In the 'not too distant future', US Senator Robert Kelly is attempting to pass the "Mutant Registration Act", which would force mutants to reveal their identities and abilities. Erik Lehnsherr, now going by the name "Magneto", and his colleague Prof. Charles Xavier are present in the audience. Xavier sees Magneto and is concerned with how he will respond to the registration act. To which Magneto replies that a war is coming and a warning for Xavier to stay out of his way. In Mississippi, Marie D'Ancanto accidentally puts her boyfriend into a coma while kissing him, due to her ability to absorb the power and life force of others. She runs away to Alberta, and adopts the name "Rogue". She meets Logan, also known as "Wolverine" and they beginning travelling together. However, they are attacked on the road by Sabretooth, a member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. The battle is interrupted with the arrival of Cyclops and Storm, two members of Xavier's X-men. Wolverine and Rogue are brought to Xavier's school for mutants in New York State, where Xavier tells Wolverine that Magneto appears to have taken an interest in him and asks Wolverine to stay while they investigate the matter. He also promises to do his best to help Wolverine get some of his memory back—he has lived for 15 years without any memories of his past. Rogue enrolls in the school. Meanwhile, Kelly is abducted by Brotherhood members Toad and Mistique, and brought to their hideout on an uncharted island. Whereupon, Magneto uses a machine powered by his magnetic abilities to generate radiation that mutates normal humans. While Kelly is eventually able to escape with his newfound mutant powers, the Brotherhood is still after Wolverine. Mistique starts by infiltrating Xavier's school, and convincing Rogue to run away from the school while disguised as the boy that Rogue is infatuated with, before proceeding with other acts of sabotage!

X-men is a thought provoking film. Its core themes are prejudice and alienation, as well as trust and friendship. The film wisely uses Rogue's and Wolverine's stories to not only introduce us to Xavier's school and the X-men, but also to show the alienation and tragedy that can come with mutant powers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film is the subtext—what are they really using the conflict between the government and mutants to talk about? I really like that it is left nebulous and undefined.

The move unfolds at a steady pace, taking the time to introduce characters and situations. Perhaps that's also the film's weakness, as it doesn't really ramp up the pace as it steadily builds to the climax. Nevertheless, all of the actors give pitch perfect performances. I also really like this movie for its complexity: there are villains, but in their own ways their actions are all stemming from the morally justifiable position of protecting their own kind—that lack of a clear cut right vs. wrong makes this movie a challenging one if one meditates on some of the issues it presents.

Brainwashed teleporting mutant Nightcrawler attacks the White House. He wounds many agents, and just before completing the assassination attempt, he is shot and retreats. Concurrently, Wolverine explores an abandoned industrial site at Alkali Lake in Alberta for clues about his past, but finds nothing but ruins. He returns to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in New York, where Professor X has tracked down Nightcrawler using Cerebro. Wolverine is roped into watching over the kids in the school when Jean Grey and Storm leave in the X-jet to retrieve Nightcrawler in Boston, and Cyclops and Professor X go to question the imprisoned Magneto about the attack. Military scientist Col. William Stryker visits the president and receives approval to investigate Xavier's school for their ties to mutants. Mystique—still disguised as Senator Robert Kelly—is present, and learns that Stryker got his information on the secrets of Xavier's school from Magneto. That night, she breaks into Stryker's office and learns about Magneto's prison. Stryker's forces invade the school and abduct some of the students, while also retrieving components from Cerebro. Colossus leads the remaining students to safety, while Logan, Rogue, Iceman, and Pyro escape. During the battle, Wolverine confronts Stryker, who knows Wolverine's real name Logan, and seems to know about his past. Concurrently, Stryker's assistant Yuriko captures Cyclops and Xavier at Magneto's prison. The next day, Jean Grey and Storm meet up with Wolverine and his charges after they have a run-in with local police. They are attacked by fighter jets as they flee and are shot down. However, the X-jet is stopped from crashing by Magneto, who Mystique has successfully freed from imprisonment. Magneto explains that Mystique uncovered a plot by Stryker to build a second Cerebro and use it and Xavier to telepathically kill every mutant on Earth! However, the only person who knows where Stryker's secret base is is Nightcrawler, who has no recollection of it!

X2 picks up almost exactly where X-Men ends. It continues building on the characters and situations introduced in the first film, and not only turns up the heat and pace, but also adds a new layer of complexity: Stryker and his ruthless attempts to control and wipe out mutants! Continuing the trend of the first film, X2 also gives each character something to do, and the plot develops and unfolds based on the characters' choices and actions. X2 also embellishes the subtext of the first movie. This time it explores how medical science has been used to pervert natural things, or treat things that are not an illness.

