Hey folks, Harry here again, with another geek reaction to the X-MEN film.... this time from long term AICN spy, Darth Siskel. He very very much approved of the film, but found the action a little lacking... this was the same problem my father had. However, El Cosmico and I didn't have that problem.... some of you will though... However, this film was constructed to be strong enough to not even need the action scenes... to me, what is here is dessert, and just watching a couple of the altercations... heh... you'll see. Here's Darth Siskel...
Harry,
I saw X-Men in New York City tonight and I am one happy comicbook fan. The movie was not perfect, but it was pretty damn good. Alot of people spewed goo over the trailers, but I thought they were very mediocre. Why ? Because the action in this movie isn't that impressive. It's the characters and the story that make it good. And the trailers couldn't convey that.
And they nailed most of the characters. Wolverine stole the show, but his interactions with Cyclops and Jean Grey were dead on. I was having flashbacks from X-Men issues I read back in 1983!!! I still don't like that they didn't make Wolverine his usual short self, but Hugh Jackman & Singer & the writers got everything else about him just right. Wolverine is flesh & blood onscreen and I am going back to see the movie a few times to again witness him pop his claws and kick some ass.
Cyclops seemed perfect, Prof X & Magneto as well. Rogue was great, and her and Wolverine are a great match. Jean Grey was great, even if she was 36, I just like Famke, and they pulled it off. Seeing the X Mansion, the Blackbird, all the young mutant pupils and cameos was just heaven. I had a big ol' Kool Aid smile for most of the movie. The villians were great as well. Sabertooth was reduced to a henchman, but he actually looked pretty beastly, and coupled with some growl sound effects, they pulled it off. Toad was fun, and Mystique kicked all ass. She was the best of the group. Her fight with Wolverine is one of the better ones.
The only X-Man I felt had nothing really to do in the movie was Storm. She was just a tag along character. Nobody's role was as big as Wolverine's, but I felt they all got ample time that touched on their characters. They all had a purpose in the movie, even if it was just for 30 secs. Storm had no love triangle, no conflict with her powers, nothing much at all.
Beyond her, I really loved this movie, but two things keep it from being perfect in my mind. One is, the action scenes. They were mostly acceptable, and some were really cool (Mystique rocks!), but others were very standard. Others were just way to brief! They were over before they began. Not that there were many to pick from, but unfortunatly, I thought the weakest fight was the Wolverine / Sabertooth battle on top of the Statue of Liberty. It seemed sloppy and uninspired. I can think of so many other movies that had better fights. The Matrix, Blade...the Superman II battle circa 1980 holds up alot better. BUT I am still able to love this X-Men movie, because it was just The X-Men. The comic has been brought to life, and in a serious way. Not like Captain A Fucking Merica, or Fantastic Four's one week production. This movie FINALLY brought to life a Marvel Comic !!
My only other beef with the X-Men movie is that IT WAS TOO DAMN SHORT !!!!! The movie was only about 1 1/2 hours! For the first movie, where all the introductions are made to not only the heroes, but the villians as well as the world they live in, this short a film was just dumb. Storm was the biggest loser, but all the other characters could've used some more development. There's 35 years of source material...alot of characterization that didn't get to be shown. And it being the X-Men, who in the comics get into a shit load of fights, we should've seen more action. More than just one mission maybe. Maybe a Danger Room training sequence. Something!!! ......because this movie was a joy to watch, and it definetly felt too short!! It was like a mini-movie. A great movie, but it seemed to be missing an act. But again, the movie was so succesful at bringing the X-Men to life, that I am damn happy, and I can just hope for a longer Special Edition DVD. And that James Cameron will do the sequel !
I am definatly going to see this again Friday and I'll be shelling out the $9.50. The crowd I saw it with today loved it, and I'm going to treat the next showing like a celebration. Just when it seemed nobody would ever make a good Marvel movie,.... SNIKT !!!
