X-Men Movies

1. X-Men (2000)
The first X-Men movie was a hit. I mean, seriously, seeing Professor Xavier and his team of mutants in real live action was something great for the time. The film started off with Rogue (Anna Paquin, seriously? I am angry on the producers for this choice of cast, she doesn't look like Rogue at all) nearly killing her boyfriend and leaving home. She is taken to a small cold town in Canada, where she meets Logan aka Wolverine, portrayed by Hugh Jackman. After Wolverine beats up a few guys, he leaves in his truck, only to be followed by Rogue. Eventually he agrees on taking her along. On the way.. wherever they were going, they get attacked by Sabertooth, who works for Magneto. Wolverine gets beaten up, but Cyclops and Storm show up and scare Sabertooth away, taking Logan and Rogue to the X Mansion. Logan wakes up on a bed, bandaged, even though his wounds are already cured due to his mutant ability to regenerate. That's when he meets Jean and falls in love with her, only to find out she's Scott's girlfriend. So, the movie develops with senator Kelly (the guy who wants to introduce a Mutant Registration Act, making every mutant reveal his/hers identity and abilities) being kidnapped by Magneto and turned into a mutant with a certain device he invented. Upon reaching the X Mansion, senator Kelly dies. That's also when the X-men find out of Magneto's plan to use his weapon in order to turn everyone into mutants. His target is the UN meeting on Ellis Island, so he kidnaps Rogue and goes to Liberty Island, placing his gun in the torch. Inside the Statue of Liberty, the X-men fight Magneto's minions. Once Logan deals with Sabertooth, he manages to get to the torch and tries to save Rogue, but Magneto stops him. Scott hits Magneto with his eye-laser or whatever the thing he shoots from his eyes is called, and Logan saves Rogue by letting her absorb his energy. He comes back to normal to find out all's well and Magneto is in a plastic prison. The movie ends with Xavier visiting Magneto.
Overall, this was a great movie to see at the time. It was great having a real live Wolverine and real live X-Men. I even liked their choice for professor Xavier, Patrick Stewart. My only dislike is.. Rogue. Again, bad choice. I can't see Rogue in Anna Paquin at all.
Something else about the movie: there's a problem with the plot. Wolverine doesn't recognize Sabertooth, even though in the cartoons they are old enemies.

2. X2(2003)
The sequel to the first X-Men and probably the best in the series, X2 continues the story where the first film left off.
First off, we see Nightcrawler attempt to kill the president of the USA, but reconsidering at the last moment. Then enters William Stryker, who has a plan to exterminate all mutants. He kidnaps Professor X and takes him to his base at Alkali Lake. He makes a copy of Cerebro, the computer Xavier uses to find mutants, and connects Charles to it, having his son, Jason, who can implant thoughts into other people's minds, make him find all the mutants and kill them.
Storm, Wolverine, Nighcrawler (who is now an X-man), and Jean join forces with Magneto and his minions and go to Alkali lake to save the Professor and Scott and to take down Stryker. They succeed in their mission, but the barrage where the base is built is about to collapse and the X-men have limited time to get out of there and to the jet before the whole place gets filled with water. Stryker's fate is sealed, as we see him left there, tied up, when the water comes over him. The jet fails to take off on time, and Jean sacrifices herself in order to save the others.
Well.. this is said to be one of the best sequels ever made. Of course, it's a well known fact that sequels usually suck. But not this one. X2 is a great movie, continuing the story in a great way.