The highlight of the film is Michael Reid McKay's Mutant 143. He is both extremely tragic, underscoring one of the central themes of the movie, while being extremely unnerving—all without uttering a single line and using only facial expressions! However, one drawback to the film is that Ian McKellen's Magneto loses some of his moral ambiguity. In the first film, Magneto came across as morally misguided: doing bad things for the greater good. In this film, he appears to have lost any moral pretext for his actions, and does bad things for his own goals. Nevertheless, X2 is a superior entry in the superhero film genre, as it is about something greater than the sum of its parts. While it may not be the funnest entry in the X-Men film series, it is arguably the best as it gets to the heart and soul of what the X-men series is about.

In 1996, industrialist Warren Worthington is horrified to discover that his son is a mutant while the boy is secretly trying to cut off the wings that are sprouting from his back. In the present, Worthington Labs announces it has developed an inoculation that suppresses the X-gene that gives mutants their abilities, and offers to "cure" any mutant who wants it. The cure is created from the genome of a young mutant named Jimmy, who lives at the Worthington facility on Alcatraz Island. While some mutants are interested in the cure, including Rogue, many others are horrified by it. Magneto reestablishes his Brotherhood of Mutants and recruits Callisto and several other mutants who oppose the cure. They attack the mobile prison that's holding Mystique to free her, also freeing Multiple Man and Juggernaut in the process. However, when Mystique shields Magneto from a guard's attack, she is hit by a dart carrying the "cure", and loses her mutant abilities. Magneto subsequently abandons her, however he uses the weaponization of the "cure" to further galvanize his forces. Meanwhile, Scott Summers, who is still grappling with the loss of Jean Grey, travels to Alkali Lake. Jean reappears, but as the two kiss, she appears to become possessed, and kills him. Sensing trouble, Xavier sends Storm and Wolverine to investigate. They find an unconscious Jean and only Scott's sunglasses. When they return to the school with her, Xavier explains that when Jean sacrificed herself to save them (in the conclusion of X2), she also freed the "Phoenix"—a dark and powerful alternate personality that Xavier had telepathically repressed due its destructive potential. Wolverine is disgusted to learn of Xavier's psychic tampering. However, when Jean awakens, Wolverine soon learns that she killed Scott, and is no longer the Jean that he once knew. She knocks Wolverine out and flees to her childhood home. Magneto learns of Jean's resurrection through Callisto, and his Brotherhood of Mutants arrives at Jean's home at the same time as the X-men arrive. Magneto and Xavier enter the home to attempt to win her loyalty, and in Magneto's case, to help in eliminating the mutant "cure". However, the Phoenix resurfaces in all her wrathful glory!

X-men: Last Stand is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it picks up the plot threads of the preceding two films, continues expanding the cast of mutants, and adds a new layer of complexity to the humans vs. mutant theme of this film series. On the other hand, it doesn't allow most of the characters to digest and react to most of the terrifying events of the film, doesn't delve any deeper into the existing character relationships, and just proceeds at speed to the next big plot point or spectacle. The worst thing about this movie is that the subtext present in the first two films is completely gone. The film still pays lip service to it, but the soul of the X-men series is missing in this one. In short, the flick overwhelms the senses, and doesn't leave the viewer much to contemplate after it ends.

One jarring change with this film is that it hardly invests any characterization into the pantheon of new mutants that it introduces. Often times the characters are developed only to the point of being defined by their powers (they are villains because he has porcupine quills and he throws spikes that grow out of his wrists, he's a hero because of his white wings, and so on.) It's so extreme that one whole subset of mutants is defined as being villains merely because they have tattoos! In some cases—Professor X in particular—it felt like the characters were doing things completely out of character.

The highlight of the film is that it was filmed in Vancouver and Victoria (my hometown!) Regrettably, a far smaller number of shots were filmed at Hatley Castle (the X-Mansion in the film) compared to X2. On the other hand, the filmmakers made little attempt to hide the fact that they filmed it in Vancouver, and it was great seeing the familiar shapes of the snow-capped mountains in North Vancouver. That said, this film is a disappointing missed opportunity that leaves a bitter taste as it killed off far too many of the protagonists. Its only redeeming feature is the key development that becomes vital to the heart and soul of 2013's The Wolverine, and to a lesser extent, gives the soft reboot in 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past its emotional impact.

