Should be the biggest movie of the summer

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2000)

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It should satisfy the passive fan (me) and the fanatic. A note to said fanatics: if you want a truly pure adaptation of a comic this complex, you're talking about a five-hour film that costs 200 million dollars or more. The filmmakers have retained the most vital aspect of the comic: its spirit.
Going in I was concerned that, with so many complex characters to introduce and get to know, the film's creators would have trouble fitting it all in and not sacrifice story. Fortunately, Bryan Singer and writer David Hayter understood that, even though this is a team of super heroes, there would need to be a central character or two that are the story's focus. Even better, they choose perhaps the two most interesting X-Men to build the story around: Wolverine and Rogue.
It's no wonder that Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine, is one of the most popular characters ever drawn in a comic book. For one thing, the foot-long claws made of an indestructible metal (called adamantium) that shoot out of his knuckles (SNIKT!) that he has trouble controlling at times. Along with the claws, his entire skeleton is laced with the same adamantium. Much of his life is a mystery to him--he doesn't remember how the metal got there, nor even where or when he was born. And I haven't even gotten to what his real super power is: he heals really fast (but still feels pain) and has the heightened senses and reflexes of a wild animal. For my money, perhaps the coolest comic book character ever created. Like the other mutants of the X-Men, his powers are both a blessing and a curse. The claws and metal-laced bones come in handy when he gets into a tussle, but they also leave him at the mercy of the X-Men's archenemy Magneto, who controls all metals.
In the film, Rogue (Anna Paquin), a teen who has just discovered that she is a mutant, runs away from home and ends up in western Canada, where she comes across Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). This struck me as a huge coincidence, the kind that only a movie can get away with. But then it occurred to me that Professor X (played by Patrick Stewart), the X-Men's leader, may have placed a hypnotic suggestion in Rogue's mind to go to the Canadian Rockies, to the exact town Wolverine was in. I figure this because, in the film's first big action sequence, the two of them run across some bad mutants, Sabretooth and Toad, and are rescued by two of Professor X's students, Cyclops (James Marsden) and Storm (Halle Berry). I suppose the writer thought we'd figure all this out for ourselves. While all the other mutants in Charles Xavier's school have powers that are useful, Rogue's seem at first only a curse: any person she touches, she absorbs their life force, plus their personality traits and super powers, if any. This leaves the person she touches weakened and, depending on how long the contact lasts, comatose or dead. The prospect of a life without the possibility of real human contact is unimaginable, especially for a teenager.
As the story progresses, we find out that Magneto has plans for Rogue. Wolverine adopts her as sort of a big brother and swears to protect her. He has every reason to fear Magneto, but bravely faces up to him anyway ("Who laced your bones with that wonderful metal?" Magneto's question to Logan, is one of the weirdest lines you're likely to hear in a movie all year). Logan/Wolverine also finds himself siding with Magneto in a way, seeing that humanity is getting ready to wage war on their kind. This is consistent with the comic, and makes Logan difficult for the rest of the team to trust. Magneto (Ian McKellan-perfect casting), is in the process of recruiting mutants to join him in his planned counter-offensive against the rest of humanity. Driving the political steamroller against the mutants is U.S. Senator Robert Kelly, who believes, among other things, that mutant teens should be banned from public schools because they can be considered lethal weapons (a very timely issue to introduce). It's hard not to empathize with Magneto's view: he's seen what happens when a government turns against an entire race, having survived a Polish concentration camp in WWII (illustrated in the film's gripping opening scene). All signs point to a witch-hunt aimed at the mutants and he's not going to stand around and watch it happen. His plan doesn't even involve killing. He's not out for world domination, but merely wishes to change people's thinking. Xavier knows that bloodshed is inevitable, however, given Magneto's 'By Any Means Necessary' position.
The film's not perfect. It's based on a comic, so it has to be campy at times. There's also a few story flaws. For instance, when Rogue runs away from Xavier's school for the gifted, Xavier needs to use a machine that enhances his psychic powers, called 'Cerebro,' to locate her, even though she's only a few blocks away at the train station. Cyclops and Storm are sent to find her and are again confronted with Sabretooth and Toad (a minor character in the comic, but causes major trouble for the X-Men here). Then Xavier gets the police involved, using them only as a shield and endangering their lives as a result. I'm pleased with this scene because it's almost as if the police aren't even there, just like the comic would do. The only scene where Xavier and Magneto really do battle, it's one of the film's best and most imaginative. Then Mystique, another Magneto loyalist, flies in and picks Magneto and company up in a helicopter. Why would a guy as powerful as Magneto need to escape in a helicopter? There's also a brief ode to "Star Wars," seemingly for the benefit of those who actually liked "Episode I," in which Ray Park, who plays Toad, strikes a Darth Maul pose. Tacky and unnecessary.
Like the comic, Professor Xavier's team is still a work-in-progress, still learning how to work together and to use their own super powers. This vulnerability creates jeopardy and gives the franchise somewhere to go: over the course of the series (there will be several of these films, I'm sure), they'll master their powers and teach newcomers how to use theirs. The final scenes leave the door open for the inevitable next chapter, for which I will wait with bated breath.
Grade: B