R E V I E W S

X-MEN (2000)

Starring: Patrick Steward, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen
Director: Bryan Singer

Rating: PG-13

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Review Posted: 7.16.00

Rating: 8/10

By Stephen.

"Fun times X"

In this big screen adaptation from Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects), X-Men focuses on some of the gifted mutants living among the humans. However, their acceptance in society is threatened by Senator Kelly (Davison), who believes that mutants are dangerous and will only harm the humans. That statement is something that Professor Charles "Professor X" Xavier (Stewart) disagrees with. He's the founder of 'The School for Gifted Children' and the leader of the good X-Men. He believes that there is hope, that humans and mutants can co-exist and that there need not be fear, hate and prejudice. However, Erik "Magneto" Lehnsherr (McKellen) believes that a war between humans and mutants is excellent. He's the leader of the evil X-Men.

Before X-Men was released, my expectations for the movie were rather bland. I thought it either was going to suck balls or kick bad ass. Upon watching the trailers I thought that X-Men would look pretty good. And then I saw it. Twice. On the same day. I actually came to enjoy it as much as I did the first time. It wasn't boring and the jokes worked, along with the action. Speaking of the action, some of the style and its execution seemed similar to moves and techniques used in The Matrix. However, X-Men's CGI was not as good as it could've been, but it was barely noticeable and didn't affect my enjoyment as a whole.

The thing that excited me the most was that it has many heroes, and not just one. You come to think of their powers, which in real-life would be kind of cool to possess. Each X-Men was true to its comic character, its character's feels and looks. Patrick Stewart has always had the right looks to play Professor X. Ian McKellen also seemed to fit the looks of Magneto. Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), Anna Paquin (Rogue) and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (Mystique) were good choices, too. Ray Park (Toad) and Tyler Mane (Sabretooth) were actually the only two characters I never knew existed. However, Cyclops (Marsden) and Storm (Berry) didn't look right. Marsden was too young and Berry was too small. Aside from that, the characters all kicked major ass. However, there were some characters who were left out. Especially Gambit and Beast.

Come to think of it, X-Men could've been approached in hundreds of ways, speaking mainly of the story. I think the way the story played here actually wasn't that bad. It had a quick pace and the story progressed excellently. The first couple of scenes didn't really connect, but in the later process that didn't matter much. The opening takes place in Poland during the Holocaust. There, we were introduced to the young Magneto. He was separated from his parents by steel fences. It was his will to get inside those fences that he first used his power to create magnetic fields. The guards at the death camp were astonished to see how he literally wore down the fence. The scene seemed somewhat out of place, however.

Cut to the not too distant future where we were introduced to Rogue (Paquin) and her power to suck out the life force of anybody she touches. The way Logan/Wolverine (Jackman) was introduced was rather decent. In the worst bars of all, he fought people in a cage, as a way to make money. But you'd know who the winner would be before the fights even started.

X-Men mostly centered on the relationship between Rogue and Wolverine, as far as characters go. The plot centered on the good X-Men trying to stop Magneto (and his team of mutants) from unleashing major fields of radiation to the people of New York. The one thing that really kicked ass about X-Men was the presence of Wolverine. He was awesome. And come to think of it, I never could've imagined Dougray Scott play Wolverine. Hugh Jackman was the perfect choice to play the role. Nominate him for Best Actor in the next Academy Awards. Also, Mystique (Romijn-Stamos) topped the list of cool X-Men. She looked awesome in that blue suit. Yee! The ranging humor came mostly from Wolverine. He and Cyclops didn't really like each other. In the climax, Wolverine has to prove to Storm and Cyclops that he's himself and not Mystique. Cyclops goes, "how do we know it's you?" Wolverine replies: "you're a dick." There's more humor to that extend throughout.

Overall, X-Men was the perfect action movie. And you just know it's screaming for a sequel. X-Men appealed to many people, not just young males. Even smaller kids (8-14) were in the audience. X-Men is definitely going to be the best comic adaptation, in ways of box office intake that is.

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