In 1845, James Howlett, a boy living in what becomes Canada's Northwest Territories, witnesses his father being killed by groundskeeper Thomas Logan. The shock activates the boy's mutation: bone claws protrude from his knuckles, and he impales Thomas—who reveals in his dying breath that he is James's biological father. James flees with Victor Creed, Thomas's other son, who has very similar mutant powers. They spend the next century fighting as soldiers in the American Civil War, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, Creed attempts to rape a Vietnamese woman and kills a senior officer who tries to stop him. James, not knowing why the US soldiers are attacking his brother, rushes to defend him. The pair are sentenced to execution by firing squad, which they survive. When they revive, Major William Stryker offers them membership in Team X, a group of mutants that he uses for covert operations. They join the team for a few missions, with James using the alias Logan. However, Victor and the group's lack of self-control and empathy cause Logan to leave. Years later, when Logan is working as a logger and living with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox in Canada, Stryker approaches Logan and informs him that someone is targeting the old team, as two members are already dead. Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker, but after finding Kayla's bloodied body in the woods, he realizes that Victor is responsible. He finds Victor in a bar, but loses the subsequent fight. Logan visits Stryker, who explains that Victor has gone rogue and offers Logan a way to become strong enough to get his revenge: a painful operation to reinforce his skeleton with adamantium, a virtually indestructible metal. When it is completed, Logan overhears Stryker ordering that his memory be erased so that Logan can be used as Stryker's personal weapon. However, Logan overhears, and escapes with Stryker, the remaining members of his mutant team, and Victor hot on his heels!

Broadly speaking, X-men Origins: Wolverine is a missed opportunity, mainly because the production staff opted to focus on the action, at the expense of the characters. On top of that, the film opts to do away with realism in its action sequences, and not only do they tend to fall flat, they also often break one's suspension of disbelief. The film is most engaging when it is allowed to focus on the characters, and I particularly enjoyed the interaction between Logan and the elderly couple that takes him in, midway through the film. However, just like the depiction of Logan's relationship with his girlfriend, the film mercilessly and disappointingly cuts it short before leaping straight into the next action sequence.

While it would have been nice to see Tyler Mane and Brian Cox return as Sabertooth and Stryker, Liev Schreiber gives a solid performance, and one senses from the poor quality of the digital de-aging of Patrick Stewart in a brief cameo, that using Danny Huston was a wise choice. The best things about the film are its opening montage, and the chemistry between Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and Lynn Collins (Kayla Silverfox). The rest of the film is, well, all the important points of Wolverine's origin are told in the preceding X-men films, and in many ways it is much better if the rest of his origin story is left mysterious. Nevertheless, the highlight of the film is Ryan Reynolds—in the earlier scenes that is, before his character's mouth is inexplicably sewn shut!

At a concentration camp in 1944, Nazi officer Klaus Schmidt witnesses young prisoner Erik Lehnsherr bend a metal gate with his mind upon being separated from his parents. Later in his office, Schmidt orders Lehnsherr to move a coin he places on his desk, and kills Lehnsherr's mother when he can't. In grief and anger, Lehnsherr's power manifests, killing two guards and destroying the room. Concurrently, child telepath Charles Xavier meets young shapeshifter Raven in his home in New York State, and overjoyed at meeting someone "different" like himself, he invites her to live with his family as his foster sister. In 1962, Lehnsherr is travelling the world tracking down Schmidt in order to avenge his mother, while Xavier earns his doctorate at Oxford as a professor of genetics. In Las Vegas, CIA officer Moira MacTaggert follows US Colonel Hendry into the Hellfire Club, where she sees Schmidt—now called Sebastian Shaw—with mutant telepath Emma Frost, cyclone producing Riptide, and teleporter Azazel. Threatened by Shaw and teleported to the Joint War Room in Washington, Hendry advocates for the deployment of nuclear missiles in Turkey. After her report is rejected by her superiors, Moira seeks out Xavier for advice on mutation. She then takes him and Raven to the CIA, where they convince Director McCone that mutants exist and that Shaw is a threat. Another CIA officer sponsors the mutants and invites them to his secret "Division X" facility. Having tracked down Shaw, Moira and Xavier join up with the Coast Guard as it heads in to capture him. They approach Shaw as Lensherr is attacking him, and end up rescuing Lehnsherr from drowning when Shaw makes his escape in a submarine. Xavier brings Lehnsherr to Division X, where they meet young scientist Hank McCoy, a mutant with prehensile feet who believes that Raven's DNA may provide a "cure" for their appearance. That night, as Lehnsherr is sneaking away, Xavier is waiting and offers him a chance to be part of something bigger, but at the same time reminding Lehnsherr that Shaw has friends and he could do with some. Lehnsherr agrees to stay and assist Xavier in locating other mutants, but on the condition that it is by them, and not the government. They soon begin locating mutants when Xavier's telepathic powers are enhanced by a device created by McCoy. However, Frost also senses their activities. She warns Shaw who begins planning a response, all the while continuing his quest to cause a nuclear war between the US and the USSR!

