X-Men
(2000)
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 Hour and 44 Minutes
Reviewer: Ben
Grade: AThis is my first review that I have written for this site, and I have picked "X-Men, The Movie". Mostly because I don't think Dale has seen it yet. Well, I was there opening night, to see it on the Marcus ULTRA-SCREEN screen screen echo echo.... 75 pulse-pounding feet of silver-screen excitement! (Did you know that they actually USE silver on the screens to make them reflect better? Really!)
Anyway, I remember long ago that Mike said to me "Ben, you're going to come to see "X-Men" with me next summer!" and I was like "No! I flatly re-FUSE!" See, at that point in time, everyone was predicting that it would be a suck-fest, and the only reason Mike wanted to see it was for Baldy (Patrick Stewart) and Rebeccaa Romijn-Stamos (or Rebecca Romijn-ROMIJN as Mike so wishfully calls her, sorry Mike!)
But, you know, as the movie got closer to coming out, the buzz slowly got better. Remember, everyone thought "The Matrix" was going to suck before it came out! (People are so hard on Mr. Whoah!) Anyway, by the time "X-Men" was about to come out, I had a pretty good idea that it might be good. Mike said, on the way to the theatre "I fully expect it to suck, but I don't care."
AIN'T IT COOL NEWS-ESQUE NONSENSE THAT BEARS NO SEMBLANCE TO ANYTHING: The day I saw this movie, I ate some french fries, 2 beers, and some gum.
Yes, I did swallow the gum, so that counts as 'eaten'. It was Wrigley's Spearmint. The beer was drank hours before I saw the movie, so it does not affect my review. The beer was Bud Light, in a bottle. I also bought a camcorder battery on the way there. It was a Sony brand Info Lithium. And we took Mike's car. Oh, and I looked at the "Star Trek II" DVD at Suncoast, but they wanted 26 bucks for it, so I thought "later". That's about it.
The theater filled to the rim with people, sold out. Not many kids, lots of high schoolers, and lots of older people (ie: 30's). Lots of women, too. Women actually were going to a movie called "X-Men". Huh... Then, the movie started...
My philosophy is that at a certain point in any movie, you know whether it will suck or be good. I remember thinking while watching "The Matrix", as soon as Agent "I Kick A Lot Of Ass" Smith said "No, Lieutenant, your men are already dead." that it was gonna be good.
Then, of course, in a bad movie, like, oh, most movies that come out nowadays, what happens is that at a certain point in the movie (usually the 45-minute mark) you realize that the movie isn't going to get any better. That it's gone past the Point Of No Return. That's when you start thinking about what you'll eat for supper, if the laundry needs done, or Atari, in my case.
In "X-Men", during the opening scene you KNOW that it's different. It starts in a concentration camp in Poland, where young Magneto first uses his powers after being separated from his parents. This sets the tone for the movie: That mutants exist in our world, and it's outrageous, but it's still grounded in reality. And things don't get much more real than the Holocaust.
ANYWAY! The movie jumps to The Not So Distant Future (in which every television is widescreen, there ya go, Ben K) and the story begins. The running sub-plot is Senator Kelly's idea that mutants should be registered because they are dangerous. That's a great idea, because Lord knows the government wants to regulate EVERYTHING. Again, it grounds the movie in reality. It also gives Magneto a GASP! "motivation" (Hollywood screenwriters - take note: you need those!). He sees things in the world reverting back to (or rather, not progressing much since) the Holocaust, and he's trying to do something about...
Which is basically his plot. To make mutants accepted. By HIS means.
Charles Xavier, played by Baldy, is after the same thing. But he does it by training the mutants to use their powers for good, beligerently. He and Magneto's characters play very well off each other because they are the 'good and bad guys', so to speak, but they are after the same thing. They just have different ways of doing it.
The movie then starts introducing characters. It centers mostly on Wolverine and Rogue, but Cyclops and Jean "I'm In The Goldeneye Videogame You Know" Grey also have lots of screentime. The Jean Grey-Cyclops-Wolverine thing is done very well. Wolverine of course wants to bone Jean Grey because he's heard of her powerful legs, but she's going out with
Cyclops. Lots of uneasy tension. Sample dialog:
Wolverine: "I suppose you're going to tell me to stay away from your girl, right?"
Cyclops: "No, because if I did, she wouldn't really be my girl, would she?"
Wolverine: "You're right."
