Hugh Jackman is one of the biggest actor’s currently working in the entertainment industry. 2024 was a massive year for the Hollywood and Broadway star, with the Jackman-starring Deadpool & Wolverine being one of the biggest movies of the year. Along with Deadpool & Wolverine breaking several box office records, it also was well received by fans and critics, with a respective 94 percent and 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
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While Deadpool & Wolverine was well received, however, it is not within the top five X-Men films, based off of Rotten Tomatoes critic scores. Similarly, while it is within Hugh Jackman’s top 10 rated films based Rotten Tomatoes score, it is not within the top 5. Three other X-Men movies are, which is impressive when looking at Jackman’s extensive film career.
Hugh Jackman’s Highest Rated Theatrical Film Is Also the Highest Rated X-Men Film
While Jackman’s top rated movie is the HBO film Bad Education, his second highest rated film, Logan, is his highest rated theatrical film at 93 percent. Logan is one of three X-Men films that center on the titular lead, AKA Wolverine. However, unlike X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine, Logan takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, one where the X-Men are no more. Logan is left watching over a fading Professor X, and their lives are thrown into chaos when Laura (X-23) comes into the picture, asking these former heroes for help.
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Logan is not just Jackman’s highest rated theatrical film, but it is also the highest rated X-Men film to come out so far. It is a heartbreaking send-off to Jackman’s Wolverine, prior to his return as a different version of the character in Deadpool & Wolverine. Along with that, it is the first superhero film to be nominated for best adapted screenplay at the Academy Awards, with the film being a loose adaptation of the comic Old Man Logan. While it did not win, it’s still one of the most well-regarded film adaptations of a comic. Even with Jackman back as Wolverine in the MCU, Logan is his best performance as the titular mutant, and it is a beautiful swan song to the character.
X:Men: Days of Future Past Is The Highest Rated X-Men Team-Up Film and Jackman’s Third Highest Rated Movie
After several films, the X-Men franchise did a soft reboot with X-Men: First Class. This initially serves as an origin story for the first X-Men team, and it focuses on the early days of Professor X and Magneto’s friendship. Following that is X-Men: Days of Future Past, and thanks to time travel, it rewrites some of the continuity of the original X-Men Trilogy. Despite impacting the continuity, fans and critics adore this film, as it is the second highest rated X-Men movie, and the highest rated X-Men team-up film at 90 percent.
Despite Days of Future Past featuring an ensemble of mutants, it also features a leading man, and that man is none other than Jackman’s Wolverine. Inspired by the comic of the same name, one of the biggest changes the film makes to the source material is making Logan the mutant who goes back in time to stop Trask from developing Sentinels, which would bring mutants to the brink of extinction.
Originally, Kitty Pryde is the X-Man who goes back in time, but Jackman takes this place, once again delivering a phenomenal performance as Wolverine. He’s also given the unique challenge of being the one to try and inspire Charles Xavier to rise to the occasion, something Charles has done for him in the past multiple times.
X2 Is Hugh Jackman’s Fifth Highest Rated Film, Right After His Only Laika Film
Of the original X-Men trilogy, X2 is the highest rated movie at 85 percent. It is also Jackman’s fifth highest rated film, coming in right below Missing Link — a Laika stop-motion film where Jackman portrays Sir Lionel Frost, an explorer recruited by a Sasquatch-like creature to help him reunite with his family.
Making a sequel that is as good, if not better, than the original film, is no easy task; however, X2 exceeds expectations. In X2, Commander Stryker doubles down on trying to criminalize mutants, pushing the mutant registration act, as well as attacking Xavier’s School for Gifted Children. Seeing the U.S. government so shamelessly endanger these children is heartbreaking, and X2 does not hesitate to use mutants as a metaphor for other oppressed groups. Along with that, this movie delivers a temporary partnership between the X-Men and Magneto, who is expertly portrayed by Ian McKellen.
As for Wolverine, he may not be the central character, but he still plays a crucial role in X2. He has history with Stryker, a very painful history that Logan does not fully even grasp at the start of X2. Stryker is already an imposing antagonist, but his connection to Logan makes things feel more personal. Along with that, it adds another layer of intrigue and mystery to Jackman’s Wolverine, who is already a fan favorite after the first X-Men film.
