Some Mild Spoilers Ahead!
You might hate me for it, but I’m going to be “that guy” for a post. It’s not that I want to be, but I think it’s called for.
With the new X-men movie raking in the moolah and garnering praise from critics and audiences alike, it seems that the Bryan Singer train isn’t likely to stop anytime soon and that’s unfortunate. Why would should they reboot a franchise that’s doing so well financially as of this last movie anyway?
Well, I’ll tell you why. Step into my office.
1. This timeline is messed UP.
There are some movies have been nitpicked for a detail or two that, if paid any attention to, could bring down the plot in its entirety. Maybe the rest of the movie is so good that you can allow it for the sake of your own enjoyment or maybe it soured the entire experience but either way, it’s there. Like Jar Jar Binks, it’s a sin that can never really be ignored.
Director Bryan Singer’s suggestion? Just forget about them. “Some things you let go” he says and that he pays attentions to “the bulk of the franchise.”
Sooo which part is the bulk part?
Singer also hoped this for his 2006 reboot/sequel of Superman Returns in that they would count Superman and Superman II but forget Superman III and IV (The latter two he did not create). This is not to say there can be no forgiveness in the world of movies in terms of continuity (and certainly not comics) but what’s on screen is there for good. Pull a thread and the whole sweater could come apart but pull on multiple threads and all you’ve really got is a fast paced action movie that can only be taken at surface level and nothing else.
And though Singer may want us to forget about X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the sake of a clean slate, First Class and the original films also bring in their own issues. Not to mention the flashbacks presented in the just released Days of Future Past that include clips from X-men 3.
Which means this “Kid Omega” is still in existence.
So if past mistakes are to be forgiven, are we supposed to keep accepting the current ones? Seriously, not to have some kind of article breakdown here but you’re telling me they couldn’t even watch the previous movies they made and be like “Oh wait, let’s not do that story because we said this in the first one.” Is that how easy you’ve got it? You don’t even have to try?
Seeing that last July’s The Wolverine was the second highest grossing X-Men movie to date (Second only to X-men 3, mind you), it seems they don’t have to try, but dang it if I don’t weep for what could be.
2. Casting choices
Now this has the most potential to come off as “butt-hurt comic book fan” but there’s validity to this. As we’ve mentioned, these movies aren’t going to stop being made- fact. But another fact is that people age and/or don’t always keep interest in the same things. Case in point, our man Hugh Jackman.
Sure the steroids are keeping him together NOW, but think about his future.
Now Hugh is the best example of the bunch it seems. Aside from appreciating the fan base the best way he can and even coming off like a great guy, Wolverine was his first major role which makes it that much easier to see him as the character. Also, it says something that he hasn’t been typecast because of it either.
But the fact is that seeing a Jackman play Wolverine in his later years is going to work for certain stories, but only ones that specifically involve Wolverine aging, because as we’ve known, it takes him a while to do that.
All of this while many of the actors cast in these part we cast in smaller supporting roles that can only be expanded upon slightly for full stories. Can you imagine a movie focusing only on Shawn Ashmore and his group of one to four speaking lines? No? Do you know who Shawn Ashmore is?
This. This is a Shawn Ashmore.
I wouldn’t ever want to say that because an actor isn’t a brand name like Cruise or Pitt they couldn’t carry a movie but many of these actors weren’t cast to carry a movie in the first place so we’re not going to get movies about them which highly limits the stories we’ll get out of this massive universe.
3. Continuity aside, there is a major misuse of characters/story
When the first X-men movie was released, it wasn’t like it is currently where you have actors signing on for eight more appearances before the first movie ever came out. They didn’t know how well it was going to do or if anybody was going to care.
And of course, people did care. They cared so much that here we are years later discussing many of the same actors playing the same characters they were then. So what do you do when you make a movie with sequel potential that may never go anywhere after? You’ve only got one shot, so you give it your all and you put the best stuff you can think of into this one film.
…And this was it, I guess.
And from there, you work in the stuff you couldn’t afford before; special effects, action sequences, maybe some bigger name actors, etc.
But in the end, you keep going back to what worked for you in the first place because that’s what you know will keep people entertained.
Where am I going with this? Much of the film’s continuity is based on the things that were jammed into a series that had an unsure future. So we get a lot of Wolverine doing what Wolverine does in situations where he’s joining the X-Men, leaving the X-Men, coming back to the X-Men, blah blah blah- do you get that Wolverine is in the X-men?
“Rowr!”
But that’s not all these stories have to be about with a reboot. Seeing as how some of these comic book movies have made over a billion dollars, the future of comic book movies is a bit more of a sure thing. They can pace themselves unlike before where they would jam in as much as they could fit in two hours.
