Well, to add to the <AOL>"M3 t00!!!!!@"</AOL> list...
I went to see the movie earlier today, by which I mean yesterday. I thought it was a really good movie, and far better than some other movies made from comic books (Punisher and Blade in particular), in that the storyline didn't seem "cartoony" at all. (Then again, the original basic storyline of the X-Men series, unique people trying to protect a world that fears their uniqueness while working to free said world from it's ignorance, isn't your standard kiddie fare, either.) Not that there weren't some points of humor, mind you, even including a bit of a jab at the comic book in regards to uniforms. The humor wasn't overbearing, though, and fit into the movie smoothly.
For the record, I'm nowhere near a rabid follower of the various X-Men storylines, but what was there seemed to hold pretty well to the spirit of the X-Men storyline, if not the letter.
(A few items that even a non-fanatic like myself knows are wrong: the movie Rogue is much younger than the comic book one; Sabretooth is just your average neanderthal-ish thug with a hair problem in the movie, with no hint that him and Logan/Wolverine have a past, like they do in the comic book; some of the characters that play significant [for varying values of 'significant'] parts in the comic books [Iceman, Jubilee, and some of the others] are given only passing mention as students who're generally younger than their comic book counterparts, and some other stuff that escapes me at the moment.)
Now, my comments on the cast, in no particular order:
Patrick Stewart (Prof. Xavier): Dead-on as the Professor. He even looked a bit like the comic book character.
Hugh Jackman (Wolverine): When I first heard of him being casted, my initial reaction was "Who's that?". Looking him up in the
Internet Movie Database didn't help matters, besides showing that the actor has very little experience. Having said that, I thought he made an excelent Wolverine, in pretty much every way. Attitude, moves, big frigging cigar...
Anna Paquin (Marie/Rogue): While she was believable as a victim, that she was put into the victim role, even given the character changes made in the movie, was annoying. I mean, even given Follywood's occasional smashing of storylines, Rogue is not a wimp! The chemistry between her and Wolverine, though, was really good, and definitely believable. (Supposedly Hugh and Anna were cast together intentionally because they did work good together, but I don't follow the movie business very much, so I don't know what, if any, weight to give it.)
Ian McKellen (Magneto): Though I thought he looked a tad old for the role, overall he was a good choice. Magneto was never one of my favorites, but the character is pretty important to the storyline, so I guess I can suck it up for a bit.
He looked silly in that costume, though.
Halle Berry (Storm): She was ok, I guess, but didn't have a lot of screen time, so it's kinda hard to form an opinion on her part, though she needs to work a tad on the 'imposing' bit.
James Marsden (Cyclops): For the somewhat limited role he played in the movie, he worked well. Hopefully they'll expand on him and Jean in the sequel; there wasn't really any evidence of their feelings for one another that exists from the comic book.
Farnke Janssen (Jean Grey): Like with Cyclops, Jean's involvement in the story was somewhat limited, and like Marsden, Janssen does a decent job with what she's given.
Ray Park (Toad): Okay, he didn't have all that big a part, but what he was there for was ok. It does seem, though, that Park is doomed to play disposable villains. (At least Toad wasn't sliced in half [he did do the staff twirl thing from Ep1, though], and there is the chance that he might have survived to show in a sequel.)
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (Mystique): Considering her primary job was to imitate others, at least as shown in the movie, what can one say? Not that I objected to the flesh shots (even if they were of blue flesh), mind you...
On a more serious note, I'm glad she survived being skewered by Wolverine. We barely got to know her in this movie, so hopefully there will be a bit more expansion on her history in the sequel.
Bruce Davidson (Sen. Kelly): Playing a plot device character, he did ok, I guess. I was a tad cheesed that they killed him off, considering they could've played him up in the sequel, but the way they chose to do the storyline kinda makes that a tad difficult...
Overall, I'd give this movie about 8.5, on a scale of one to ten. It did a good job of introducing the storyline and basic characters without weighing things down to the point that only die-hard X-Men comic fans would like it (note to the "WC movie wasn't anything like the game!" folks: If you cater solely to the source crowd, the general public is likely to turn away, since there's so much of the background material they'd need to know in order to 'get it'; people don't want to have to research a movie's setting history just to be able to understand the movie), the storyline was true to the spirit of its source, most of the actors shined in their assigned roles, the story was strong enough to make you want to stick around for the whole thing so you don't miss any important stuff, it wasn't overloaded with either the action scenes or the special effects to cover up an otherwise uninteresting movie (
*cough*ID4
*cough*), and the ending left room for at least one sequel (which hopefully will provide time to expand on the characters more).
I definitely feel I got my $4.75's worth, and will probably invest in the DVD when it comes out.
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SubCrid Death
Official Net.Nazi,
LOAF's Merry Guild
[This message has been edited by Death (edited July 24, 2000).]
