I don't know why this entry gets the most dislike of the "young" team films. I waited an awful long time to finally watch it myself, and yes there's things about it that could be better, but there's a lot about it I liked.
I liked this portrayal of the Phoenix better than the original trilogy take on it. Though the aliens were sort of a weak antagonist to insert. I greatly appreciate - above all else - this film diving deeper into the controversy of Professor Xavier.
My favorite thing about the X-Men when I was growing up, is just how much of it fell into shades of gray. And even as an adult. Xavier has good intentions but he's a man who can force his will on anyone. Eric is a man who's methods are questionable but he tends to want similar end goals. I've seen in comics Cyclops go from the biggest Boy Scout of all time to becoming someone on par with Magneto as a villain while Wolverine became the ideal "good guy." X-Men has always felt more fluid than most comics in regards to right and wrong, good and bad, and the different perspectives surrounding those concepts. And this film tackling the way Xavier's good intentions can lead to less than desirable methods, and whether or not a man like him should be able to make the calls he makes, was a nice change of pace as opposed to the simplistic "this side good, that side bad."
At the end of the day, with all X-Men films considered as a whole, they all could have been done so much better. Especially if anyone could have foreseen the scale comic films would have reached when X-Men first released. I won't judge any of them overly harshly as they've truly tried to make their entirety of their film franchise work together with time travel and alternate timelines, and tried to explore those gray areas where good and evil aren't so cut and dry.
The instrumental soundtrack to this is pretty killer too.
I liked this portrayal of the Phoenix better than the original trilogy take on it. Though the aliens were sort of a weak antagonist to insert. I greatly appreciate - above all else - this film diving deeper into the controversy of Professor Xavier.
My favorite thing about the X-Men when I was growing up, is just how much of it fell into shades of gray. And even as an adult. Xavier has good intentions but he's a man who can force his will on anyone. Eric is a man who's methods are questionable but he tends to want similar end goals. I've seen in comics Cyclops go from the biggest Boy Scout of all time to becoming someone on par with Magneto as a villain while Wolverine became the ideal "good guy." X-Men has always felt more fluid than most comics in regards to right and wrong, good and bad, and the different perspectives surrounding those concepts. And this film tackling the way Xavier's good intentions can lead to less than desirable methods, and whether or not a man like him should be able to make the calls he makes, was a nice change of pace as opposed to the simplistic "this side good, that side bad."
At the end of the day, with all X-Men films considered as a whole, they all could have been done so much better. Especially if anyone could have foreseen the scale comic films would have reached when X-Men first released. I won't judge any of them overly harshly as they've truly tried to make their entirety of their film franchise work together with time travel and alternate timelines, and tried to explore those gray areas where good and evil aren't so cut and dry.
The instrumental soundtrack to this is pretty killer too.
