Welcome back!
You’re in for a treat, folks, as two of the three X-Men movies within this part of the marathon are within my “Top 3 of the X-Men Film Franchise” – Days of Future Past and Logan, obviously.
“The best since X2!” – Fans, 2014
My god, the above is/was disgustingly true.
Days of Future Past was an absolute joy to watch. The concept of linking the heroes of the original X-Men trilogy to those of the contemporary prequels was worked wonderfully. Despite the original trilogy ending in decay, it was a pleasurable throwback to see select surviving characters from that group of films.
The story though, is cool, actually cool. Time-travel has probably been overdone in film, or perhaps, the concept has worked too well for select films, therefore establishing an elite group, thus when a new mainstream time-travel-based film is released, by default, it will be up against those within the elite group of successful time-travel hits (Back to the Future, The Terminator etc.).
Banterously, I loved the angle of the 1970s Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), essentially, being a heroin addict. However, Xavier doesn’t actually take heroin, as what he does shoot is an alternative liquid drug that relinquishes his mutant gift in exchange for his leg usage. Again, not actual heroin (I don’t think), though the likenesses are obvious.
Ultimately, Days of Future Past feels like it very well could have been the conclusion of the franchise…for now, at least. The ending seemed so right, any subsequent film presenting the X-Men team just feels completely unnecessary. Days of Future Past offered a closure that looks to be semi-tarnished by any subsequent release focusing on the X-Men team, thus Apocalypse damages the greatness of this dual-sequel.
WTF was that?!
I really don’t understand how Bryan Singer can present an elite-level superhero movie – X-Men: Days of Future Past – then direct follow it up with the despicably disastrous X-Men: Apocalypse. Admittedly, being informed by multiple people that Apocalypse is gash, the subsequently watching it with a negative mindset, is a dangerous game to play. But to enter a viewing of Apocalypse with a neutral or positive mindset will still conclude with the same result of being utterly confused, disappointed, and potentially angry if good money was exchanged to view the superhero sequel.
Mumsy thought it was awful: “Dom, what are we watching?”
The film’s villain, Apocalypse, is just a cheap knock-off of Ivan Ooze from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, though he is completely boring with no interesting aspects or actions, just awful – easily the worst villain OF THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE.
An additional annoyance is the over-pushing of the younger versions of Storm and Jean Grey. Regarding the latter of the two, an over-push and over-significance is, perhaps, half-justified as the sequel is to be X-Men: Dark Phoenix – set a decade later, and presenting a second adaptation attempt of The Dark Phoenix Saga (Uncanny X-Men, #101-108 and #129-138). FYI: The first live-action adaptation occurred (miserably) is The Last Stand.
But seriously… Apocalypse is up there (or down there) with The Last Stand and Origins: Wolverine. It’s even tempting to regard Apocalypse as the worst, but without being too harsh, it’s probably on-par with The Last Stand.
Thank you to both Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart.
From when I first saw Logan‘s trailer featuring Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt, I knew this film would be f****** elite.
When the marathon was coming close it its conclusion, there was a feeling of sadness because a run of (mostly) enjoyable films was coming to an end, however, there was also a surge of excitement because Mumsy and I had finally reached Logan – the best in the franchise. And I had recently acquired my Logan DVD too, thus there was the additional excitement of putting my new item to use.
Both after my cinematic viewing on my 23rd birthday and marathon viewing, I stick to my rating of 4.5 stars. Yes, Logan is an elite film and should probably be treated to 5 stars, however, as I read the film as a western, road movie, and superhero movie, I couldn’t find myself to award 5 stars, as Logan did not possess elite-level antagonists to the Wolverine character, and I believe that 5 stars westerns and superhero films should both be in possession of elite-level villains or antagonists to the protagonists. Examples: The Dark Knight has Heath Ledger’s Joker against Christian Bale’s Batman, whilst Unforgiven has Gene Hackman’s Little Bill Daggett against Eastwood’s William Munny.
Though never being a huge fanboy of the Wolverine character or the X-Men films in general whilst growing, I still felt an emotional attachment to the title character in Logan, as I had watched this character develop in both good and bad films from being six years-old. From promising beginnings in the first movie to a tacky and cheesy prequel in the form of Origins: Wolverine, then finally to a much more mature presentation of superhero cinema, it’s been a wild ride with Hugh Jackman as Logan, thus this final performance of the character was in one word, beautiful. Thanks mate.
Then there is Sir Patrick Stewart, a proud native of Yorkshire, a fine gentleman in cinema, and a pure character actor – often an intellectual one. Stewart is a legendary figure of the Star Trek franchise and since 2000, the father of the X-Men franchise. Thank you, sir.
If my marathon viewing of Logan was a first-time viewing, then Mumsy and I would have probably concluded the viewing with a standing ovation or applause, at least.
The Next Marathon…
Sticking, perhaps, with superhero cinema, the next marathon could very well be of the films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe – I’ve seen only a third of the films, whilst Mumsy has watched only a select few.
Dom.
For John.
Dom on Film 
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