If you've never picked up an issue or seen an episode of the cartoon, then I would still recommend it, though it's impossible for me to know if you'd the same level of enjoyment out of it that I did.
If you've never picked up an issue or seen an episode of the cartoon, then I would still recommend it, though it's impossible for me to know if you'd the same level of enjoyment out of it that I did.
I was but a wee lass of 11 or 12 when I first encountered the Merry Mutants. I have been a comic book fan for as long as I can remember, but I had never ventured into much outside of the Archie family, excepting a few scattered issues of Hanna Barbara and comics from other shows I watched like He-Man and Thundercats. But one day a comic book store opened up at a local mall, and I went in, amazed at how much else there was out there. Though at first, being the enterprising little pre-teen I was, potential value was more important to me than reading value. I asked the guy working at the store that day, and he suggested X-Men to me. I nodded eagerly as he told me how each issue went up in value every month, and picked up two old issues in my price range -- #s 111 and 114 for those of you curious. A few days later, in a bookstore, I was browsing their rack of comics, and to my great joy, found that this X-Men thing was still being published! Confused as hell but still thrilled, I picked up all I could find -- if it had "X-Men" on it anywhere, I bought it. Yes, I was Marvel's ideal target audience. (Again, for the curious, what I walked away with was Classic X-Men #22 and Uncanny #247. Yup, I picked Inferno to start. I think it was 6 months before I figured out what was going on.) A few reads later and while I didn't understand half of what I was reading, I was compelled to learn more. So I bought more. And read more. And bought more. You see the trend. Which brings us to today.
I have just returned to reading X-Men, what with Marvel's brain making an attempt to restablish communication and their patching things up with Chris Claremont, bringing him back to the books (if you do not read the X-Men comic, I won't bore you with details on this, but if you do read it, then you know what I'm talking about). But I held out as long as I could, only finally giving up the ship with that whole "Trial of Gambit" crap when the writers completely betrayed my girl Rogue. But anyway, until that time, I had amassed the jewel of my rather extensive comic book collection: My X-Men. #s 77-79, 106, 111, 114-115, 122 and the granddaddy of them all, a complete run of #s 127-350.
To sum it up, I'm a long-time X-Men fan.
Who's been waiting with both anticipation and dread for Marvel to make a movie of her favourite super-heroes for over a decade.
The purpose of the above? To ensure you know that I'm biased. With that said, to the review.
I'll get the basics out of the way first. I liked it. When I first heard Marvel was coming out with X-Men, I hoped with every possible mutant gene I possessed that it wouldn't turn out to be another Fantastic Four or Captain America. Hell, I didn't even want to see Blade-quality, I wanted something that looked, smelled and tasted like my X-Men. This having been said, I didn't really expect it; Marvel's not got the best track record in Hollywood. These paradoxically high and low expectations resulted in my great enjoyment of the movie version.
We'll start with the eye-candy. The visual effects in X-Men are excellent, about what you'd expect from summer blockbusters in this day and age. The mutant powers were very impressively portrayed, particularly Magneto's. I could've done without the added ickiness when showing Rogue's absorption powers at work, but I can understand the need to actually show something going on. And Jean's powers were ultimately unimpressive, but then I think it would've been too silly for the CGI team to come in and paint everything Jean's doing pink, so it was probably done for the best. But these aside, they actually managed to make the powers look not only impressive but natural, which is no small feat.
The story. You won't find this in any issue (well, any non-movie related issue), so don't bother looking. Given the members they chose to put in the movie, they were much better off with an original script, not to mention the fact that doing so made it clear that this movie (and the sequels sure to follow) is completely separate from the comic book universe. It's good to get this established, especially for fans such as myself, so we don't cripple ourselves by making too may comparisons.
For those of you with no knowledge of X-Men in any form, here's the skinny: Humans are headed towards the next stage of evolution with the emergence of the "x-factor," which grants super-powers. These can be anything from being able to understand any language to wielding the powers of the sun. These super-powered humans (homo sapien superior) have been dubbed "mutants," and they're popping up with such regularity these days that the "normal" humans are getting scared. One such person is Senetor Robert Kelly, who is running for president and whose main platform deals with mutants. He wants to institute the "Mutant Registration Act" which would require that all mutants file with the government. Obviously, this doesn't sit well with mutants, particularly with one Erik Lehnsherr, aka, Magneto. Mags, as a boy, was separated from his parents while they were being shuttled to a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, so he in particular understands about racial descrimination taken to the extreme. He has vowed to never let that happen again, and with mastery over magnetic forces and his own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, he could very well do something to stop it. The only thing opposting him is his long-time friend Professor Charles Xavier and his X-Men, who (altogether now) protect a humanity which hates and loathes them.
This is what the X-Men series in its purest form boils down to: bigotry and hatred. It's always with these stories that the book shined most, and I was very pleased to see it in the movie.
The characters. The mutants, anyway.
Wolverine. On the other end of the spectrum, I felt Wolvie should've been older. This guy looked about 30-something, while the character, I always felt, should've looked about late 40s, early 50s. Or more grizzled somehow, sort of like Bruce Weitz (Belker) on Hill Street Blues. Hugh Jackman, much like McKellen, seemed to wear Marvel's superstar well, growling and being tough when he needed to be tough, and showing a soft side when necessary. Wolvie, the Early Years, let's say. What I probably liked the least about this portrayal of Wolverine was his instant infatuation with Jean. It didn't bother me, since I know of their long history, but purely within the context of the movie, it felt very forced and lacking in chemistry. His chemistry with Rogue, however, was marvelous, and it was good to see Father Wolvie with his young protegee, be it Rogue, Kitty or Jubilee.
