| Although
the superhero comic book has been a duopoly since the early
1960s, only DC's flagship characters, Superman and Batman
(who originated in the late 1930s) have established themselves
as big-screen franchises. Until now--this is the first runaway
hit film version of the alternative superhero X-Men universe
created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others.
It's a rare comic-book movie that doesn't fall over its cape
introducing all the characters, and this is the exception.
X-Men drops us into a world that is closer to our own than
Batman's Gotham City, but it's still home to super-powered
goodies and baddies. Opening in high seriousness with paranormal
activity in a WW2 concentration camp and a senatorial inquiry
into the growing "mutant problem", Bryan Singer's
film sets up a complex background with economy and establishes
vivid, strange characters well before we get to the fun. There's
Halle Berry flying and summoning snowstorms, James Marsden
zapping people with his "optic beams", Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
shape-shifting her blue naked form, and Ray Park lashing out
with his Toad-tongue. The big conflict is between Patrick
Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, super-powerful
mutants who disagree about their relationship with ordinary
humans, but the characters we're meant to identify with are
Hugh Jackman's Wolverine (who has retractable claws and amnesia),
and Anna Paquin's Rogue (who sucks the life and superpowers
out of anyone she touches). The plot has to do with a big
gizmo that will wreak havoc at a gathering of world leaders,
but the film is more interested in setting up a tangle of
bizarre relationships between even more bizarre people, with
solid pros such as Stewart and McKellen relishing their sly
dialogue and the newcomers strutting their stuff in cool leather
outfits. There are in-jokes enough to keep comics' fans engaged,
but it feels more like a science fiction movie than a superhero
picture. -- Kim Newman
All Customer Reviews
5 out of 5 - 23 Aug 2006
This is one of the best films I have ever seen
in my life! The casting is perfect especialy the choices to
make Patrick Stewart (Star Trek, A christmas carol) Professor
X and Ian McKellen (Davinci Code, Lord of the rings) Magneto.
Each characters has he/she's role in the film such as Mystique's
role as the evil seductress and Rogue's role as the misunderstood
outkast. The storyline is not taken from any specific comic
arc but portrays another one of Magneto's schemes against
humankind. The acting is really done well by the whole cast.
Considering this movie was released in 2000 the special effects
are brilliant and there are plenty of hidden photos and secrets
that will keep fans of the x-men hooked throughout and even
people who are just getting to know X-men will find this an
easy movie to comprehend.
The film is based mostly around the characters
Wolverine , played by Hugh Jackman (Van Hesing,Scoop) who
is portrayed brilliantly as the man who is searching desperately
for his past and Rouge played by Anna Paquin (Darkness, Jane
Eyre) who goes on the run after sending her boyfrend into
a coma after kissing him and discovering that whoever she
touches she takes the life force out of. There are plenty
of action sequences that will entertain even the hardest to
please of people such as Wolverine statue of liberty museum
fight with Mystique played by Rebecca Romjin (Femme Fatale,
Tron 2.0) who turns round the audience's opinion of the once
hated character.
This movie is brilliant and a must have for
all ages (over the age of 12 that is). It will entertain adults
because of the charm of the mutant charaters and it will entertain
kids because of the level of action. This movie would get
50 stars if I wasn't confined to using 5!!!
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