Read Mixed User Reviews for X-Men

5

J-ShapAug 25, 2011

An interesting and well made comic book movie, with intelligent social commentary and decent action, but ultimately one that doesn't lead anywhere, and ends up feeling like it exists just to build to something we don't get to see (the sequel).

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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4

Delta_AssaultSep 28, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well, seeing as how we're starting to get more info these days about the new X-Men First Class film by Matthew Vaughn, I thought maybe it was time to look back and talk about the original X-Men film. First off, I wasn't all that taken with Ian McKellan as Magneto in the film. I mean yeah, the guy is a good actor, but he seemed far far too old for the role. That's just my own personal bias, I admit. But Ian McKellan looked nothing like that. And the thought of him and Mystique having any sort of romantic relationship was really bizarre, because of that age difference. Now, that's a Jim Lee picture of Magneto. Jim Lee does draw everyone as looking like Mr Universe, but it's an exaggerated appearance. That happens a lot in comic books. You can get somewhat close. Somewhere in the ballpark. There's no need to go off in the exact opposite direction. Bottom line... Magneto should've looked somewhat imposing. The guy's a big supervillain, and the main antagonist of the film. Ian McKellan did not look imposing. He looked like an old frail man who would break a hip if someone tripped him.

And the WWII origin is problematic. That is going to become less and less believable as time goes on, and WWII fades further back into the history books. It's just not going to be workable. Look at Iron Man, and what happened there. Tony Stark originally built his Iron Man suit to escape from the Viet Cong, for God's sake. Then Warren Ellis updated it to the war in Afghanistan in his excellent "Extremis" arc. It made sense and brought the character's origin back into relevant memory. They're gonna need to do something similar with Magneto, I'd wager. The origin itself is very good, and certainly provides motivation for the character, but the age is unfeasible as time goes on. In 20 or 30 years, they're still going to be making X-Men films of some sort. Are we going be getting 100+ year old Magnetos then? Deviating from the comics is fine, if it's done well and makes sense and just... improves on the comics. A great example is Venom from Spider-Man TAS. I think just about everybody who's a fan of comics is aware of this one. In the original comics, Spider-Man got the black symbiote suit from Secret Wars, some stupid crossover that probably made no sense and had cosmic beings doing weird stuff. I dunno. But in Spider-Man TAS, they wisely just had it come back from a space shuttle coming back from Mars. Sorta like the beginning of Species 2, now that I think about it. But yeah, it worked so much better as an origin. Even though the origin deviated, we still got Venom. He was still the Venom we knew and liked. He wasn't some old and sickly Venom that looked as thin as a twig.

Also, the film itself, made back in 2000, felt kinda lame. It seemed like there should've been more going on there. Everything felt cheap and budget-y. I guess because it was rather cheap and budget-y, as a film. But that harmed the experience while I was watching. For example... does anybody actually remember what Magneto's lair looked like? Any real notable characteristics? No? Yeah, I don't remember either. It was just this dark circular place, without any distinct identifiable features. It should tell you something.

Probably the lowest point in the film, in my eyes, was the scene right in the middle of the story when we're taken to Xavier's school for the gifted and there's a montage of mutants exercising. And there's this one rather goofy shot of Cyclops doing target practice with clay pigeons. That for me felt incredibly silly and almost campy. Here's this powerful X-man, the leader of the entire group, gifted with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and he's just shooting at clay pigeons with his visor. That's what we get to watch? This is how you show us the powers of these mutants? It was also just comical, watching him rapidly swiveling his head this way and that, shooting the pigeons out of the air. I dunno, it got to me. The whole scene felt like a really lame way to show off these uncanny X-men. There's nothing extraordinary about popping some clay pigeons. Instead of building up the power and wonder of this character, it just diminished him in my eyes. And yeah, there's fine control and accuracy involved, sure. That's all well and good. But did it have to look so damn unimpressive and ordinary? A Danger Room session would've shown the same sorta skill, but without horribly underwhelming the audience. These X-men are supposed to protect mutantkind from threats like gigantic Sentinels and what have you, and this is how they train? By shooting at some clay targets? Cmon.… Expand

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4

cameronmorewoodNov 12, 2012

This movie only exists because its sequels wouldn't make any sense without it.

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6

clem666Jan 21, 2021

To say the least, the X-Men franchise is off to a good start on the big screen. The characters are brilliantly introduced, without overdoing it, but still cultivating our interest in each of them. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is perfectlyTo say the least, the X-Men franchise is off to a good start on the big screen. The characters are brilliantly introduced, without overdoing it, but still cultivating our interest in each of them. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is perfectly highlighted and the character manages to be endearing despite his constantly frowned upon eyebrows. Some jokes hit the nail on the head, especially when Wolverine questions each mutant's silly nicknames. Yet other jokes may be ridiculous.

The scenario is correct. However, I can't help but think of a question that cruelly prevents me from believing in the film's universe: how did Cyclops (and the other mutants with such invasive powers) discover his power? Did he open his eyes one morning and atomize his room? What I mean by this is that the humans in X-Men take the existence of the mutants with a lot of calm and hindsight! Teenagers like Cyclops and Rogue have to grow up with deaths on their conscience, talk about a trauma!

Some of the protagonists, like Sabretooth and Storm are horrible and terribly hollow. Without doing any research about him, Sabretooth looks like a stupid and shallow werewolf who has absolutely no place in the X-Men universe. The whole conflict between Cyclop and Wolverine is boring, futile and childish at best, and contributes to making Cyclop seem like one of the most stupid protagonists in the story despite his truly interesting potential.

The overall pace is good, even though the missed scenes and flaws start to add up towards the end of the film. The ending (no spoil) is particularly sloppy, incoherent, full of ridiculous suspense, and is totally inconsistent with the rest of the film, which is full of interesting and original ideas.

The fight scenes are often badly filmed so that only a confused set of movements and diffuse sound effects of blows remains on the screen. The special effects very often seem to come from another era, at some points in the film more than others, but I forgive that since it was released in 2000. The Cerebro helmet especially seems to be made of plastic and simple aluminum.… Expand

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5

spadenxDec 1, 2011

It was ok. No where near as good as it could have been but it was worth sitting through and watching it. The acting was ok and it never really capitalizes on the cast's talents. The graphics and special effects are a bit too generic as well.