Professor X. I think every X-Men fan world wide cheered when they heard Patrick Stewart had accepted this role. There could be no better, and that's that.
Cyclops. I've never been a huge fan of Scott. Teacher's Pet and colossal whiner, he pretty much punches all my buttons. But James Marsden did well with what he had -- he didn't make me like Cyke, but he didn't make me hate him more either. He was able to help create and maintain the tension between Cyke and Wolvie, and he got some great lines besides. Though that visor just does not look anywhere near as appealing in real life.
Jean Grey. To start, is Jean a doctor? That was new to me. Her speaking out at the assembly seemed out of place as well due to that usually (or at least, at one time) being the Prof's job. This aside, Jean still felt kind of flat. She was either "Scott's girl" or "object for Wolvie to pant over," but never seemed to come into her own very well. Which is a shame, because Jean is an awesome character, both with and without Phoenix. I realize the movie only had so much time to devote to each character, but I wish they'd spent at least a little bit more on Jean.
Storm. Again, not a huge Storm fan, but Halle Berry did a fine job with what she had. Storm, like Jean, suffered a bit from lack of characterization. I expect next movie to give both a bit more to play with. Hopefully next time, they'll get her eye-colour right. They're blue, people. Come on, you managed to give a black woman white hair and completely pupiless eyes while she's using her powers, you can't put her in blue contact lenses when she's not?
Sabretooth. Not bad. I particularly liked the eye-effect. He looked a little better-kempt than I see Sabretooth as being, and perhaps not quite as blood-thirsty, but it was neat to see him there.
Mystique. I love Mystique, don't get me wrong. But I have three major gripes. First, I really wish they'd have kept her outfit (the skull belt is awesome!). Second, Mystique is a brilliant stragist and leader in her own right, and deserved to at least have more than one line of her own. Third, since when did Raven learn to fight as well as Wolverine? Mystique kicks ass, there's no doubt about it, but I just did not buy into her climactic battle with him, wherein she almost trounced him. I can only assume that all that time in bar cage matches beating up on beer-guzzling flatscans softened him up and an actual challenge surprised the crap out of him.
Toad. When I first heard of Toad being in the movie, I shook my head and sighed. Toad. A completely laughable, ineffective villain if ever there was one. They wasted a perfectly good villain spot on him. They could've had Pyro, or ... well, Pyro would've been my replacement choice. I am pleased to announce that I was completely wrong. With Toad, the screenwriters managed to do what no comic book writer ever could -- convince me that Toad actually had a point. If done correctly, Toad can be a dangerous guy, if more than a little disgusting. Kudos to the movie team on that one.
Rogue. Last, but never least. Rogue, as I eluded to earlier, is my girl. She's my all-time favourite comic book character (or, rather, her previous incarnation was, before the writer's mucked with her. We'll see if Claremont can restore her.) and consequently, my standards were high. Very high. Amazingly, the movie actually didn't disappoint me too much. I initially had qualms with Rogue being so ... unsure and whiny, but when I paused to consider the fact that Rogue, unlike every other mutant we saw, was brand new to her powers which scared her to death, it made things a lot more tolerable. Anna Panquin did a very good job with Rogue, managing to maintain a vulnerability yet still hinting that there was more there, just waiting to come out. And indeed there is, which I shall expect to see in full-bloom next movie. However, Rogue has GREEN eyes. GREEN. Boo. On the upside, however, I enjoyed the explanation of the infamous skunk-stripe. Yay!
As we approach our final decent, I would like to make some special notice to things which either particularly tickled me, or I think were tossed in just for fans like myself, and I greatly appreciated.
Ahh, the X-Men. Allow me a moment to wallow and to explain a bit about myself and my tawdry love affair with them.
Magneto. The baddest of all baddies, the X-Men's greatest foe. I was admittedly skeptical when I saw the first promotional pictures of the actor, Ian McKellen. He just looked too old and frail. I'm used to my Magnetos standing tall and very square-jawed. But McKellen managed to pull it off, much to my surprise. While he looked physically too old, his presence was powerful enough to carry the weight of the character, and all told, it worked. Though I wish they could've done away with the helmet, but frankly, that even looks a little doofy when drawn, so there we are.
As was often the overwhelming choice in those seemingly endless "Cast the X-Men movie!" polls I'd seen since waaaaay the hell back on my old Prodigy days (any old COMXers reading this? Send me mail, we have catching up to do), the "unknown" actor was preferred for most roles, excepting perhaps good ol' Patrick Stewart as the Prof. I think our hunches were right and this ultimately worked out for the best. We were able to see not the star, but the character they were portraying, and the lack of big names encouraged a focus on the movie itself, which can never be a bad thing. Sure, X-Men set out to be a blockbuster, but there's no law that says just that just because a movie's successful doesn't mean it can't be good. And good is definitely what X-Men is.
Ahh, I could go on all day, but I'll spare you. Here's the long and short of it: If you're an X-Men fan, then you probably saw this movie long before you saw this review. If you've never picked up an issue or seen an episode of the cartoon, then I would still recommend it, though it's impossible for me to know if you'd the same level of enjoyment out of it that I did. But I would definitely give it a try. It's well-acted, well-written, and is entertaining, if not too terribly deep. That's more than I can say for most other movies out there.
Wolverine: It's me!
Cyclops: Prove it.
Wolverine: You're a dick.
I defy any fan of the series to have not waited forever to hear Wolvie say that to Cyke. It was worth the price of admission just to hear that line.
