Singer's X movies bring about great debate among the fan community. There are those that think the stories and characters deviate too far away from the source material, and those that can over look a few deviations and see the essence of the characters remain intact and look at the movie for what it is without constant comparison to the comic on which its based(its probably obvious which category I fall into!). But I'm going to try to leave that side of it out of this and just review the movie.
X-Men was slated for the big screen treatment as far aback as 1989 with James Cameron! When 20th Century Fox acquired the rights, the script was passed along to various writers, went through changes and rewrites before settling with David Hayter, with Bryan Singer signing on to direct. Early drafts saw the original team from the comics, some had the existing movie team but with the addition of Beast and Angel, but after budgetary concerns it was brought back down to Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm and Rogue with Professor Xavier.
I'm not going to delve too much into the plot, after all if anyone visiting this site hasn't seen X-Men I would be worried! Needless to say it primarily focuses on Wolverine(was it ever going to be anyone else?) as he joins up with Xavier and his X-Men in an attempt to stop Magneto and hopefully piece together his past. In the movie, Rogue is also an outsider, coming to terms with her powers as she hooks up with Wolverine and the X-Men. This is seen as the biggest departure from the source material by fans since she is also stripped of many of her powers, but in reality, Rogues early life before the X-Men is not that much different in the comic. In both cases she starts off with only her Leech like ability..its not until she drains the original Ms Marvel of all of her powers that she develops her flight and super strength. Its not the only deviation of course..they also don't wear the brightly colored costumes from the comic..shock horror!;) Ah no, there are liberties taken no doubt. But are they such liberties as to ruin any good work done by the film as a whole? I don't think so. The cast (aside from Halle Berry) are all excellent. Hugh Jackman in the role that made his name is a great Wolverine. Sure he's a bit too tall and not as vicious as he could be..but in a PG13 movie what the Hell are you gonna do? James Marsten also makes a good Cyk, although he does suffer from an at times pretty dodgey script(more on that later.) Anna Paquin makes Rogue a less sassy..but likable damsel for Wolverine to protect. Famke Jannson doesn't get near enough recognition for the great job she does as Jean either. And what can you say about Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen? They infuse the movie with class and mirror perfectly the men that they were originally written to represent, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Both want peace, but one is willing to use violence to achieve it. This brings me to another big fan gripe. Some feel that Singer and Hayter were too concerned with showcasing the themes behind the creation of the X-Men(racism, bigotry, alienation) and thus scrimped on the action. Its true from one perspective, the film could certainly use a few more set pieces..but how on earth can you pay too much attention to the reason something was created in the first place? You can't. The movie succeeds for the same reason the comics did. Its thought provoking. Its great to see Wolverine slice n dice, but without a brain behind the brawn its pointless.
Now the bad stuff. Like I mentioned, the script is an issue. Some characters get great lines..some get howlers!(Storm's "Do you know what happens to a Toad when its struck by lightening" line is infamous). The film is fine up until the end point and then the howlers get more frequent. It doesn't get to the point of eye rolling but its shoddy nonetheless. Sabertooth is also useless in this. Say what you want about the treatment of the other characters but at least they weren't made mute! The articulate and savagely intelligent villain from the comic is put on screen as a wrestler with a bad wig. In hindsight, as good as X-Men is, its really more an introduction to a sequel than a fully accomplished movie on its own. If they added another half an hour and ironed out the ending it would stand up beside X2 as a truly great CBM...with or without the yellow spandex.
