Can you believe it's really been ten years since the first "X-Men" movie came onto the silver screen? I still remember standing outside, waiting in line, to see the premiere of Marvel's famous mutant team at my local movie theater. In the past decade, we've had four "X-Men" films, and only two of them are considered by most fans to be watchable. I consider this to be one of those two. Unlike most, I consider this to be the best of all of the "X-Men" films, even more so than "X2," which many feel is the superior of the two.
Now hear me out when I say this: "X2" was big on effects, it had more mutants (Nightcrawler!), it was a longer movie, and a lot more action sequences. However, I feel the original film is better because it had an easier-to-follow plot, wasn't over-crowded with characters, and didn't have its cool cliffhanger ending ruined by being followed up in a horrible, HORRIBLE third installment. Also, I prefer the music by Michael Kamen here over John Ottman's "X2" score. John Ottman's music was "Fantastic Four" before he did the score for the "Fantastic Four" film. It wasn't bad; at times it sounded outer space like, epic and very heroic. But that score was a mismatch for me. These are mutants: people that are feared and hated. It's not like "Superman," which, coincidentally, Ottman would also do that film score. The music shouldn't sound too heroic or too epic. Unlike Ottman, Kamen's music could be heroic and exciting for the fight scenes, but it was also a lot softer and worked better for the more emotional scenes like when Logan saves Rogue's life at the Statue of Liberty.
Here's what I feel are the pros about this movie.
#1.) THE CAST. I can't say just how good these guys really are. Patrick Stewart is rightfully and perfectly cast as Professor Charles Xavier, the X-Men's founder. Xavier may be a little under-developed at times, but his scenes, especially with Wolverine and Magneto, make for great moments in the film. Anna Paquin may not have been the first choice for the X-Men's resident buxom Southern belle, Rogue, but I think she does a VERY good job here. Even if the last half of the movie means the X-Men have to rescue her from Magneto's clutches. Ian McKellen also does a good job as Magneto, even if he doesn't have some of the Master of Magnetism's other abilities like creating force fields. Halle Berry gets an under-developed role as Storm, but still gets some great scenes such as frying Sabretooth with a lightning bolt at the train station. Unlike "X2," she even has a Kenyan accent. I'll forgive her infamous "joke" line she makes before she fries Toad. Famke Janssen also does a fantastic job as Jean Grey, even if she is a doctor in this unlike her comic counterpart. Janssen's scenes with boyfriend Cyclops and new teammate Logan, while minimal, are great fun to watch. Next, we move on to my favorite X-Man, Cyclops. At first, I was worried that a young unknown actor like James Marsden had gotten the role. After seeing his portrayal, I honestly couldn't think of a better actor. Sure, Cyclops' is more of a supporting role than a lead, which is pretty darn weird considering he's the LEADER of the X-Men team! Still, his tender moments with Jean, his rivalry with Logan, and moments with his mentor Professor Xavier are again all too brief, but they're superb. Of course, the main reason to watch is Hugh Jackman's turn as Logan/Wolverine. Like every other comic fan in the world, I was nervous as heck wondering how an unknown actor could've landed the role of the X-Men's most popular team member. When I saw the film, all fears were quickly forgotten. Jackman OWNS the role and this movie. He gets two of the best fights of the movie with Mystique and Sabretooth. He has a great surrogate father relationship with Rogue, and he gets the best jokes. Tell me you didn't laugh at the comeback line he makes when Cyclops tells him to prove he's the real McCoy and not Mystique. Go on, I dare you. Rebecca Romijn does a good job as the sneaky shapeshifter Mystique and gets the best fight scene of the film with Wolverine in the Statue of Liberty. Sure, her role is expanded upon and she gets a better, more developed role in "X2", as well as more than one line of dialogue. Even so, she's just as effective here as in the sequel. Tyler Mane also does a great job as Sabretooth, even if he lacked the taunting, creepy behavior of his comic counterpart. Aside from like seven or eight lines total (most of which were when he was being mind-controlled), he was basically mute. But I still believe he was a better fit for tossing Hugh Jackman's Wolverine around like a rag doll than Live Schreiber ever could be. Ray Park even makes Toad somewhat bearable as Toad with his Darth Maul-style acrobatics. Honestly, who would've thought they'd make Toad cool?
#2.) THE STORY. Sure, it wasn't what we expected to see in an "X-Men" movie. At all. I mean, who would've expected to see a story where the main villain was trying to turn normal humans into mutants with a gigantic machine? I liked how everything was set up, how everyone was introduced, and how we only had a handful of characters to follow. We even got a step-by-step explanation by Charles Xavier to Logan about his school, its history, and why there are X-Men. There were a lot of nice Easter eggs in here, from Kitty Pryde phasing through Xavier's classroom door to Bobby Drake and John Allerdyce using their powers in class for the affections of new classmate Rogue. Heck, we even got Henry Gyrich as the aide to Bruce Davison's mutant-hating Senator Robert Kelly! Well, it was actually Mystique, but there WAS a Henry Gyrich before Sabretooth got a hold of him and Mystique took his place. This film also gave a good set-up to have some of the "X-Men" trilogy's best fights at the Statue of Liberty, even if Wolverine did get all the best fights. At least, we got to see Jean Grey and Cyclops in combat with their teammates too, which the sequels lacked. It also has some of the best on-screen chemistry moments with Jean and Logan, Logan and Rogue, Xavier and Magneto, and so on.
