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Hello. I'm Darren James Seeley, also known as 'darrenlives' on AOL and 'cruelmessenger' on Yahoo, Lycos, and other places.

    This is a pic page (and commentary) of The X-Men movie that was released by Twentieth Century Fox in July of 2000. Click on image to view larger pic.

         
 One of the best science fiction films to come out in recent years was “X-Men”, which was based on the Marvel Comic book of the same name. What sets this film apart from most other comic book adaptations was not that it had a big budget (it did), nor to the notion that it had well done special effects. It had good acting from a an ensemble cast, and Byran Singer’s direction was on target. But...that wasn’t the main reason why the film jelled with audiences, begging for more.

 
“X-Men” -along with the same year’s “Gladiator”- captured a sense of classic Hollywood, a storyline that is rooted in myth, legend, literture and pop culture. We have heroes to root for and cheer on; we get villians to hiss at. “X-Men” also brung back something that had been missing from most comics to film adaptations- a sense of imagination. Since this is an adaptation and there are decades of “X” lore to sort out, some comics fans would know that Wolverine has a past with Sabretooth (who could be a relative) , that Logan /Wolverine was known as Weapon X, and someone somewhere conducted wired expieriments on him. The film only touches on it briefly via flashbacks when Jean Grey connects with him telepatically. There are slight hints that Logan may have been around for more than a few decades-because of his healing mutant ability and his adiantium steel covered skeleton-Magneto may have known him at some point. It is extremely possible that more of this will come to light in the sequel (well of course there’s going to be one!) .
       The film also serves as an “X-Men” crash course. If you never read the comic book, if you didn’t even see that Fox TV film “Generation X” many years ago, if you knew zilch, zippo and were completely taken unaware, the film does a great job in getting people up to speed and familiar with who’s who. This is one of the film’s biggest strengths. You did not need to be a sci fi or comics fan to enjoy this film.
      As for the sequel, there is rumor Beast might appear as will the mutant hunting robots called the Sentinels. If that is true, then I hope “XM2” will run two hours max and not the former films ninety six minutes. Will there be any “new” X Men showing up other than the possibilty of Beast? If they do have Sentinels, I...don’t think so. I do think lesser characters from the first film will possibly return, like Iceman a.k.a. Bobby, Kitty Pride (the girl walking through walls) , Pyro-”John Dollaryce” switching to Magneto’s camp, and, the first X Men character to appear in both a TV movie (the aforementioned “Gen X”) and the feature film, Jubilee. In the DVD special edition, Jubilation Lee actually has lines. She is answering a question regarding a history lesson, about the Roman Emporer Constintine converting to Christianity and helping to start the Catholic Church. This extra scene is nice, I wished in would have been an 'actual' part of the film, in fact, ALL the deleted scenes should have made the theatrical cut, but didn't. I can’t recall what actress played her in the TV film, but in the feature, the part is played by Katrina Florence. I have looked up and down the net for info on this actress. When the film came out, a lot of people did not know Jubilee was in the film-despite a credited role and a movie still (which is here) where you can clearly see the character in the background behind Anna Paquin’s Rouge. As far as characters I’d like to see in the follow up? The villian Juggernaut comes to mind, as well as Magneto’s siblings Pietro and Wanda (aka Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch).

There is another reason for the success of “X-Men”- sex. I’m sure many single mothers took the kids to see ‘X-Men’, and expected to act intrested. Oh, look, the villian as a youth destroying a fence. Oh look, Anna Paquin nearly killing a boy with a kiss. Oh, look. A cage match featuring the Wolv- “Hey” says the single mom, “Who is the guy with his shirt off?” “Wolverine” says her kid.
                  Yes, there is sex appeal to women-some even like James Mardsen (like my friend Christine from New Orleans) and for the guys? Are you kidding? A blue skinned Mystique (Rebbecca Romaijn Stamos) is a nice start, and Halle Berry’s outfits and exposed cleavage helps. And then there’s Famke Janssen, (my favorite) from “GoldenEye” and “Rounders”. And everyone dresses in black leather, the fabric of choice for Marvel comic heroes -from Dolph Lundgren in “The Punisher” to Wesley Snipes in “Blade”. I also have just named the other two good Marvel Comic to film flicks (although the former ...hey, let’s just say someone should have listened to Boaz Yakin, who wanted the skull on Lundgren’s leather jacket or mesh shirt. But, on the other hand, if Robert Kamen didn’t tick off Yakin, would Yakin have run off to Paris, come back as a director in Hollywood, helming “Fresh” and “Rerember The Titans”?...) “X-Men” also had a bonus: drawing in fans of both “Star Trek” by casting Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier, pleasing comics fans- and “Star Wars” by casting upcoming action star Ray Park ,who was Darth Maul in SW:Ep 1... as Toad, a henchman of Magneto’s. (also, Jannsen also had a guest spot on ST:TNG ,”The Perfect Mate”) . But the casting coup was with newcomer Hugh Jackman, who was a last minute replacement for actor Dougray Scott, who was in the “Mission Impossible” sequel. Jackman, had the bigger role of the enseble-as Wolverine. “X-Men” and his protrayal of the popular Marvel hero, made him a “star”. Although I don’t know if his casting in the cyber actioner “Swordfish” helped. I thought he was good in that film, even if the storyline was flimsy, John Travolta reliving “Broken Arrow” territory and-his “X” co star Berry having a four second show and tell. I still think Hugh will be a big star. In closing, I would like to personally lobby to work on the set of “X Men2”, Bryan Singer’s “Battlestar Galactica” pilot or Kirk Wong’s “Iron Fist”. While I am into the fine art of film study, screenwriting and storyboards, I, too, would like to work on the crew on one of these fine projects. I’ll take key grip, gaffer, coffee fetcher, all the above, um... part of the camera crew, part of the editing team...would like to write the “Mobius” script... (here is where the author of this page goes off into a think tank like babble....just enjoy the photos...)