Story by Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer, Screenplay by David Hayter. Directed by Bryan Singer. Released: July 24th, 2000.
My Rating: *****
Plot
The movie opens with a look at a concentration camp in 1944. A boy is being seperated from his parents.
In desperation, he begins to twist a gate. He continues to until he's knocked unconcious by a guard. This is
our first look at Eric, who will later become Magneto.
Next, we meet a young girl, in the near future, who kisses her boyfriend. He convulses and ends up in a coma for
three weeks. Her touch can be deadly. The scene then moves to the Canadian wilderness and a seedy bar. A man,
named Wolverine. He's fighting for money in a cage. The girl we met earlier has hitchhiked from her home in the American
Midwest. After the fight, she stows away in Wolverine's truck. He finds her, and they continue down the road.
Her name, she tells him, is Rogue. His real name is Logan. He's scruffy, too much hair, and he has razor claws that come out of
his hands.
Suddenly, a large tree slams into the road, blocking the way. The truck crashes, and Logan is thrown from the truck. Rogue is sure he's dead.
But, he gets up, and his cuts are healing way too quickly. Then, a large blur crashes down. Another mutant. A fight insues, and the pair is rescued
by a pair of costumed mutants.
They're brought to New York to a mansion owned by Charles Xavier. The place is populated by mutants and a re taught in a school atmosphere.
They are safe from the public, a generally mutant hating majority. It also houses a team known as the X-Men. They help fight against Magneto and his band of
mutants. Magneto is planning something big, and Xavier thinks Logan is key to it.
However, Xavier is wrong. Its Rogue and her ability to 'borrow' other mutants powers that is key. She's captured, Xavier is crippled, and a mutant hating senator is killed
before Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, and Logan get their act together and stop Magneto. The final battles between the X-Men and the Brotherhood are amazing. Mystique and
Logan go at it, while Toad keeps the others busy.
In the end, Wolverine 'lends' his healing power to Rogue and saves the day.
My Comments
The best movie of the summer. As a fan of the comic book (not rabid, but familiar with it), I was skeptical at first. But, they didn't fuck it up. Its a faithful adaptation of the
best-selling comic book of all time. The characterizations are dead on, especially Wolverine. And could they have cast Xavier any better? I mean, Patrick Stewart.
Of course, I'm obsessed with Famke Janssen, so I was captivated by every scene with her in it.
The effects were top-notch. The plot was all there. The pacing was excellent. And the exposition wasn't that cheesy. And they left out Gambit. I hate that guy.
The video and DVD versions of it included extra footage, though not inserted into the movie. It broadened the Rogue, Xavier/Jean, and Love Triangle story arcs. It
would have been nice to see these scenes in their places, but we can't always have what we want. Despite what some critics say, I loved this movie. It had enough of everything.
And I can't wait for the sequel.
X2: X-Men United
Additional Cast
Nightcrawler: Alan Cumming
Stryker: Brian Cox
Deathstryke: Kelly Hu
Pyro: Aaron Stanford
Senator Kelly: Bruce Davison
Written by: Zak Penn, David Hayter, and Bryan Singer. Screenplay by: Micheal Daugherty, Dan Harris & David Hayter. Directed by: Bryan Singer. Released: May 2, 2003.
My Rating: *****. Position on Top Twenty: #6.
Plot
In a direct continuation of the blockbuster 2000 film, Wolverine is seen checking out the base at Alkali Lake in the Candian rockies, but finds nothing. Then, we cut to Nightcrawler Almost killing the president. That is a very cool scene.
The story progresses to a William Stryker getting approval to attack the Xavier Mansion, claiming that it is a training ground for mutant warriors. A reformed Senator Kelly (or Mystique in disguise) attempts to stop it, but to no avail. Before the attack, we learn the Stryker is controlling Magneto and other mutants for his own nefarious purposes.
The attack happens suddenly, and is basically stopped by Wolverine and some of the older mutants (Colossus included, very cool). Jean, Cyclops and Storm are away looking for Nightcrawler, so they don't get captured. Professor X does.
Mystique, looking very much like Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, manipulates one of Magneto's guards in a way that affords the imprisoned mutant an interesting way of breaking out his prison. Then, they make contact with our good guys. They let them know what Stryker is up to: he's going to use Xavier to kill all mutants. They unite and attempt to stop him.
