5. X-Men: The Last Stand
Ok hear me out here before you start throwing stones. I understand that this is one of the most hated films in the entire comic book movie genre but the truth is it isn't THAT bad. Does this film measure up to X-Men or X2? Hell no! There is no denying that there is a drop in quality when this film is compared to the other two films in the trilogy but too often this movie is made out to be a far worse film than it really is. You hear a lot of people complaining about how Cyclops was killed off too early and wasn't treated with respect. Was Cyclops ever treated with respect? Throughout the entire trilogy all Cyclops did was play second fiddle to Wolverine. That is a sad but true fact. Another argument is that the Phoenix saga was done poorly. It is very easy to agree with that argument but you have to keep in mind that if you attempted to adapt the Phoenix saga to the silver screen exactly as it plays out on the pages of the X-Men comics you would not be able to do it justice in one film. Another big complaint is that this film focused too much on Wolverine, but didn't they all? The truth is that this entire trilogy could have easily been dubbed "Wolverine and The X-Men" and it would have made sense. I'm not saying I'm happy about it but hey it's true. People put all of their hate toward this film on Brett Ratner but do you honestly think that if this film had been directed by Bryan Singer that it would have been all that different? The trilogy was naturally headed in this direction. It's safe to say that if Bryan Singer had directed this movie that most of the plot points would have been the same. This film took the trilogy where it was naturally headed and mutants going to war with each other, the phoenix saga, and a greater focus on the conflict between humans and mutants all would have come in to focus regardless of the director. The positive things about this movie often get overlooked. When you look at this movie from an unbiased standpoint you can see that Kelsey Grammar was a perfect choice for Beast, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen gave amazing performances, the special effects used to showcase mutant powers looked great, and the action scenes were easily the best of the entire trilogy. Was it really that bad watching Magneto move the entire Golden Gate Bridge? Was it really that bad watching an ensemble cast of mutant characters kick the crap out of each other in a huge battle on Alcatraz island? Did killing off Cyclops really affect the film that much? (Spoiler Alert: they weren't going to give him anything important to do anyway). The biggest difference between the first two films and this film is that the first two burned at a slower pace and were more story based and this film wasn't much more than a summer popcorn flick. This film could have been a whole lot better for sure but as a summer action movie it works. Is this film perfect? Far from it. Is this a GREAT movie? No I wouldn't say so. With that being said it's hardly the atrocity that everyone makes it out to be. Once you accept that this film is mostly just an action movie featuring mutants it's a lot more enjoyable. Sure there could have been a lot more focus on story here and this movie definitely has its flaws. Does it deserve some hate? Sure it does but it definitely doesn't deserve the amount it gets.