(dialog, dialog, Cyclops walks out the door;)
Cyclops, sticking his head around corner "By the way, stay away from my girl."
Which is great, and there's lots more stuff like that. Culminating in the dialog after the Wolverine-Mystique fight. I loved that line! It's a big laugh, but it also serves the plot, and develops both characters, and their attitudes towards each other, at the same time. Very efficient!
Hugh Jackman is very, VERY good as Wolverine. He doesn't carry in the usual star baggage, and he wasn't busy trying to 'protect' himself by re-writing his lines or any of that crap. He just took the role and went with it. Maybe just because he looks a little like him, but it was almost like watching one of the first Clint Eastwood movies and thinking "This guy might be REALLY big someday..." Wolverine brought to the screen something sorely lacking from modern cinema. The tough-as-nails working man everyday chick-magnet hero. And I don't mean the people like Will Smith in "ID4", or Bruce Willis in "Armageddon A Headache". You won't really realize what you've been missing until you see Hugh Jackman in action.
Magneto is an AWESOME bad guy. His magnetic skills kick utter amounts of ass.
Remember in "This Movie is Not Enough", how the bad guy didn't feel pain, but they didn't use that in the plot? Well, they use EVERYTHING here. Magneto walks around opening doors by thought, controlling Wolverine (since his skeleton is metal), and making paths appear in front of him by causing bits of metal to join together. There is so much creativity in this movie, I loved it!
Speaking of that, this movie treated the characters SERIOUSLY. There's nothing cheesy like, oh, Magneto zipping up his pants by thought, or Wolverine opening a can of SpagettiO's with his claws. They respected the characters. Which is good. Because movies lack sincerity nowadays. Ug! It's all that damn "Batman Forever"'s fault. That steaming pile of worm-infested donkey-dung!
I've read a lot about Storm sucking. She's the least developed character to be sure, but she doesn't suck. They did give her the cheesiest line, but, oh well. The part where she floats out of the elevator all pissed is awesome, so who cares? It, along with other parts of this movie, actually sent shivers through me! Toad knocks her down an elevator shaft and is like "Ha, ha! Die! I was in Star Wars! Gr!" Then, a bit later, the elevator goes DING and he looks over. The door opens, and Storm is there, eyes a-glow. She floats out and proceeds to BLOW HIM AWAY! (literally) It was great.
Sabertooth and Mystique were good, as well. Sabertooth doesn't do much besides be big and tough, but, so? He was kinda like a Klingon, actually. Mystique can change shape, of course. I bet Mike wishes she would morph from John Stamos's wife into his, but I guess he'll have to wait until the sequel to see if that ever happens. The things she does do, the people she becomes, serve the plot well and are actually surprising in some cases! For instance, to get into a secret X-Men room, she morphs into Baldy so the retinal scanner will allow her to enter. And so forth. Toad is really neat. He jumps around and has a long tongue, and he really uses it! To close doors, grab people, things, climb, etc. Again, the mutant's powers are actually USED instead of just there for show.
The overall plot of the movie works well, and the action is pretty good to boot. Magneto's plot of having a device turn people into mutants may seem lame, but it's relevant. The 'forced conformism' thing. If you think about it, there's all sorts of devices used to control people in the world today! (one's called television) But "X-Men" is really about the characters, that's what really works, and that's good. Wolverine has a great scene with Rogue on a train, the kind of thing you usually don't see in movies about mutated people duking it out to save the earth. And the subtle touches are great as well. Like when Rogue (who can't touch people without killing them) looks over at a mother caressing her daughter's cheek. Or the kid whose looks at Cyclops and his mom hurries them away from him. I liked the scene where they launch their jet, and the hanger door is also the basketball court (of the Mutant College), and you see the ball start to shake, then bounce, then roll... Then the hanger doors open and it falls in... then the jet flies out. This movie actually has SUBTLETY and SUBTEXT! The movie didn't seem short to me, because they pack lots of stuff in! Besides, I'm sick of long movies. Seems every damn thing has to be 2 hours 20 minutes anymore. They of course leave it VERY open for a sequel, and I'll say it now, I'll be there opening day!
I suppose now I should mention any problems I had with the movie... SLIGHT SPOILER:...Maybe the fact that it ends/they win because of one optic blast from Cyclops, but if anything that's merely anti-climatic. It's low budget (for a summer movie) and it does show in some places. The budget was similar to "The Matrix" but "X-Men" looked cheaper. Maybe because they didn't blow up as much stuff. But that's really all I can think to bitch about. I find it interesting that the 2 recent well-done yet low-budget action movies ("The Matrix" and "X-Men") were produced one by Joel Silver and the other by Richard Donner, in that order.
