Much Better Than Expected

Rating: 8/10 (16 July 2000)

My biggest concern with the film was that it would either be a Matrix clone or a camp version of the comic. Financially speaking, the former would make sense, and the characters do lend themselves to a simple, blast-em' up effects show. Fortunately for us, Bryan Singer and his writers (9+ at last count) have made a film that dares to be intelligent and character driven in a field of summer low-intelligence crap. As a long time X-men fan, I was greatly impressed with what the filmmakers have accomplished. From its opening shots of a Polish holocaust camp, you know you're not in for one of the Joel Schumacher directed Batman crap-o-ramas that would seem to the only way a comic book movie can be made these days. Rogue's entrance is handled with extreme seriousness, and Anna Paquin's terror at her first use of her powers is believable and connects the audience with her immediately. Wolverine's appearance is also memorable, with Hugh Jackman's silhouetted head gulping a beer down right before beating the you-know-what out of a Canadian trucker. The only problem with Wolverine's introduction is that, after being told to get out of the bar, he leaves his beer behind. Logan would never do that. There are a few plot problems, which probably could have been fixed with a few lines about how the X-Men's inexperience leads them to lose their fights at the start, and how Magneto seems to be sheltering those mutants whose outward appearance would never be accepted by humanity (hopefully, in the sequel, they'll add Nightcrawler to the X-Men roster to counter that). Sure, there aren't as many fight scenes as we might want, and that probably has more to do with budgetary concerns than lack of ideas. But what's left is a well-photographed, intelligent statement about intolerance that sits underneath one of the best comic book plots done on film. Hopefully, the success of the film will allow more money for the budget, and a little more action. That said, I also hope they don't give up the intelligence of the series for a simple series of action scenes. It's a great start, much better than we could have hoped for, but I think it may ultimately alienate mainstream audiences who go into the film expecting explosions and getting Magneto in a Holocaust camp at the beginning of the film and quoting Malcolm X at the end. Now let's see about adding a little more action into the mix. And where the heck was Colossus?