill every human in the world. Magneto in The Last Stand is realistic and relevant, because he doesn't use a silly little machine do his bad deeds like a cheesy mad scientist would do. In the third movie, he acts more like a terrorist, which makes total sense to me. I will say this withhout a regret: The Last Stand has the best Magneto in the whole thrilogy among other things.