Very good comic book movie

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2000)

One of the never-ending debates about popular culture is whether it reflects the times or dictates them. I tend toward the former view, and comic books are no exceptions to this rule. Batman and Superman, the popular comic book heroes of the 30's and 40's, came during the Depression and WWII, where people wanted larger-than-life heroes to look up to. Whereas in the 60's and 70's, when society was becoming ripped apart and people were feeling confused and didn't trust society, comic book heroes like Spiderman and The Fantastic Four, who had as many everyday problems as they did evil ones, were the popular heroes. Square in that tradition are the X-Men.
I was only a casual reader of the comics when I grew up; it was more the excellent animated series of several years back I became a fan of. It was on late at night, and the times shifted around so I couldn't always watch, but I enjoyed watching the adventures of Professor X, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, and the others, and how they struggled to find their place in the world and to help other mutants do the same. Now, director Bryan Singer and a host of writers(in addition to credited writers Singer, Tom DeSanto, and David Hayter, writers including John Logan, Christopher McQuarrie, Ed Solomon, and Joss Whedon took a whack at it) have delivered their version of X-MEN, and I'm pleased to say it delivers.
One of the reasons it works is Singer, his usual director of photography, Newton Thomas Sigel, and production designer John Myhre eschew the usual look of comic book films. Even though this is set in the future(the "near future"), everything looks close to like it is today(except, of course, Magneto's hideout and Professor Xavier's school). This emphasizes even more the alienation mutants feel from society. And while there are visual effects used in both the battles and when the X-Men show their stuff(especially Mystique), they don't come at the expense of the story, but serve it.
Some have complained the film is overly serious, as if being a comic book automatically meant it wasn't worth taking seriously. Yes, Singer is making parallels to bigotry today, with some direct antecedents(the anti-mutant Senator Robert Kelly is clearly modeled on Joe McCarthy, Magneto is a Holocaust survivor, and he quotes Malcolm X near the end - "by any means necessary" - which also suggests Professor Xavier is parallel to Martin Luther King), but they're handled well, and not overplayed. It's also refreshing to see how little melodrama creeps in(SPOILER ALERT: When Professor Xavier becomes bedridden and the rest of the X-Men must carry on without him, it's good to see he doesn't suddenly come back just in time to save the day. END SPOILER ALERT). And to those who suggest the movie is without humor, there are jokes both visual(I don't know the characters, but at the school, one boy makes a fireball, and another sneaks up behind him and turns it into ice. Also, Wolverine's version of flipping someone the bird) and through dialogue(when Wolverine puts down the costumes everyone's wearing, Cyclops shoots back, "Would you prefer yellow spandex?").
One criticism of comic book movies has generally been that they spend too much time trying to explain things to people who don't know anything about them, all at the expense of the story. That's certainly a valid point, but the stories of Wolverine and Rogue(though admittedly hers is supposedly changed radically from the source) are a good way of getting into the story, and Magneto's short past is necessary to show while he is a villain, he's not your standard one. And the stories of Wolverine and Rogue provide an emotional counterpoint to the information disseminated about the X-Men(the fact that Patrick Stewart is handling the exposition keeps these scenes from bogging down).
Which leads to the performances. In order for this to work, you need actors with tremendous presence and authority to play Professor Xavier and Magneto, and someone who can fully handle the complexity of Wolverine, and this is where the film truly scores. Stewart and Ian McKellen are terrific in their roles, both resisting the urge to camp it up(the fact that they sound alike also illustrates how the characters are two sides of the same coin), and especially play well together. And while I had wanted Russell Crowe(the first name mentioned during casting talks) for Wolverine, newcomer Hugh Jackman does quite well, capturing all the feelings Wolverine feels, plus having a great physical presence. And he also does a great job working with all the other actors, and acting with his face(SPOILER ALERT: especially in the scene when he rescues Rogue near the end. END SPOILER ALERT)
The rest of the cast is more of a mixed bag. On the minus side, Tyler Mane has very little to do as Sabretooth, though Magneto and Mystique are the main villains here anyway. Halle Berry has a great physical presence as Storm, her battle scenes come off well, and she's quietly powerful in her one dramatic scene with Senator Kelly, but her African accent(Storm, of course, lived there much of her life) is wayward, and she gets stuck with some awkward dialogue(her scene with Wolverine). And while James Marsden is appropriately cocky as Cyclops, and spars well with Wolverine, isn't quite convincing as a leader, in his one dramatic scene(with Professor Xavier), he's wooden rather than moving, and he and Jean Gray don't have much chemistry(in fairness, that was probably among the footage cut out after previews). On the plus side, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos only has one line of dialogue, but she's quite a presence as Mystique; she's a visual effect all to herself. And unlike the tiresome face-swapping of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2, her shape-shifting never becomes tiresome, because it's always used right, for terror or a joke. Ray Park also makes a good presence as Toad, and contributes some humor as well. Bruce Davison doesn't overplay as Kelly, but brings the right amount of edge. Famke Jannsen brings quiet strength to Jean Gray, and her scenes with Wolverine sparkle(especially when she looks into his mind). Finally, while some have complained that Rogue is too passive a character, I would argue it's appropriate for this conception; she doesn't use her power in fights because she hasn't learned to control it, and is afraid to use it. And Anna Paquin captures this emotional confusion well, especially with her scenes with Wolverine(along with McKellen and Stewart, Jackman and Paquin are the best pair in the film).
Overall, this was quite a good effort, and while I'm normally leery of sequels, the same people are back for the second film, so I'm looking forward to it.