Coincidence? Perhaps the age of Good Action Movies is returning. Who better to bring it?
We all love "Die Hard" and the "Lethal Weapons". (We'll forget "Fair Game", Silver made up for it, in spades.)
OVERALL: This is only the 3rd movie I've seen this year (besides "MI:2" and "Chicken Run") and I have enjoyed it most. "MI:2" was the most un-comprehensive laughable mess I've seen in a while. If I want to watch crap I have a toilet, I shouldn't have to pay 7 bucks to see it. "Chicken Run" was very good but it dragged in Act 2 and was basically the same movie as "A Bug's Life" (probably not intentionally). Dale will probably kill me for saying this, but it WAS saddled with the typical Disney-esque "character that lies to everyone then runs away in shame but comes back at the end" motif, which I felt wasted a good 30 minutes of the movie. Well, moreso, not wasted but not as good as the rest of the movie. Other than that, nothing else looked interesting to me! I mean, GREAT ANOTHER WAR MOVIE. Or GREAT ANOTHER DISASTER FILM. "X-Men" looked different. And it was. The audience loved it. They laughed, they cheered, they clapped at the end. And I decided to put a big X on my computer screen at work. High praise for me!
Since I am new, here is a pretentious list of what I thought of other movies, so you can decide if I'm full of it or not.
Casablanca: A+
Robot Monster: D- (for effort)
Any Cameron Film Except "The Abyss": A or A+
Batman: B+
Batmans 3 & 4: F-
Attack of the 50-Foot Woman: D
The Ten Commandments: A+
Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace: D (not F, because it's fun to say "Ah, Nubian, we got lots a that!")
Reviewer: Jones
Grade: A
1999 was an unforgettable year for movies. Week after week something new, and amazing, was being introduced. After such a wonderful year it is hard to expect anything other than a letdown to take place the following year.
The year 2000 has lived up to it's billing and then some. Week after week we have been pummeled with shit, shit, and more shit with a few very notable exceptions being "Gladiator", "Mission: Impossible 2" and "High Fidelity" to name a few of the few. To sum it up the year has, for the most part, been forgettable. It is at this bleak time in filmgoing history that Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects") brings us the long-awaited screen adaptation of the adventures of the comic book legends known simply as the X-Men.
Going into the film I must say that I didn't expect much. I've never read the comics and didn't know anymore about the X-Men than the characters names and what a few of them were supposed to look like. I knew Wolverine was supposed to be one bad mutha and not much else.
After the film I felt quite differently about the X-Men. I think the feeling I had would be somewhat akin to that which was felt by those fortunate souls who were able to see the original "Star Wars" during it's initial theatrical run. "X-Men" is by no means as revolutionary as "Star Wars". Not by a long shot. What it is, however, is the dawn of a new world that we will come to know very well in the years to come. It will inevitably transform itself into one of the cinema's more legendary film franchises. That is, if those films that are sure to follow, can live up to the original and the expectations that will undoubtedly follow along with it.
So what the Hell makes this movie so damn special you ask? That's a difficult question to answer, since I think everybody will be able to take away their own memorable moments from this movie. Maybe that is what makes it great. The fact that it is so solid, that virtually every scene can be described as memorable.
This film took me on a ride that I never expected to take. From the Concentration Camps of Nazi Germany to a final battle atop the Statue of Liberty in the present day. Along the way we are introduced to a variety of colorful characters that we will find ourselves caring about as the film carries out it's appointed tasks.
What makes this movie work is that it lets us get to know some of these X-Men on a more human level. The film does a wonderful job of grounding itself in reality by taking us beneath the skin of it's two main characters, Wolverine and Rogue (Anna Paquin).
We are first introduced to Rogue when she shares her first kiss with a boy. At first it appears that her lips are more lethal than Xenia Onatopp's formidable thighs, but eventually she realizes that she is one of the mutants her government is attempting to regulate. With this knowledge she goes on a trip to Canada. It is in Canada that she runs across a brawler who goes by the name of Wolverine. He is, as the name implies, a badass. He seemingly earns his living from beating the hell out of anyone who is stupid enough to fight him at the local bar and grill. But there is more to this man than a lot of broken bodies being scattered around him.
