I loved First Class, and was a little worried when Vaughn left, but I think Days of Future Past is great. I'm happy with Singer's directing.
Bryan appears to be the studio's controlling creative force behind the franchise. I'm sure he gave Vaughn a wide creative berth, but he was the producer on that film because he is the one overseeing the franchise. That is why he is credited with "Story" on the four good films in the series. The serial nature of these comics and multi-film franchises has changed the nature of the "auteur" in Hollywood; it appears to me, anyway. He is the equivalent of a television "showrunner" for the franchise. You can't separate him creatively from
First Class or any other film in the series except the only one that was a total failure,
Last Stand, since he was disconnected from that almost completely while off making the Superman film with Brandon Routh.
Why is the TS complaining about the X-Men movies let alone the movies directed by Bryan Singer? Days of Future Past was a really good movie, and of the 3 X-Men movies directed by Singer all of them are good movies.
Yeah, there's the head scratcher. Again, this is the second best comic franchise ever made. This isn't just my opinion; it is consensus: critics and people alike.
The Bryan Singer X-Men Films
- X-Men
IMDb = 7.4
RottenTomatoes = 81% (7.1)
- X2: X-Men United
IMDb = 7.5
RottenTomatoes = 86% (7.5)
- X-Men: First Class
IMDb = 7.8
RottenTomatoes = 87% (7.4)
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
IMDb = 8.1
RottenTomatoes = 91% (7.6)
X-Men Films sans Bryan Singer creative work
- X-Men: The Last Stand
IMDb= 6.8
RottenTomatoes = 58% (5.9)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
IMDb= 6.7
RottenTomatoes= 38% (5.1)
Look at that. Why on earth would you subtract Singer from that equation? You even have films without his major creative input to contrast. They fucking sucked (and nothing else changed...not the cast or the studio, just Singer's leadership role, creatively). Meanwhile, looking at those where he did have major creative control, no comic franchise scores better with the public & the critics except for Nolan's
Dark Knight trilogy.