Missed a Chance

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2000)

One nice thing about this is the casting of McKellan and Stewart. Despite the latter's adventures with the stupid StarTrek, he is an intelligent actor, as is McKellan. They tower over the amateurs in this film as their characters should. About bad acting, can we be spared from Ms. Berry in the future?
The photography is overloaded on face supercloseups, and the tone is suitably dark. None of the sets thrill.
What's awkward about this attempt is how muddled all the conspiracies are. Thrown into the same blender are Nazi mass murder, Nazi experimentation, radioactive fallout, mind control, US war-time mutant experiments (to come more explicitly when we find out about Wolverine), religious righteousness in the Senate, one-world governments, the hidden x-men, and the evil mutants-who-are-sometimes-merely-mistaken. Are there supposed to be bad guys? What's the central struggle? There's not enough intelligence here to put shades on the real driver. It's paranoia in the comix, which are far more intelligent and nuanced than this film. How can that be?
The ultimate Marvel film should come from Dr Strange. Give it to Ridley Scott to direct, Kenneth Branagh as the Doctor. dark, intelligent, spooky, Kafkaesque.