The X-Men series has been rather hit and miss since its conception over a decade ago. The first installment, simply titled X-Men, garnered many positive reviews and was a success at the box office, proving that B-list comic book characters can be a hit. Its sequel, X2: X-Men United, was released three years later to even greater critical acclaim, and was another smash at the box office. The film confirmed that the franchise was here to stay, and it's still listed as one of the best comic book films of all time.
However, things went wrong in 2006, when Bryan Singer - director of the first two films - left work on X3 to direct Superman Returns, which is a film that we can all agree could've been much better. Fox then hired Brett Ratner to direct the film, titled The Last Stand. The film, while another box office hit, was riddled with mixed/negative reviews (especially among the fan boy audience). Another three years later, Gavin Hood directed the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine (See my review here: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/PaulRomReviews/news/?a=38949), which was even further from a success from Singer's films. But did the X-Men franchise, in general, deserve the criticism and praise it received?
The first X-Men film, released in 2000, basically oversaw Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) joining the already established team, which leads me to one of the things I disliked about the trilogy. The franchise as a whole focused too much on Wolverine and didn't develop a lot of other characters (Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, etc) whom I would've loved to see more developed. It almost seemed like Wolverine was the leader the whole time (I'll leave the Wolverine/Cyclops debate for the comments), and the spotlight was obviously on him the entire time (even to the point where the first film of the franchise involved him joining the team, instead of the film being about the overall formation of the X-Men prior to Wolverine joining).
The second film, X2, showed its improvements in the script and, despite its again focusing too much on Logan, we got to see more of the other characters (Stryker was a good villain too). However, another franchise flaw needing to be discussed is the role of Cyclops. While he isn't my favorite X-Man, he's pretty awesome, and it's sad to see his not having as much to do as some of the other characters. In the end, however, X2 is easily the best of the trilogy, offering nice easter eggs and even more action this time around.
Now onto the most critically panned film of the trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand. As stated, Singer left the project (Which he intended to include Sigourney Weaver as Emma Frost...fail), having Brett Ratner take over. The main flaw of the previous films - lack of enough character development - was doubled here, and while the action was entertaining, it felt rather cheap. They even went to go as far as to kill off Cyclops, Professor X, AND Jean Grey in one film! I mean, that's too far. It only further proved Cyclops' lack of a major role in the franchise, he just seems like a regular member instead of the leader he was in the comics.
In all three films, however, the cast was mostly solid. Jackman was amazing as Wolverine, and same with Patrick Stewart as Xavier, Ian McKellan as Magneto, and Brian Cox as Stryker. Much of the rest of the cast - James Marsden as Cyclops, Halle Berry as Storm, Famke Jessen as Jean Grey, Rebecca Rjomin as Mystique, and the list goes on - weren't bad per say, but weren't given as much to do as necessary. Ellen Page was good as Shadowcat, while Ray Park was fun as Toad. Tyler Mane did a (to say the least) horrible job as Sabretooth, and made him seem more like a random monster than the villain he was supposed to be (I'm glad Liev Schrieber redeemed the character in Wolverine).
In the end, the X-Men trilogy has its ups and downs - but ultimately stands out as a (mostly) memorable trilogy. Should they continue from X3, here's to hoping that it'll be a massive improvement from its predecessor and will join the recently released First Class in redeeming the franchise as a whole.
I rate X-Men 4 out of 5 stars, X2: X-Men United 4.5 out of 5 stars, and X-Men: The Last Stand 3 out of 5 stars.