Like Rogue, he too is a mutant, but he has a past that is unknown to him. It haunts him much the same as the day that I made the decision to buy "The Talented Mr. Ripley" on DVD haunts me. I am still looking for the reasons behind my purchase much the same as Wolverine searches for the reasons behind his mutant powers.
After a misguided hitchhiking attempt, Rogue and Wolverine hook up and find their way to Professor X (Patrick Stewart). He is the head of a sort of "mutant academy" for those who would otherwise be outcasts to the rest of the world. From here the action and intrigue kick into high gear as the plot unfolds with Magneto (Ian McKellan) planning to eventually turn the population into mutants just the same as he and his cohorts in crime. It's a fun ride that will keep you involved from beginning to end.
The best thing about this movie is that you don't have to be an ardent fan of the comic series to enjoy it. This is a film that could exist with or without the comic books to back it up. It will please both those who have followed the X-Men for years and those who are meeting them for the first time with this movie.
Despite the notion of sounding cheesy I have to say that this movie is X-cellent!!! It is without a doubt the first surefire hit of the year. So get your ass out from behind that computer monitor and head down to the local theater. If you need a little motivation just think about the fact that you will get to watch Rebecca Romijn-Stamos parade around naked for the better part of two hours. Granted she's wearing a beautiful coat of body paint, but hell you've got an imagination for a reason. Use it!
Reviewer: Dale
Grade: A
From the very first scene of "X-Men", we know that we will not be seeing your average, comic book movie. It starts in a concentration camp and ends with a kickass battle atop the torch of the Statue of Liberty. How many movies can you say that about?
"X-Men" is a film that involves cool special effects, neat explosions, great action sequences and a subtle comment on everything from McCarthyism to Nazism to the witch hunt for homosexuals. It has a lot more on its mind that your average summer action movie. Here is a comic book film that actually respects your intelligence and plays to it rather than trying to delude it with loud things and pretty images the way some do.
"X-Men" is the story of a group of individuals who seem to be the next step in human evolution: people with psychic powers, extra long tongues, metal skeletons, and even blue skin and scales. The general public (and one worried senator in particular) think that all these mutants constitute a threat to human existence.
Thanks to Magneto (Ian McKellan), a former Concentration Camp survivor, they might be right. Magneto is worried that the human will try to exterminate his kind so he wants to turn the world's major leaders into mutants. That way they will see what it is like and, hopefully, be more sympathetic to the mutants' cause.
Unfortunately, this operation has the side effect of killing whatever human it is tried on.
But the good mutants (led by the effective Patrick Stewart) are determined to stop these rebels at any cost. They recruit two other mutants to get this job done: Wolverine (played by newcomer Hugh Jackman, the guy who might be stealing a few jobs from Russell Crowe soon) and Rogue. Wolverine has a metal skeleton, a tremendous healing ability, and metal claws. He is also a loner, an outcast, without a place in the world and very angry about his situation in life. He is also reluctant to join Professor X's band, even though he would like a few moments alone with the lovely Jean Grey (the ever-boinkable Famke Janssen).
Rogue is also an outcast. A sad, lonely and lost teenage girl with the power to kill or at least do great bodily harm to anyone she touches. The first boy she kissed was in a coma for three months. Anna Paguin, winner of an Oscar for "The Piano", does a remarkably assured job here.
All the actors do great jobs in fact. The characters are the best part of X-Men. This is the first movie I can recall that actually gets inside the mind of a superhero and lets us see all the emotional baggage that a superpower might bring. But it does not for a minute sacrifice its fluid pace or its cool action for the development of its characters. Nor does it sacrifice its characters at the expense of its action either. Either way, it works. Even the villains have a strong motivation, and they work well. You get a genuine sense of a threat from them.
The movie also has many little touches that add to the pleasure of the viewing experience. For example, look closely during a scene in which the senator emerges onto a beach and you will see Stan Lee (creator of the X-Men himself) standing next to a hot dog stand.
The special effects are well done, the cinematography is often quite beautiful (Bryan Singer shows a flair for that here as well as in "The Usual Suspects") and the characters draw you in at once. This is, thus far, the best live action movie of the summer, and one of the few truly great movies of the year.
For a good time, you can't do much better. It isn't quite "The Matrix" or "Batman", but it's an enormous step up from "Batman Forever".