It’s no overstatement to say that Brett Ratner’s “X-Men: The Last Stand” didn’t do the franchise any favors. Odd character choices, an overstuffed narrative focused on too many storylines at once, and more missteps resulted in it becoming a disappointing end to the original “X-Men” trilogy. Still, it made loads of money and didn’t totally kill interest in the “X-Men” franchise, so Fox went ahead and kept it around, for better or worse. This continuation opened the door for Matthew Vaughn to finally lend his creative skills to the “X-Men” world on two occasions.
Just a mere few years after Vaughn departed “X3,” he took on director duties for “X-Men: First Class.” This 2011 prequel highlights the origins of the X-Men team in the 1960s and explores the complicated dynamic of Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) and Charles “Professor X” Xavier (James McAvoy). “First Class” did well financially and critically, and so did its sequel, 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” This time travel adventure puts Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) at the center as he travels to 1973 in hopes of preventing an apocalypse in 2023. With Bryan Singer in the director’s chair, Vaughn helped produce “Days of Future Past” and pen the story.
All in all, it seems that Matthew Vaughn made the right call by taking a principled stand and sticking up for Halle Berry during the start of production on “X-Men: The Last Stand.” He avoided playing into a deceptive scheme devised by Fox studio heads and still took part in creating two of the best “X-Men” movies to date.