I’m not saying that we need 2011′s Green Lantern-style origin story- where nothing seems like it’s been accomplished and no surface has even been scratched- but to really flesh this out and allow us to even have favorites in the films like they do in the comics. Not this “60% Wolverine, 40% Everybody else” routine they’ve had going.
The X-men universe is vast and having Wolverine lead front and center every time leads to Wolverine-centric stories- something that also limits any chance of expansion to be had.
Oh, if only…
What if there were a movie that featured the original X-Men as the team with the sequel having more characters jump in? Imagine an X-Men movie with Emma Frost on the team, not just showing up as a living Barbie doll in the 60s? What if Cyclops’ role wasn’t reduced to Wolverine’s whipping boy and he actually lived up to his role as the leader of the X-Men? Oh the possibilities.
4. X-Men movies miss the point of X-Men
Chess? What are they, smart or something?
The X-Men in all of their various incarnations have always dealt with discrimination, bigotry of all kinds, and the consequences of what happens when we choose not to live in peace but continually fight each other. It’s also about people with claws coming out of their hands and creating FIRE from their own bodies or FIGHTING ROBOTS WITH THE POWER OF THEIR BRAIN YEAH!
I’m sorry. Anyway.
While the comics have always dealt with the above-mentioned themes, the movies kinda sorta miss the entire point by making Magneto and Mystique violent anti-heroes as opposed to actual villains. In seven of the films released thus far, five of them feature the above-mentioned characters and three of them involve a story with the two teaming up with the X-Men.
While I make no direct complaint of comic-to-film adaptions (Changes are inevitable of course), changing a villain to a misunderstood anti-hero changes the meaning of your story to where a villain ain’t so bad if you’re doing it for the right reasons.
B-b-b-but he’s so SAD!
In X-Men Origins: First Class Magneto spreads the message of “Be yourself” while the peaceful Xavier espouses “Can you just hide yourself a little longer? Please? People don’t get it yet.” Mystique ultimately sides with Magneto because, hey, why wouldn’t you? Be yourself or continue living your life in secret because other people don’t understand? By the end of the film, Mystique even gives Beast a bit of friendly advice- “Beast! Remember- mutant and proud!” As in “Don’t hide who you are and be proud of your role in life.”
This is great isn’t it? Except Mystique is now on the team of mutants that murder and destroy to get what they want. But why wouldn’t they? For every bad thing they’ve done, the humans have done something that much worse to mutant kind.
B-b-b-b-but she’s so pwecious!
It’s not even about what the comics did versus the films, but that the films are saying something nobody should get behind.
Singer and co. would have you believe there is no right and wrong here but rather just what you choose to do. In the comics, Magneto goes under the guise of freedom and equality when he’s really just pissed off about what happened to him. Mystique is a mercenary that at random times, will help others but is generally cold and ruthless.
Beast on the other hand, despite his bizarre mutations, is the perfect example of the X-men: intelligent, capable, and misunderstood by the outside world. Yet he doesn’t receive helpful life lessons from villains as much as he does give them to those in a more favorable position than him in many respects. Even with what society doesn’t accept, he’s accomplished so much.
Like fought his evil twin!
But since Singer and his group are only advocating bigotry toward homosexuals, he’d rather have everything point back to his own agenda in life. Race, culture, societal norms all take a backseat to Singer’s preferences as opposed to the universal message of peace to all. Don’t you rather want the humans to die in these movies? They’re all so stupid that it’s tough to have pity on them. If you’ve ever been a misfit or an outcast in anyway, these movies don’t have you in mind but only what this director has experienced and it’s time for a change.
5. This franchise is fourteen years old. Changes are a good thing
While Spider-Man’s reboot happened way too fast for most people, X-Men just seems to keep going. While it feels natural on one hand, the other hand holds the promise of a new beginning- you can see any character appear and not just as a cameo.
Heck, why not feature team members in one movie and replace them the next so as to rotate? You never know who you’ll see next and if certain characters prove profitable, then pow- spinoff! The possibilities are endless and don’t have to always pertain to the same three.
All in all, what series has kept going this long? Most films that have sequels this many years later were on hiatus between such the Star Wars movies while X-Men just keeps going. It’s time for new faces, new stories, and a new angle all together and not just because it’s been around but because the same things say the same things and draw in the same people.
“You’ll NEVER break my diamond skin-AAH brass bed frame!”
I want to like these movies but I’ve got to have more reasons than some cool special effects and decent actors. Besides, SPOILERS TO DAYS OF FUTURE PAST,by the end of this last movie, none of the other movies matter anyway. They didn’t happen, remember? We’ve now all been watching something that’s just been erased.