This all leads to us learning that Wolverine was once an employee and guinea pig for Stryker. In a huge finale, Storm and Nightcrawler save the Professor, Pyro joins a fleeing Magneto and and Mystique, and Jean Grey dies, but leaves a strange golden bird outline.....
My Thoughts
Incredible. Best movie of the summer. So much plot, intricatly woven together with ease by Singer. Every character is fleshed out so well by both the director and the actors. Each one seems to have an actual passion for these characters. The story is, of course, a dirivitive of several comic books, and Singer has proved that he loves the source material as much as the fans.
Wolverine, as the central character, of course gets the lion's share of attention, but the other characters are three dimensional. The interplay between Logan & Jean, Logan & Stryker, and of course, Magneto & Xavier, are priceless.
Of course, with a cast this size, several characters get ignored. This includes Storm, Cyclops, Xavier, and even Jean Grey. Of these, I'm only really dissapointed about seeing less of Jean Grey, but that's only because I'm obsessed with Famke Janssen.
Overall, this has been the best movie of the summer thus far. I have not been dissapointed by this one.
X-Men: The Last Stand
Additional Cast
Beast: Kelsey Grammer
Shadowcat: Ellen Page
Colossus: Daniel Cudmore
Pyro: Aaron Stanford
Juggernaut: Vinnie Jones
Angel: Ben Foster
Written by: Simon Kinberg & Zak Penn. Directed by: Brett Ratner. Released: May 26, 2006. My rating: **** 1/2.
Plot
After a 'cure' for mutations is found, both the X-Men and the fugitive Brotherhood of Mutants are interested in finding it. Cyclops, distraught after Jean's apparant death, returns to Alkali Lake. A presence claiming to be Jean appears, and that's all she wrote for Cyclops. Logan and Storm follow, and find Jean, unconscious, and Cyclops is nowhere to be found. They take Jean back to the mansion, and we learn that Jean was a telepath more powerful than Xavier, and in order to save herself, the professor blocked parts of her brain off. After her accident, the block fell, and the resulting personality is the Pheonix. She's not too keen on staying locked up, so she goes back to where she grew up.
Mageneto, recruiting for his upcoming war, and having lost Mystique to the 'cure', meets Xavier at Jean's childhood home. The confrontation is tense. Logan and Storm are backing up Xavier, Juggernaut, and Pyro are backing up Magneto. In the house, Xavier and Jean battle it out, and Xavier pays the price. Spent, Jean goes with Magneto, to apparantly join the Brotherhood.
As the government begins to implement the cure, the Brotherhood begins an assualt on the Alcatraz, now converted to a research facility, and the place where the cure comes from. After finding this out, Logan, Beast, Storm, Iceman, Shadowcat and Colossus join the human forces to stop them. Magneto uses most of his mutants as cannon fodder, sending Juggernaut into the facility to retreive the source of the cure. Using teamwork, the X-Men get Magneto shot full of the 'cure'. Pheonix is about to wipe out all the humans with her incredible power, and the only one who can stop her is Logan. He fights her off, and has to kill her.
After a tearful funeral for the fallen X-Men, Cyclops, Jean and Xavier, we see Magneto playing chess. And he manages to make the metal pieces move without touching them......
My Thoughts
I'm sick of the haters out there. I'm a huge fan of the series, and there are a lot of reasons to hate this film. Its too short, it kills off characters at will, and the detestable Brett Ratner is helming it instead of Bryan Singer. Overcoming that, however, was an entertaining film. I wish they had stretched it a little and developed characters like Beast, Juggernaut, Calisto and even Pheonix a little bit more. They did however, use the Rogue/Bobby/Kitty Pryde love triangle pretty well, even driving Rogue to give up her powers. The early demise of Cyclops was shocking, as was the demise of Xavier. Losing Cyclops , I think, was to open the door for Logan/Jean and keep only one triangle going.
As the reports for this film came in prior to the release, I was feeling pretty upset about it. There looked to be no plot and way too many mutants. And Kelsey Grammer as Beast? Well, the second point still stands, but I retract the other two. There was a good plot, good development, and it flowed pretty logically. Grammer did one hell of a job as Beast, but I would have liked to have seen a little more background development. He just kind of showed up, but he was used pretty well.
I'm still not a Ratner fan, but he did all right here. It wasn't as good as the other two films, but it did satisfy me as a fan. I'm pretty emotionally invested in the characters, so I got roped in pretty early. Go see it if you haven't, and see it again if you did and didn't like it. I bet you'll change your mind.