Now this is the superhero movie I've been waiting for! Not only does it have wonderful characterizations, character growth, 'good' bad guys, and a plot about the end of the world, it also revisits one of the pivotal events of recent history, remembers that there's a whole world beyond the borders of the country that these movies are usually set in, AND challenges the actors (and by extension, the audience) with dialogue in many different languages! (German, French, Spanish, Russian... did I miss any?) I was extremely impressed with Michael Fassbender's performance—even more impressive than the multitude of languages he speaks, is the range of genuine emotions his Magneto manifests. And then there's Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, the villain of the film. He plays it pitch perfect, and as the bad guys tend to make or break these kinds of films, he definitely makes this film.

Added to the mix are the moral quandaries that are the heart of the X-men films. This movie has it in spades, and you can see the subtext from the first two movies in the series alive and kicking in this film. X-men: First Class ups the ante by adding body shaming and a dash of anti-sexism in the form of a reminder of how far Western society has evolved. It makes one appreciate all the more how broad the X-men's underlining theme of acceptance is. This film checked all my movie going boxes. Even Henry Jackman's score was entertaining in its own right. Recommended.

In August 1945, Logan is being held in a POW camp near Nagasaki. During the city's atomic bombing, he saves an officer named Ichirō Yashida by shielding him from the blast. In the present day, Logan lives as a hermit in the Yukon, tormented by hallucinations of Jean Grey, whom he was forced to kill to save the world (in 2006's X-men: Last Stand). He is located by Yukio—a mutant with the ability to foresee people's deaths—on behalf of Ichirō, who is now the CEO of a giant technology firm in Japan. Ichirō, who is dying of cancer, wants Logan to accompany Yukio to Japan so that he may repay his life debt. In Tokyo, Logan meets Ichirō's son Shingen and granddaughter Mariko. There, Ichirō offers to transfer Logan's healing abilities into his own body, thus saving Ichirō's life and alleviating Logan of his near-immortality, which Logan views as a curse. Believing he is acting in his friend's best interests, however, Logan refuses and prepares to leave the following day. That night, Ichirō's physician, Dr Green, introduces something into Logan's body, but Logan dismisses it as a bad dream. The next morning, Yukio informs Logan that Ichirō has died, and is in shock both at his death and by not having foreseen it at all! At the funeral, Yakuza gangsters attempt to kidnap Mariko, but Logan and Mariko escape together into the urban sprawl of Tokyo. Logan is shot and his wounds do not heal as quickly as they should. In fact, they don't appear to start healing at all! After fighting more Yakuza on a bullet train, they get off the train and Logan and Mariko hide in a nearby love hotel. Meanwhile, Ichirō's bodyguard Harada meets with Dr Green who, after demonstrating her poisonous mutant powers on him, demands he find Logan and Mariko. Logan and Mariko travel to Ichirō's house in Nagasaki, and the two slowly fall in love. In Tokyo, Yukio has a vision of Logan dying, and goes to warn him. Before she arrives, Mariko is captured by the Yakuza. After capturing and interrogating one of the kidnappers, the severely weakened Logan and Yukio confront Mariko's fiancé, corrupt Minister of Justice Noburo Mori, to find out who he conspired with to have the Yakuza kidnap Mariko!

After the disappointment of 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I approached this film with a bit of trepidation. Suffice to say, it surprised me. The film is composed extremely well, with the action growing organically out of the story—and more importantly, the pacing taking its time to tell the story correctly. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film is its examination of what it means to be invulnerable, and by extension, immortal. The story invests heavily in its characters, and we develop genuine care for the outcome of the title character and the other protagonists. Even though the climactic showdown is a bit of a cheesy CG slug fest, it also has genuine story developments, and paves the wave for one of Wolverine's most important scenes in the entire X-Men film series.

Something that I really liked about this film is that the production staff did an admirable job of depicting modern Japan. This is most visible in the in-between scenes with the leads interacting with the locals. Which, of course, makes the contrast with the depiction of the heavily armed guards, Yakuza, ninja, and filial piety that reek of the comic book version of the Western interpretation of Japan's traditions and culture all the more chuckle—or groan—inducing. Also, I found Svetlana Khodchenkova's portrayal of Viper to be a realistic presentation of Western foreigners in Japan: trying to adopt the social conventions of the host country, but never quite sure of the correct behaviour in a situation and ending up appearing 'stiff'. Kudos to the production staff for getting that into the film. Nevertheless, the heart of this film is Logan's emotional journey toward self-forgiveness. In addition to all the other fun elements in the film, that alone makes it well worth viewing.

