X-Men (2000)

Comic books have long been a popular source of inspiration for movies, quite possibly because their core audience is also likely to go to cinemas a lot and they’re a lot shorter than books. However, a string of disappointing adaptations during the ‘90s, most infamously some disastrous entries in the “Batman” franchise, had reduced the enthusiasm for superhero movies. 1998's “Blade” restored some quality to the genre and by the end of the decade the stage seemed set for a new superhero blockbuster. With several promising-looking projects in the works (including “Spiderman” and “Hulk”), the first one to arrive was the big-screen adaptation of one of the most popular comic book franchises - “X-Men”. With “The Usual Suspects” director Bryan Singer in charge it seemed like it couldn’t fail to be a success.

The background plot is one of the best things about the movie - the premise of humanity gradually evolving into mutants with strange (super)powers and these mutants being regarded with suspicion and prejudice has a great deal of potential. The prologue, which is set in Nazi-era Germany, emphasises the fact that the discrimination faced by the mutants is an obvious metaphor for racism (and other forms of discrimination) and as a US senator tries to force through a proposal for registration of mutants because they may be dangerous it’s easy to see the historical parallels. The movie’s plot could easily be summarised to a difference in opinion between two powerful mutants - and old friends - “Magneto” (Ian McKellan), a mutant with the power to control metal and Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), a powerful telepath. Magneto believes that it is soon going to come to a war between “normal” people and mutants and intends to strike first, while Xavier advocates peaceful solutions. It is an interesting set-up, allowing some sympathy for Magneto’s aims, although his actions - culminating in an attack on a meeting of world leaders - are reprehensible.

Both Magneto and Xavier have their followers, all taken from the sizeable library of X-Men superheros and supervillains, Xavier’s side being the eponymous X-Men. Key to Magneto’s plans are a pair of mutants - “Wolverine” (Hugh Jackman) who has the power of regeneration and no memory of his past, and Rogue (Anna Paquin), a teenage girl whose touch can be deadly. They accidentally meet up while drifting through Northern Canada and after being attacked by Magneto’s minions are rescued by two of the X-Men.

All the summary might make the plot seem quite complicated, yet while watching the movie it somehow seems a bit too lacking in detail. Apart from Wolverine, Rogue and Magneto we’re not really given much character development and there isn’t really all that much action, apart from the final confrontation. What we do see of the characters makes them look interesting and the existing plot is fine as far as it goes, but with a better plot this could have been an excellent movie rather than just a quite good one.

The quality of the acting is high, unsurprisingly veteran actors Stewart and McKellan produce excellent performances and the younger actors are equally good. Particularly notable is Jackman’s performance, a virtual unknown when he was called in as a late replacement for Dougray Scott he manages to produce a memorable character in Wolverine with plenty of attitude while still eliciting sympathy for the unfortunate situation he finds himself in.

One of the reasons “The Usual Suspects” was a hit was the quality of the dialogue and while X-Men doesn’t live up to the standards of Singer’s previous film, the dialogue is entertaining enough. There are also quite a few good jokes in the script – as well as a couple of really bad one-liners.

Special effects are suitably flashy, while not being over the top, and while the character’s appearances have been toned down from the comics they’re still distinctive. Direction is solid rather than spectacular and it all adds up to a good-looking movie.

In summary, this is quite a good movie, with some great performances although the script never lives up to the story’s potential. It is a good starting point for a franchise and the sequel turned out to be much better.

Rating : 7 / 10

DVD Review (Region 2)

The DVD has quite a reasonable selection of extras – most prominently a number of deleted scenes that can be incorporated into the film. Its a nice feature that more films could exploit, although the deleted scenes don't fit seamlessly into the movie. There's also a fairly standard complement of featurettes and trailers. Later on a second DVD edition - “X-Men 1.5” was released which had more special features.

DVD Rating : 7 / 10

Click here to buy the DVD (the X-Men 1.5 DVD which has more extras than the DVD I reviewed here).

All content ©2003 William Marnoch.

Comments? Agree/Disagree with the Reviews? Suggestions? Random Ramblings? Whatever you might want to say, feel free to e-mail me at william@wmarnoch.freeserve.co.uk .