- I got all of my sports knowledge from my older brother Tim, because while I hated getting up for school as an 9 year old, he was watching/reading anything involving ESPN before the sun rose. He hung from Rich Eisen's nuts like Tarzan from a vine.
- I also hated Tim.
- I loved TMNT, WWF (wrestling, not that hippie animal foundation), and X-Men cartoons. I wasn't really into the comics, but if you weren't as distraught as I was that Beast was taken out of the cartoon within the first few episodes, then don't even continue reading this, it likely doesn't concern you.
So, as stated from the title, this concerns X-Men.
There was a dark period in my life when X-Men stopped playing on Saturday mornings. This was also a time before the internet children, were you had to find a friend who had recorded episodes on a VHS tape (that's this rectangular box filled with a long black strip thats fun to pull out, but you never should do). I mean yea, I had the usual "Doug", "Wild and Crazy Kids", and of course "Are You Afraid Of The Dark" to get through my weekends; but it never filled that action packed hole (that's what she said. I almost didn't go there, but I did because I'm not censored). I could rip off my pre cut white t-shirt, snap into a slim jim, and do a flying elbow drop off the couch (RIP Randy Savage); but when one of us got hurt, it meant I'd have to go to my room for the rest of the day. My thirst for childhood action came with consequences, and a TV show could have helped save me from hours, no days, of time spent in my room. I continued to live the ass kicking, stitches, and broken limb filled life I was destined; until the year 2000.
X-Men was released in a live action format. "YEEEEESSSSS. OOOO MMMMM GGGGGG". I'll never forget going to the theaters with my roomate (Mom) and seeing it. There was nothing better than sitting infront of a giant screen, with a large overpriced popcorn, and a drink cup the size of my leg filled with sugar flavored crack. Seeing all of my favorite mutants portrayed by the great director Bryan Singer was like christmas, in which each one that came out was a new present you weren't sure you were going to get.
Better yet, 3 years later, he does it again and makes a perfect follow up. More mutants, continuing plot, incredible conclusion. Then X-Men 3 happened....
Wow. What a pile that was. If you haven't seen these movies, then think of it like this: You have a child and he's great. Then he has a child (grandkid) and he's awesome but the excitement factor has gone down. Then your grandchild has a kid, but that kid is an abomination. He's constantly dissapointing you, he's completely different then what you were expecting, and he's having kids with different people that turn out even more dissapointing.
I was told by a friend I worked with at the time to not go see the movie because it will disappoint me. I wondered how, the franchise I love, could end so terribly? Isn't that what we always think? O how, o how, could something I know is so great have THAT kind of trilogy? X-Men will obviously follow some form of comic strip like the previous two, right? No, no it won't friends. It decided to (spoiler alert) kill off almost all of the great characters that made X-Men great! Who decided this was a great idea, I still don't know, but I can tell you why this didn't work after much thought. It might even answer the age old question of "Why do superhero sequels fail".
- They are comic books! If you are going to take a subject from a previous format (book, movie remake, magazine, etc.), make sure you don't divert from the story! You think you're studio is great enough to make one movie better than 50 years of written story, then you are sadly mistaken.
- If you get a new director, have the previous one involved in some way or shape. A new X-Men movie is coming out and it's getting great reviews (X-Men First Class) because Bryan Singer is at least a producer.
- Obviously Hugh Jackman was the star of the first two, but is he the only one needed to have the other movies succeed? He's not everyones favorite X-Men character. Remember, it's not about who plays the character, it's about what characters are involved, which X3 killed off most.
Want proof? Relaunching the Batman series followed all three of my steps. It stayed close to the comic books, stuck with the same director, and didn't kill off of any of the main characters besides villains in order to follow the comic of different villains. What's a higher rated film series? I'll let you figure that one out. This isn't sports! It's not like you're getting really close to the playoffs and need to tweak a few things within management or the team to win the big one. Keep your writers, characters, and directors on board in order to build onto one another so you stay with a winning formula.
-The Dude Abides
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