In 2023, robots called Sentinels are hunting down and killing mutants, humans who possess the genetic potential to have mutant offspring, and any humans who try to help them. In Moscow, the Sentinels attack a small band of X-men survivors consisting of Kitty Pryde, Bishop, and a few others. With no way out, the other mutants intentionally sacrifice themselves to buy Kitty enough time to send Bishop's consciousness a few days into the past to warn the others of the coming attack and ensure their survival. Having averted the attack, the group retreats to a remote Chinese temple, where they are soon joined by Storm, Wolverine, Professor Xavier, and Magneto. Xavier explains that the Sentinels were originally conceived by Bolivar Trask, a weapons designer who Mystique assassinated in 1973. In response, government forces captured Mystique and experimented on her, using her DNA to eventually create Sentinels capable of adapting to any mutant power. Xavier plans to go back in time and prevent Trask's assassination in the hopes of altering the future. However, since he would not live if he tried, Wolverine volunteers to go instead because his regenerative abilities would allow him to survive the trip. Awakening in his younger body in 1973, Wolverine goes to the X-Mansion, where he learns from Hank McCoy (aka Beast) that the school has been closed for years due to the Vietnam War, Mystique leaving, and Magneto having been arrested and incarcerated for assassinating a politician! Xavier turned to alcoholism, and frequently takes a serum that allows him to walk while also suppressing all of his telepathic abilities. Hoping to reunite with Mystique, Xavier and Hank agree to help Wolverine. However, because Mystique will not believe Xavier even if they can find her, they have to break Magneto out of prison so they can convince her together. The problem is that he is locked away in a jail cell deep underneath the Pentagon!

This film strikes the right balance between plot, pacing, and character. It also revisits the central themes that make the X-Men film series so much more compelling and relevant than its Avengers-based cousins. It also cheered me to see the 'classic' X-men actors back in their roles. However, this film isn't as compelling as X-men: First Class. While it is true that it has to juggle a lot more plot and characters, due to that and being a sequel, it loses the je ne sais quoi spark that's present in First Class.

What I really liked about the film is its 70's setting and the incorporation of real-world events into the story. The segments set in the past are the heart of this film, and where they really dig into the central themes of the X-Men film series. I am also blown away by Jennifer Lawrence not only speaking in French and Vietnamese, but also that she switched seamlessly between the two mid-conversation! Nevertheless, the most frustrating thing about this film is that they press the reset button at the end. Even though it renders the events of X-Men: The Last Stand moot, it also brushes a lot of the other good stuff from the intervening movies under the rug, too—well, most everything that happened in the series after the 70's.

That said, the story is intriguing in its own right, and I really liked the performances. Peter Dinklage's Trask is especially noteworthy. Casting him for the role adds volumes to the character, and begs some questions on the nature of mutation, as well as making one wonder what this movie is really commenting on! While it would have been nice to have had the 'classic' lineup from the first three films get a little bit more screen time, Dir. Bryan Singer made the right choice when he decided to bring back as many actors as possible from the first three films. The cherry on top was depicting Josh Helman's William Stryker morphing into Brian Cox's Stryker from 2003's X2 (and not Danny Huston's from 2009's X-men Origins: Wolverine), strongly suggesting that a good chunk of what we like and love about the earlier films wasn't erased in the reset.

Wade Wilson ambushes Ajax and a convoy of his men on an expressway. Throughout the ambush, Wilson shows the viewer the events leading to how he became Deadpool. After being dishonourably discharged as a Canadian special forces operative, Wilson works as a freelance mercenary until he meets a prostitute named Vanessa. They become romantically involved, and a year later, she accepts his marriage proposal. Shortly afterwards, Wilson is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he leaves Vanessa without warning so she will not have to watch him die. A mysterious recruiter approaches Wilson and offers him an experimental treatment for his cancer. He is taken to a laboratory run by Ajax, who injects him with a serum designed to awaken latent mutant genes in his body. He then subjects Wilson to days of torture to trigger a mutation, without success. When Wilson discovers Ajax's real name is Francis and mocks him over it, Ajax leaves Wilson for a weekend in a hypobaric chamber that periodically takes him to the verge of asphyxiation. This finally activates a regenerative healing ability that counteracts Wilson's cancer, but leaves him severely disfigured with scars over his entire body. Wilson escapes from the chamber and attacks Ajax, but relents when told his disfigurement can be cured. In the chaos, Ajax subdues Wilson and leaves him for dead in the now-burning laboratory. Wilson survives and seeks out Vanessa. However, he does not reveal to her that he is alive out of fear that she will reject his new appearance. After consulting with his best friend Weasel, Wilson decides to hunt down Ajax for the cure. In order to do so, he becomes the masked vigilante "Deadpool".