#3.) IT HAD A LIMITED BUDGET. Let me explain. "X-Men" didn't have the benefits of its sequels. It had a $75 million budget where they had to scale back, use effects only when needed, and hired some then unknowns for some of the most pivotal characters. And it WORKED. We didn't have to worry about a comic based film where special effects took over most of the movie. Here, the story was the most important aspect, and like "X2," it was actually a good story. The film was done by people who were familiar with the characters, understood them, and translated them well. Granted, we weren't given an origin story with the original X-Men members. Honestly, would you really give up Hugh Jackman's Wolverine for founding team members Beast and Angel, if you knew how good he'd actually be in this film? Didn't think so. We didn't get the founding team of X-Men, but we sure did get a good roster in Xavier, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Rogue (though she technically doesn't join the team until "X2", but you know what I mean). And say what you will now about Bryan Singer, but in 2000, you were thanking your lucky stars that he had his hands on this and did a good job. Especially after you saw how previous comic-to-film adaptations were done, specifically from Marvel. And if it wasn't for the success of "X-Men," we probably wouldn't have the successes of the even-bigger comic-based films that followed, such as the first two "Spider-Man" movies to the Chris Nolan Batman films.
Speaking of Spidey: there's even a cameo of a man at the Statue of Liberty's head that swings away when Logan is being tossed up to the torch by Storm's hurricane that many believe could've been Spidey. Of course, it's not a good look and we don't know who it is, since Fox owns the X-Men film rights and Sony has the Spider-Man film rights. Sure, it could've been Toad, surviving the lightning bolt to the tongue that Storm gave him. But we know better, don't we?
#4.) SPIDER-MAN'S CAMEO. Sure, this isn't actually in the movie, but this was easily the best prank ever played on the set of an "X-Men" film. Available only on the first "X-Men" DVD (at least, if I recall correctly), you get to see Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Storm rush to see which Wolverine is the real one during the fight between their new teammate and a Wolverine-disguised Mystique... and then a certain red-and-blue clad web-head joins them, before realizing he's in the wrong movie. Even comic book fan Brett Ratner didn't do a prank like this on the set of "X-Men: The Last Straw"... er, "Last Stand!" If you don't have the very first DVD of "X-Men," buy it and watch this Easter egg scene. NOW. Go on, I'll wait.
That said, sadly, even the best comic based movies have their downsides. Next, we move onto the cons of this film:
#1.) A LACK OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. This is one of the biggest negatives. We get Storm and Cyclops introduced as already active X-Men members, who, like Jean, were some of Xavier's first students. But that's all the back-story any of them get. The only characters who get any focus before the mutant fighting starts are a young Magneto when he's in a Nazi concentration camp back in the 1940s, a pre-runaway Rogue when she's just a Mississippi girl named Marie, and Logan has nightmares of the adamantium being surgically grafted onto his skeleton. That's it. The only history between Xavier and Magneto is explained by the Professor to Logan while they're in the hangar. Xavier tells him how his powers manifested, how he met Magneto, and why he built the school. There were supposed to be scenes of how Storm and Cyclops had their powers first manifest, but they were cut. In fact, a lot of scenes in the shooting script were cut out. If you see the trailers and TV spots on the two "X-Men" DVDs, especially the featurettes on the "X-Men 1.5" DVD, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The extended talk between Cyclops and Xavier in regards to Logan being a part of the team, Magneto's outburst to his captive Senator Kelly regarding the Mutant Registration Act, and Toad’s taunting Storm's good looks during their fight in the Statue of Liberty. All of those scenes and more were left out. Sigh.
#2.) PLOT HOLES. No film is perfect, of course, but there are some curious plot holes here big enough to fly the Blackbird X-Jet through. For instance, how DID Magneto know about Rogue or her mutant power? Better yet, how did he know that she was in Canada and got picked up by Logan? Granted, Sabretooth is actually the one who's sent to get them, but this movie doesn't even bother to find time to say how Sabretooth knew Logan. We had to wait all the way until the woefully terrible "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" to learn they were brothers and their actual history. If only Bryan Singer had been smart enough to establish some of this history in flashbacks or a scene before we're first introduced to Rogue in "the not too distant future."
Plus, how is Logan's cage match opponent Stu NOT dead after his fight with Logan? The guy gets a broken hand and a concussion, when his punch hits Logan's fist and then is hit by Logan's head. Yet he's only slightly banged up?!? And he even tries to pull a knife on Logan when he confronts him about getting his lost money!
Since when does Magneto want to turn humans into mutants? This isn't a plot hole per se, but it sure struck me as odd, since Magneto was trying to get human/mutant equality like Charles Xavier. He was just going about it in a rather extreme way. But I don't recall Magneto being smart enough to create a machine that can mutate human beings. Forge, maybe. Magneto? That's a bit much. In the comics, Magneto wants to do what's best for mutantkind. And by "what's best," I mean he wants to enslave the human race and have mutants be the dominant species on the planet. Here, Magneto wants us all to get along like his old friend Charles. He just wants everyone to have super powers. Sure, the downside is having your cells break down until you turn into a liquid form and die as a puddle of water like Senator Kelly. But hey, at least you get to have super powers before you go!
#3.) IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LONGER FILM. The biggest flaw is the length. One hour and 35 minutes?! And that's excluding the 10-or-so minutes worth of end credits that follow it. "X2" rightfully had its two hour-plus runtime. Why did "X-Men,”which was supposed to introduce everyone, get to be so blasted short? You'd think they'd want to have some more time devoted to showcasing all the cool mutants.
Anyway, I'd like to say -- Happy Birthday, X-Men film franchise! I may not have liked the last two "X-Men" movies, but every time I see the first two movies that Bryan Singer directed, I still smile while watching them. They're still clever. They're still enjoyable. And best of all, they still didn't give us the lame off-screen death of Cyclops or Barakapool in either of those films. Cheers!
Sound off below. And yes, you can say you disagree that "X-Men" was better than "X2." But it could've been worse. At least I didn't say they weren't as good as "Van Helsing."