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One of the cornerstones of the Marvel Comics franchise comes to the silver screen. Is it another Batman, or another Dick Tracy? Plot-wise, the X-Men - lead by philanthropic Professor Xavier (an adequate Patrick Stewart) try to defend a humanity bent on excluding and alienating mutants from the evil "Brotherhood of Mutants," lead by Magneto (Ian McKellen). Plenty of interaction between Xavier and Magneto keeps everyone's motivations in perspective: there are elements of humanity that really are out to make life hell for mutants, and Xavier's path is definitely the more difficult, albeit more noble one.
In most cases, the movie does a good job easing newcomers into the characters and their basic traits, with the notable exception of a very forced and largely uninspired rivalry between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Cyclops (James Marsden).
Notable among Magneto's largely one-dimensional bad guy crew is American model Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Mystique, a villainess of exquisite camouflage and few speaking lines. Her stunt double gets nearly all of the film's best action sequences as she leaps around, climbs pipes and walls, and kicks almost every other character in the face. At times, the movie resembles "Wolverine and Rogue: A Love Story" more than "X-Men the Movie," but there's enough heroism and action to keep things on track. However, for an action movie about some of the most powerful superheroes ever devised, our protagonists (with the exception of Wolverine) fight remarkably poorly. In one scene, Toad - one of the most bottom tier villains you could possibly imagine - nearly single-handedly defeats the entire X-Men crew.
Some devoted fans of the pulp X-Men may be a bit disappointed that Jean Grey's breasts (portrayed, along with the rest of her, by Goldeneye's Famke Janssen) are about one quarter the grossly distorted volume of their comic book counterparts. Really, the biggest surprise of this movie is that it's actually pretty good, and not the horribly overblown Hollywood disaster it could have been. Since both the end of the movie and the box office numbers scream "sequel", we'll undoubtedly see if they can keep it up.
Originally reviewed in issue 12
by Jason Compton.
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