The film is arguably one of the most realistic depiction of people with super powers. It isn't at all shy about showing the blood and guts that spill out after a super-powered punch. This film highlights just how sanitized and romanticized the portrayal of super-powered fights are in other superhero movies. This is further underscored by pairing up the wild and impulsive Deadpool with the stoic and uptight Colossus, who represents the more traditional, sanitized depiction of superheroes. What sets this film apart, though, is that one of Wilson's newfound powers is the ability to break the fourth wall—not only is he aware that he's in a comic book movie, he also talks directly to the audience watching the film about it!

The highlight of Deadpool is the excellent writing. On the one hand, you have a running series of flashbacks filling in the story and rounding out the characters that continually (and smoothly!) interrupt a major action scene. On the other hand, you have a film that is extremely self-aware with its fourth wall-breaking protagonist providing what amounts to a meta-commentary on superhero films. This film is one of those rare gems that keeps getting better not only on rewatches, but also the more you learn about it (E.g. why there are so many references to Christmas). It is also full of wonderful Easter eggs. Each time I've watched it I've discovered something new, or discovered new in-jokes. The only problem I had with it was during the first viewing as I was very distracted by the filming locations in Vancouver—they really didn't make much of an attempt to hide it at all! Aside from truly earning its R rating (this is not a movie for little kids!), the film is not only an excellent entry into the superhero genre, but a great action-comedy in general.

In 3,600 BC, the aged but powerful mutant En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse, rules ancient Egypt. Following a ceremony in which his consciousness is transferred to another man's body in order to gain his healing factor, Apocalypse and his four followers are ambushed. In the process, his followers are killed and Apocalypse is entombed alive. In 1983, Alex Summers takes his brother Scott to Professor Xavier's educational institute, hoping that Xavier will help him to control his mutation for shooting optic beams. Scott meets the telepathic and telekinetic Jean Grey, and the two develop an attraction. Apocalypse is awakened by a group of worshippers. He befriends orphan Ororo Munroe and learns about humanity. Deciding that humanity has lost its way, Apocalypse plans to remake the world. Munroe becomes his follower after he enhances her power. In Communist Poland, Erik Lehnsherr lives happily with his wife and daughter. During the worldwide disturbances caused by Apocalypse's reawakening, Erik uses his powers to save a coworker during an earthquake. Someone witnessed him, and a militia soon forms to capture Erik. As tensions rise, the militia accidentally kill Erik's wife and daughter. In despair, he kills the entire group. In East Berlin, shape-shifter Raven rescues Kurt Wagner, a mutant who can teleport. Raven requests black marketeer Caliban to transport Kurt to the USA, but leaves immediately with him when she sees the news about Erik. Apocalypse later appears in Caliban's hideout and recruits Psylocke, who takes him to Angel, who is also recruited after Apocalypse enhances his powers. Erik shows up at his workplace seeking revenge, but is interrupted by Apocalypse, who takes him to Auschwitz and shows Erik the true extent of his powers. Erik destroys the camp and joins Apocalypse. Raven and Kurt arrive at Xavier's school seeking help. Xavier decides to use Cerebro—the device he uses to locate mutants—to find Erik. However, Apocalypse senses Xavier, remotely accesses Cerebro, and uses it to force the global superpowers to launch all of their respective nuclear arsenals!

Apocalypse is full of great, wonderful little moments and sequences. However, they are not enough to save the movie as its overall plot, and the way it goes about it, are lackadaisical. This is perhaps due to the filmmakers' desire for a movie where the entire world is threatened, and opting for a villain that is anything but colourful and exciting. As Oscar Isaac, who is know for vivid and memorable characters such as the one in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, plays the villain, one believes that the poor characterization and overall movie plot stem from something else.

Nevertheless, if you are a fan of the X-men series, you ought to see this film, as not only does it bring back together the main cast from X-men: First Class, it also brings back the wonderful Quicksilver and villainous Col. Stryker from X-men: Days of Future Past. On top of that, the film brings back Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert, and gives her parts of the film a wonderful charm and pathos in the scenes with Xavier while her memory is still wiped. Nevertheless, the film is overlong, relies too much on trying to defeat the villain with as many different coloured beams of light as possible, and completely neglects the emotional core that makes the X-men what they are. It can only be recommended for learning what happens next to the characters—what happened between the last movie and when the main plot starts up in this film, that is.

