RATING: 7/10 --> Good movie
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One of my most cherished possessions to this day remains the NM (Near Mint)
copy of X-Men#4, for which I overpaid about a decade ago (according to my
dad), but which today, makes me look like a friggin' financial genius! I
love comic books. I've got about a thousand of them locked up in my
basement, and some of my nicest memories from the days o' puberty, are of me
nestled up in a corner with a copy of the early B&W Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles or the original Judge Dredd comics nestled in my lap. Sure, I
haven't read them in a while, but I know they're there, and one day...I will
go back.
Having said all that, I never really got into the X-Men comics. Not because
I didn't like them or anything, I just never got around to them. Spidey,
Batman, Punisher were always so much cooler. And the movie, you say? Well,
that's another story.
PLOT:
This film is set in the near future, a time during which mutant humans are
running rampant among us. These special people each have their own
particular powers distinguishing themselves from each other and the rest of
society. The human race is not sure how to deal with these hybrid beings,
and is considering certain policies regarding their governance. The good
mutants are trying to work with the humans, while the bad mutants are just
pissed. Clashes ensue.
CRITIQUE:
A good beginning to a possible franchise property, this film gives us a good
chunk of background on the characters, tosses in a few exciting fight
sequences, cool special effects and the other bad mutha of the summer:
Wolverine! Was this a great film? No. Was this a bad film? No way. It was
good. It did what it needed to do, and that was to entertain me for an hour
and a half, present me with many interesting and unique characters, sprinkle
in some moments of levity and color me comic-ally entertained. Add all that
to the tight tops on the mutant girls and I personally consider this to be a
very welcome start to the latest comic book gone Hollywood. And did the
majority of the characters win me over in the end? You bet your X they did!
Of course, everyone and their uncle is gonna have a favorite and not-so by
next week, so let's see which ones appealed to me. I really loved Wolverine
the most, dug Professor X and Rogue, especially the performances set forth
by Patrick Stewart and Anna Paquin, but not much else on the "good" mutants
front. Didn't much care for Storm or Halle Berry's "now-you-hear-it
now-you-don't" Jamaican accent, nor the jawline presented to us by Cyclops,
although the banter between him and Wolvie did hit the mark.
The biggest problem that I did have with the film, or any of its characters
for that matter, was the fact that the "bad guy", the main man leading this
mutant revolution against the humans was...well, how could I put it, an old
man! I'm not exactly sure if the character of Magneto was so old in the
comic books, but even if he was, the sight of Ian McKellen flying around in
those tights and helmet just didn't do it for me. I wish they would have
picked a more intimidating foe. That aside, I loved the character of Toad
and his long, twisty tongue, Mystique and her ultra-cool powers a la
chameleon and even Sabretooth, despite his feeble-mindedness. The special
effects were also all very well presented and even more importantly, not
overplayed. A little more action would have been appreciated, especially
during the film's first 20 minutes or so, but I suppose the film's final 20
clicks kinda make up for all that. And keep your eyes peeled for one of the
cooler fight sequences of the year, with Mystique and Wolverine going all
out near the tail-end of this thing. Kicking all kinds of ass with two very
cool characters turning in one very slick battle! In fact, I haven't said
enough about Wolverine. He is all over this movie, he's the loner, the
outsider, the drinker, the guy who doesn't need help from anyone, but gets
the looks from the girls and has a tender heart deep down inside. Hugh
Jackman does an excellent job as Wolvie and gives you just enough juice to
pepper up the rest of the good mutants and their ho-hum ways.
And remember that you don't need to have read the comic book or even known
anything about the X-Men before this film to really appreciate this movie as
the solid, comic book adventure that it is. It's a fun, summer romp. Real
fans will likely get a little more out of it, especially with the couple of
in-jokes tossed in and around. All in all, the film does leave you wanting
more and I guess that for the first of a possible many others...that's the
best that we could ask for. And oh yeah...Wolvie rules!
Review Date: July 12, 2000
Director: Bryan Singer
Writer: David Hayter
Producers: Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter
Actors: Patrick Stewart as Professor X
Ian McKellen as Magneto
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
Anna Paquin as Rogue
Genre: Action
Year of Release: 2000
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(c) 2000 Berge Garabedian
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