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X-Men [2000]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

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


You see the numerous models and yet ...
Review date: 2008-09-24 Rating: 8 out of 10

The special effects are good. The characters are simple and varied enough to make us like that universe of monstrous mutants that look just like us but can turn into whatever they want. Welcome to Carrie, Christine, Firestarter, the Tommyknockers and many other Stephen King paranormal beings and situations. Of course, this film adds to that berserk universe a good old American wrapping but with a twist. The statue of liberty standing on its nice little island as the symbol of what it is called after and yet looking like a stiletto stabbing the sky and jutting out of a flat no man's seascape. The twist is in the fact that it is this very statue that is going to be the epicenter of the destruction of all the heads of states assembled at the United Nations for the general assembly of this world's forum. This American wrapping is the standard bigot position of a senator against mutants, against people who are different, who rejects them and kills them as fast as possible. And the twist is that this senator is kidnapped by the bad mutants, transmuted himself by them and then discarded to die in any odd place away from them. And before dying he is saved by the good mutants and he even comes to like them. Finally the main twist is that there are good mutants and in this film, temporarily, they win and save humanity from a cataclysm that would have destroyed both humanity and mutant-dom. Then the rest is not even sentimental episodes. It is pure action and mission and some fights, and a lot of visual special effects. That makes a nice entertaining film though on no matrix whatsoever except maybe the very very distant faraway relation to a certain Quasimodo in Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo: the ugly monster is the savior of the beautiful gypsy girl all the normal Parisians want to victimize and kill.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


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Reviews


To me, my X-Men
Review date: 2008-07-26 Rating: 6 out of 10

X-Men could have been a bit of a disaster, it had brand recognition amongst the core sci-fi and superhero fan sets but as a concept was relatively unknown to Joe Public. The director, Bryan Singer, was best known for low budget movies and ensemble character pieces and the cast was (at the time) pretty bargain basement. As it was though it all worked out rather well.

Based on Marvel's franchise about mutants born with an "x-factor" who struggle to protect a world that hates and fears them X-Men had plenty of scope. Adding to that the opportunity to use probably the finest comics character ever created (Magneto) there was also less pressure because, as stated previously, the public had few expectations. The film wisely opens with Magneto (in this case as a child being dragged into a concentration camp in WWII and manifesting his powers) then moves onto its other big player Wolverine. Fans of the comic books have often seen Wolvie develop a fatherly relationship with young female team mates and in this case they alter the character of Rogue to fit that part. Soon Wolverine and Rogue are saved from Magneto's henchmen (the Brotherhood of Mutants here... they dropped the cheesy Evil from the name) by the X-Men and battle is joined.

Cast wise you have Ian McKellan as Magneto and he is absolutely (unsurprisingly) brilliant in the role. Patrick Stewart brings his clipped tones and authority as Professor X but gets waylaid for half the movie (a recurring event in the series so far). Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen are decent in their parts- neither would ever win an oscar for this film but their chemistry as Wolverine and Jean Grey is clear. Halle Berry on the other hand has won an oscar but is her usual dire self in this film. Thankfully she doesn't have much to do here so she doesn't stink up the film like she would later in X3 but did anyone ever really think she was right for the part of the regal and authoritative Storm? The rest of the cast don't get a lot to do to be fair but no one is as bad as Halle.

The film is short and punchy with no wasted time, its a punchy action blockbuster script and has obviously been edited to be as tight as possible. Its not awash with special effects but the ones that are in there are all pretty good and haven't dated too badly. Its not a fantastic film really but its zipping about in the upper range of the 3 star mark and could even have been a 4 if it had just a little more substance... thankfully that would come with number 2.

Quality action
Review date: 2008-06-30 Rating: 8 out of 10

The opening shots depict a bleak concentration camp and a family being seperated. As the rain pours down and the parents are dragged off through the mud, a boy reaches out; his pain drawing the metal of the gates towards him until he is crudely beaten with the butt of a rifle and knocked senseless.

The beginning suggests that this film will take the exploration of discrimination of the x-men comics seriously and this is continued through Washington hearings as a senator whips up public support for the labelling of 'mutants'.

This is an action film that takes its subtext seriously; it develops slowly allowing actors time to structure their roles. It boasts a fine cast. Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen are heavyweight performers whose dignity and control give the film its integrity. Hugh Jackman is well-suited to the role of Wolverine, his initial rejection and isolation replaced by a gradual warmth.

The strength of this film is it allows itself to be driven by the characters who are never neglected for the sake of spectacular action. There are some impressive sequences, but I never found myself rejecting the world of the film and finding it difficult to accept.

ok
Review date: 2008-06-07 Rating: 4 out of 10

this is solid and watchable but a bit anticlimatic as the film never gets in to first gear

Great Comic Book Movie
Review date: 2007-10-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

As far as bringing comic books/games to the screen, this has to be the best so far. The filming, sound and acting are great. The only reason I feel I did not give it 5 stars is that I just finished watching "The Perfect Storm" the same day...and the acting does not compare... But if you like reading the X-men comic, you must have this film. The DVD gives you a lot of extras. And for a comic book, there is a very good story line. Wolverine's creation seems to need its own movie. Everyone else is born a mutant.... Of course the comic book as is the movie, is a statement on how the majority treats minorities they do not understand.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Hugh Jackman
Ian McKellen
Famke Janssen
James Marsden
Patrick Stewart

Creators:
Patrick Stewart (Primary Contributor)
Hugh Jackman (Primary Contributor)
Bryan Singer (Writer)
Avi Arad (Producer)
Bill Todman Jr. (Producer)
Joel Simon (Producer)
Kevin Feige (Producer)
David Hayter (Writer)
Tom DeSanto (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036004848
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2004-06-21
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 100 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2000-07-14
Language: English (Original Language)

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