In 2029, no mutants have been born in 25 years, and an aging Logan suffers as his healing ability is failing. He works as a limousine driver in southern Texas. Logan, together with mutant tracker Caliban, take care of 97-year-old Charles Xavier, founder of the X-men, in an abandoned smelting planet in northern Mexico. Xavier suffers from dementia that causes him to have destructive telepathic seizures, one of which injured 600 people the year prior. One day, while illicitly purchasing medicine, Logan is visited by the cyborg Donald Pierce, who appears to be aware that Logan is taking care of Xavier south of the border. Pierce says that he knows Logan was contacted by a person of interest and claims that he only wants what they have—something that they took from Pierce. He hands Logan a business card and tells Logan to call when he finds that person again. The card reveals that Pierce is the chief of security for biotechology corporation Alkali-Transigen. Later, Logan receives a notification for two passengers. They are Gabriel López and a young girl that she says is her 11-year-old daughter. She offers Logan $50,000 to help them reach Eden, a refuge near the American-Canadian border. Logan reluctantly agrees and returns home to prepare. When he returns, he finds López dead and her daughter Laura missing. Dejectedly returning home, he is stunned to find Laura has stowed away in the trunk of his limo. Xavier excitedly hosts the young girl and tries to convince Logan that she needs their help. However, Logan correctly predicts that she'll be found and, soon enough, Pierce comes knocking at his door. Logan claims Laura is not there and, when he persists, Laura throws a pipe that knocks Pierce out. Logan tells Caliban to take Pierce out into the desert and leave him there. However, Pierce's gang of cyborgs rescues him and captures Caliban. The cyborgs along with Mexican authorities arrive at the plant. Laura reveals that she has powers similar to Logan's, and her unwillingness to be captured convinces Logan to help, and they are able to escape with Xavier. Pierce then begins to torture Caliban to get him to use his abilities so that he and his gang can follow and capture them!

Logan is unlike any other superhero film. In many ways it is not about people with superpowers, but about its powerful themes—which range from loneliness and taking care of aging relatives, to developing relationships with estranged family, and then on to the genetic manipulation of crops to prevent undesired attributes in children! While we are given just a taste of some of the film's themes, I much prefer a film to be exploding with a myriad of competing ideas! In many ways, it is akin to Niell Blomkamp's films. Logan, however, stays laser-focused on its goals, and has a story that packs one devastating emotional punch after another. It is rare for a film to bring a tear to the eye, and this film is one of those rare gems.

Logan is also an R-rated film, and it lets us know that in the very first scene where Logan brutally maims and kills a posse of gang members! In some ways, that's good as it makes the few subsequent violent scenes more palatable. In many ways the brutality is great, as the physicality mimics the emotionally agonizing real-life situations that Logan, Caliban, and Xavier find themselves in. While the situation that Gabriel and Laura are in is equally potent, theirs is more along the lines of what is traditionally found in these kinds of films. In both cases, the film doesn't pull any punches! This film cannot be missed for its alternative view of superheroes and its realistic depiction of life. The film is also a stunning and remarkable conclusion to Hugh Jackman's and Patrick Stewart's depictions of Logan and Xavier. It is the perfect film to end the 20th Century Fox's X-men film series on.

After fighting organized crime as Deadpool for two years, Wade Wilson fails to kill one of his targets on his anniversary with his girlfriend, Vanessa. That night, after the pair decides to start a family together, the target tracks Wade down and inadvertently kills Vanessa. Wade then kills the target in revenge. Six weeks later, Wade is still wallowing in self hate. He visits Blind Al, who warns him not to do anything stupid. He ignores the advice, and promptly attempts suicide by blowing himself up. Wade has a vision of Vanessa in the afterlife, but remains alive due to his healing abilities. Colossus brings Wade to the X-Mansion to recruit him. Recovering at the mansion, Wade reluctantly agrees to join the X-Men because he believes Vanessa would have wanted him to. He, Colossus, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead respond to a standoff between authorities and the unstable young mutant Russel Collins at an orphanage owned by the Essex Corporation (X-Men: Apocalypse), labelled a "Mutant Re-education Centre". Realizing that Russel has been abused by the orphanage staff, Wade kills one of the staff members before being restrained by Colossus. Both Wade and Russel end up being arrested. Fitted with mutant power-suppressing collars, they are taken to the Ice Box, an isolated prison for mutant criminals. Meanwhile, Cable, a cybernetic soldier from the future, travels back in time to kill Russell. He storms the Ice Box and attacks Russel and anyone who gets in the way. Wade, whose collar breaks in the ensuing melee, attempts to protect Russell. He then forces Cable out of the prison, and they both slide into an ice-covered lake. Realizing that he has to protect Russel from Cable, Wade starts planning an assault on the prison-transfer convoy that is moving Russel and the other prisoners to an even more secure facility. Russel, however, has made friends with the most powerful detainee in the Ice Box—someone that easily outmatches both Deadpool and Cable combined!

