The Basics:
In the near future, mankind has found itself at the cusp of another step in human evolution. Certain human beings find themselves with special abilities far above those of normal people. Called "mutants," these superhumans are cast off from the rest of soceity as something to fear. Because of this, most mutants are kicked out of their homes as teenagers and left alone on the street. But Professor Charles Xavier creates a home for these mutants, a place of security and a place to fit in as they learn how to hone their powers. Housed within this faculity is the X-Men, a group of mutants led by Xavier tasked with defending the world...both mutants and humans alike.
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, and Ian McKellen
Written By: David Hayter
Directed By: Bryan Singer
Original Release Date: July 16, 2000
The Delivery:
X-Men came out in a time of great struggle for the comic book film industry. Even though it was two years after Batman and Robin, the intense sting of that disaster was still affecting everyone. Superman had all but died (despite a then in development Tim Burton reboot inching its way forward), and the idea of a Marvel superhero movie doing well was prepostorous. But leave it to Professor Xavier and the rest of his mutant croonies to set the bar; a bar that, even today, hardly ever is surprassed.
But if you think this review is going to be a gushing tribute to how X-Men revitalized the superhero genre, I think you're going to be thoroughly dissapointed. Because, well I truly believe the film did that, this is a far from perfect film. In fact, it barely passes the "good" bar. But for an origin story, you can do much worse. Well the film is a lot of exposition (and I mean A LOT), X-Men is always entertaining. The cast does a fine job, especially Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman, who are cast perfectly in their roles. Props should be given to Sir Ian McKellen as well; he plays a great baddie, even if some of the character development fills a little rushed.
But what certainly isn't rushed is the film's overall tone. To put it bluntly, director Bryan Singer nailed it, combining action and political undertones to great effect. You see, X-Men is much more complex than your standard superhero film; issues of expermentation and civil rights are handled with aplomb, never feeling to preachy nor unsympathetic, but just stricking the right balance between the two. It was a great take on the superhero lore, and I'm glad Singer took it in the direction he did.
Sadly though, not all aspects of the film are this polished. The script, for instance, suffers heavily from some cheesy and downright horrible dialogue. Even worse is the beating the action takes in the film; to put it bluntly, it sucks. Well the final action scene a top the Statue of Liberty was great, the other scenes are so weak in comparison. However, this is nowhere near Singer's fault. Fox, being the studio it is, didn't want to trust the film with a high budget, and it shows. You can tell that Singer wanted to have much better action scenes then what are in the movie, but just didn't have the budget to do them. The CGI is also weak for this reason, and has not aged very well. Damn shame; if Fox just coughed up the dough, X-Men could have been a great film. But as it stands, its just good.
The Scorecard:
Acting- All the actors are well cast and do their parts justice, Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman especially.
Direction- A fine direction from Bryan Singer, only constricted by the amount of money he had to spend.
Writing- Well it handles exposition well, it's filed with some really corny dialogue.
Sound: The music is okay within the film, but is dissapointing in terms of creating a theme you can hum all day.
Visuals: The already cheap for the time visuals have not aged very well either.
Overall:
X-Men is a great look at the potential of the franchise, and single handidly revived the superhero genre. You have to give it credit for that, at least.
Score: 7 out of 10
Loose Thoughts:
-Example of Stupid Dialogue: "You know what happens to a toad when its struck by lightning? Same thing that happens to everything else!" WOW Storm, you must be a physicist or something. How did you figure that out?
-Sadly enough, that line of dialogue was written by Joss Whedon (who's in New Mexico right now directing another Marvel team up movie, The Avengers). Yeah, that wasn't his best day.
-I've always liked Rouge, but did they ever give a reason for why she drops her accent halfway through the film?
-And speaking of dropped accents, after this film, Halee Berry stopped using an African accent for Storm. Awwww, to hard?
-Wolverine Plot Hole: Why didn't Sabretooth recognize Wolverine? And futhermore, why is Sabretooth so different in the two movies?
-X-Men Origins: Wolverine Sucks.