3.X-Men: The last stand (2006)
This movie is a waste of potential. They could've cooked up anything for it. Anything. They could've brought Apocalipse as the main villain. They could've brought Sentinels. But no. Again the fight between Magneto and the X-men. This time, though, the conflict focuses on some pharmaceutical company that invented a cure for mutants. Magneto wants to destroy the cure, saying that mutants don't need it, as being a mutant is not a disease. He gathers an army of mutants and devises a plan in this direction.
Meanwhile, Scott is near Alkali Lake, thinking of Jean, when she suddenly comes out of the water.. alive?! Professor X feels the massive power coming from Alkali Lake and sends Logan and Storm there. They find Cyclops' glasses floating and they find Jean collapsed on the ground. They reach the conclusion that she killed Scott and they take her back to the X Mansion. Professor X tells Logan that she has a dual personality: the Jean they all know and love and an evil, uncontrollable personality, The Phoenix. Xavier also says Jean's power is unlimited. Soon after, Jean seduces Wolverine, and when he tries to convince her that she's not herself, she runs away. Later, Xavier meets Magneto at her house, each trying to get her to their side. Inside the house, Jean aka the Phoenix, pulverizes the Professor and leaves with Magneto.
The final battle takes place on Alcatraz Island, where the few X-men left (the others ran away after an attack on the X Mansion) face Magneto's army. I almost forgot.. we see the Juggernaut, as one of Magneto's minions in this movie. Also they never mention the Juggernaut is Xavier's brother. Not at all. Anyway, Big J (I'll call it that because it's shorter) tries to get the kid (a kid that has the power to "cure" mutants) and kill him, as he was ordered by Magneto, but Kitty (played by Ellen Page) stops him and saves the child. The X-men manage to give Magneto the cure (I forgot, The Beast appears too in this movie, but they let the Nightcrawler go, he is nowhere to be seen in this film). Wolverine faces Jean - The Phoenix one last time. She comes back to normal for a second and asks him to save her. He responds that he loves her and then stabs her.
The end scene shows the X-men standing next to the graves of Scott, Jean and Professor Xavier.
After the credits (yeah, this is what you cinema geeks missed out, as you never stay through the credits, fuckers!) we see Professor X waking up in Moira's house. This is, I suppose, a way to say "there will be a sequel". But no sequel was ever made, as the next film doesn't have anything to do with this storyline.
My impressions on part 3.. average. They repeated themselves with the Magneto fight and the Jean - Logan part ended way too fast. I mean, for a mutant with unlimited power, Jean aka the Phoenix went down way too easy.
One more thing.. ROGUE?! Where the fuck is she in all three movies?! NOWHERE! She doesn't have the part she should have! She just stays away. In part 3 she goes to take the cure and become human. I'm sorry, but this character wasn't developed at all. Shame on you, Stan Lee. And I saw "Jubilee" in the credits but I didn't see her in the movies whatsoever. What the hell?! At least this was a decent X-men movie. Just wait to see what's next.

4. X-men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
The movie shows Wolverine's story from when he was a little kid to after the moment he became Weapon X and lost his memories. There. I said the whole story in one line. This movie is not as good as the previous ones. Maybe because it's not about the X-men anymore. I know, I know, Stan Lee is an asshole, he never finishes what he starts. He fucked up Spiderman the same way, just because some people said Spiderman 3 sucked. Hell, no. I liked that movie. But Stan is a fan guy. He is too influenced by what fans want. I think a fourth Tobey Maguire Spiderman movie would have been great, but no, Stan Lee decided to go for a reboot with another actor as Spiderman.
Marvel did the same with X-men. They fucked up the series after movie 3. Of course, Wolverine is still Hugh Jackman (great, at least they left Wolverine alone) and Xavier, though he only appears in one scene, is still Patrick Stewart.
The movie shows young James and Victor, in 1855. James kills his stepfather only to find out he was actually his real father and then runs away. His brother, Victor, joins him. Afterwards, they are shown fighting in the Independence War and then fighting in the World Wars, before being recruited by a younger William Stryker into a team of mutants that have a certain mission. During one of these missions, James (Wolverine, but not yet) sees his brother Victor trying to kill an innocent man and stops him. After this incident, he leaves the team and settles in a small community, living in a small cottage with a woman he loves and working as a lumber jack. Stryker finds him and asks him to join him for a certain project, but Logan declines. Afterwards, Victor kills Logan's girlfriend and runs away. Logan finds him and fights him only to get a good beating. Afterwards, he joins Stryker again, willing to take part in an experiment that would give him the power to kill Victor. This is when he receives his Adamantium skeleton. After the operation, he overhears Stryker tell the general that his memories were going to be erased and his DNA used for Weapon XI. That's when he runs away, naked, and reaches a barn. Two old people find him there and help him out, giving him clothes and food. Stryker's men find him there and kill the old people, but Logan gets away on a motorcycle.
We also see how Cyclops is captured from his school and taken to Stryker's island.
Logan interrogates one of his old teammates about Stryker's island's location and he is directed towards another mutant that got away from there, Gambit. Well, at least they show him in this movie, as in the other X-men movies there was no Gambit...
Gambit takes Logan to the island, where he encounters Victor once again, but does not beat him. He finds out his girlfriend was actually a mutant that can manipulate your thoughts when she touches you, but he helps her save her sister. Afterwards, Logan faces Deadpool, a mutant given the powers of everyone who was on Stryker's team, including Logan's regeneration powers. Eventually, with Victor's help, Logan defeats Deadpool and destroys the whole place. The movie shows Logan holding his girlfriend in his arms and leaving the island, but then Stryker appears and shoots Logan with Adamantium bullets, making him lose his memories.
AFTER THE CREDITS again (in your face, cinema geeks who leave the moment the credits start rolling) we see Gambit rushing Logan away from the island. Logan approaches his girlfriend's dead body, not remembering who she is, and then leaves.

Overall, I liked the X-men movies, but I don't like the direction Marvel is heading with them. The next movie, due to be released in 2011, is called "X-men: First Class" and it's due to feature younger X-men, portrayed by different actors than the original series. I probably won't like that change, but whatever.
Another movie coming in the X-men series is "The Wolverine", due to be released in 2012, starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine again. That's good news, but I don't know what's it going to be about, since everything was told about this character already.
Oh, well, we shall see. There's still time until 2012.