Deadpool 2 is a hilarious addition to the X-Men film series. One of the joys is spotting the in-jokes as well as the A-list actors who appear in bit parts—with one notable actor being on screen for a mere second or two! Unlike the first film, however, the novelty of an antihero who can break the fourth wall is noticeably underused this time. The underlying theme of saving a kid to get into heaven to be with his girlfriend is also a pale echo of the first film, where Deadpool's drive to be with his girlfriend as well as fear of rejection due to his heavy scarring provided an emotional driving force behind the story, and plenty of pathos to round out and make Wade into a three-dimensional character.

Nevertheless, we are reintroduced to a few familiar faces and a pantheon of new ones in Deadpool 2. Perhaps the producers took a page out of the Mystery Men comic, as they treat most of the new characters in the same way within minutes of their introduction! All in all, this is a great addition to the Deadpool series. It is a great parody of the 'traditional' superhero films. However, where the first movie is like Ghostbusters—with new things continually being discovered on repeat viewings—this one doesn't hold up as well on repeat viewings. Perhaps they shouldn't have killed Morena Baccarin's character at the very beginning...?

In 1975, eight-year-old Jean Grey is orphaned in a car crash. Professor Charles Xavier brings her to his School for Gifted Youngsters, promising to teach her to control her mutant abilities. 17 years later in 1992, a space shuttle is damaged during an orbital mission by a solar flare-like energy, and the president calls upon the X-men to save the shuttle's crew. While rescuing the astronauts, Grey is struck by the energy. Shortly afterwards, her psychic powers become amplified, but also harder to control as her emotional state deteriorates. Xavier reveals to the other X-men that he suppressed Grey's memory of her having caused the car crash as a child to keep her psychological trauma from making her unstable. Grey's enhanced power, however, is destroying the mental blocks he put in place and she is now experiencing symptoms akin to post-traumatic stress disorder. After seeing visions of her father, Grey travels to her hometown and finds him alive, having survived the car crash and forsaken her. She recovers her memory and realizes that her powers, uncontrollable at the time, caused the crash and killed her mother. The X-men arrive and, after a brief skirmish, Xavier mentally freezes everyone to allow Mystique a chance to try to persuade Grey to come home. Grey, however, accidentally kills Mystique during a violent telekinetic episode. Fleeing to the island of Genosha—a mutant refuge run by Magneto—Grey asks him for help controlling her rage. Military helicopters soon arrive, and the troops demanded that Grey surrender to their custody. She attacks them, and Magneto angrily banishes her. She is found by Vuk, leader of a shape-shifting alien race known as the D'Bari, who explains that the cosmic force Grey absorbed had wiped out the D'Bari planet, consuming everything in its path until it was drawn to Grey. She offers to help Grey learn to use that cosmic force safely. Beast, blaming Xavier for Mystique's death, leaves the school and allies with Magneto and his faction of mutants in a plan to kill Grey in New York City. Learning of Magneto's plan, the X-men teleport to the city, and battle to save her. Concurrently, the government has mobilized troops to subdue both factions of mutants!

The plot of Dark Phoenix is pretty straightforward. However, therein lies part of of the problem: the strength of the X-men film series has always been the complications arising from its subtext: the better films are always about something greater than the plot itself. In earlier films, the prime conflict between the mutants allied with Xavier and those with Magneto is about their fundamentally different methods of achieving the same goal. While X-men: Apocalypse went about with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, it at least had a modicum of it. Dark Phoenix, on the other hand, completely ignores that subtext and what is arguably the main point of the X-men film series.

The film is also a disappointing missed opportunity as it completely drops the slowly building characterization of its pantheon of mutants. Take Quicksilver for example, who's character arc was building to a dramatic moment where he reveals to Magneto that he thinks he is his father. This film, however, doesn't even give them an opportunity to meet, as Quicksilver disappears for the middle two-thirds of the film without even a short scene or throwaway line or two about why. The other problems is Sophie Turner's performance as Grey. While she was pitch perfect as a troubled teenager in X-men: Apocalypse, her performance isn't up to the dramatic requirements of this film. In a way, Alexandra Shipp (who plays Storm) displays in a few scenes the necessary repressed burning rage that the Jean Grey role ought to have had. There are other head scratching characterization choices for some of the main regulars, too. If you are not a completionist fan of the X-men film series, you can pass on the film. Even if you are, the film hardly adds anything of merit, and ends up undoing quite a few things that we respected and loved about this film series.