X-Men (2000): still a darned good flick

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

So; about the first film. Much of what i gather from it matches what others have said. The low-key tone and attention to powers suits the film. Singer was dealing with a film that should have had a bigger budget but didn't. Instead of giving up he probably said to himself... "they want me to make an action movie featuring a diverse group of heroes with superpowers, but they are constantly cutting corners of an already tight budget so screw them! I'm going to make a character story, with some action thrown in. And not just perfunctory action.' He knew that his action scenes could never really live up to fans' expectations with the film's budget so he went down fighting and made the best film he could.

 

[captcalhoun]

the only thing i hate about X2 and X3 is the waste of Cyclops.

the only thing i hate about Wolverine is the ruination of Deadpool

i don't think i actually hate anything in X1 or FC.

i rationalise the second item as: it's not Wade, it's a clone. the clone is called Deadpool, Wade isn't. Wade can later claim the name in the Deadpool movie.

 

[RoJoHen]

the only thing i hate about X2 and X3 is the waste of Cyclops.

I hate this more about X3. A movie about Phoenix should have Scott in the middle of all the action, not dead 10 minutes in.

 

[captcalhoun]

EXACTLY!

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, Cyclops was by far the most screwed-over character in a series that's screwed over a lot of characters. I kind of wish the X-Men rights would revert to Marvel, just because I think they'd probably produce a more faithful film adaptation (though I'm sure even they would still make Wolverine a prominent character, given his popularity). But I don't think that's going to happen any time soon, if ever. Oh well.

 

[Whofan]

If I remember the comics correctly, in some instances Sabretooth was cloned by Mr. Sinister (Who has yet to appear in any X-movie). I think like in other comic instances, this was established partially to explain away out-of-character Sabretooth appearences (Like Doctor Doom's "Doombots") This might explain why X1's Sabretooth doesn't seem to remember Wolverine either, or at least vaguely.

 

[captcalhoun]

that's my explanation for Dark Phoenix. it's a Sinister clone. the real Jean and Scott are in Sinister's lab somewhere, waiting for the Cyclops/Phoenix movie...

 

[RoJoHen]

that's my explanation for Dark Phoenix. it's a Sinister clone. the real Jean and Scott are in Sinister's lab somewhere, waiting for the Cyclops/Phoenix movie...

Sounds good to me!

I also like to think that Xavier is still alive and kicking on the Astral Plane.

 

[davejames]

As a DC guy who never had any great knowledge of the Phoenix storyline, I have to say I thought X3 worked fairly well. It's obviously not as deep or interesting as the previous movies, but I still thought Ratner did a decent job honoring what Singer did -- at least a lot more than that ridiculous fourth movie.

 

[Trekker4747]

I dunno, it's still good but I'm not quite sure it holds up well over time. It drags at points, the central caper is overly comic-booky and that atmosphere of it is just sort of odd and inconsistent. I'm also not completely sold on the acting for Magneto as it's another thing that's odd and not played completely straight, and the look of Magneto straining at the mutated-device his face distorted by the magnetic field is just odd looking.

It's good but I think it's outclassed by the sequel (itself which hasn't held up as well over time) and many other superhero movies since then (namely The Dark Knight which set the bar really high.)

The movie is good but I can't help but think a better X-Men movie can, and should be done and in part was with this year's "First Class."

 

[Whofan]

Yeah, as much as I like Mckellan, he's sort of a lighter, older Magneto than that in the comics, with more of a sense of humor. Worked better with his Gandalf IMO. Fassbender did a better job and had more of the intensity of the character.


Then again, Magneto's potrayal has changed in the comics many times as well. In the 60s and 70s he was mainly Doctor Doom with magnetic powers (Something also reflected in his animated appearences at the time as well); Claremont made him more a somewhat more likeable and sort of sympathetic anti-hero.

 

[Set Harth]

I also like to think that Xavier is still alive and kicking on the Astral Plane.

Xavier is still alive and kicking in the body of his twin brother P. Xavier.

 

[Christopher]

I also like to think that Xavier is still alive and kicking on the Astral Plane.

The post-credits scene indicated that he'd transferred his mind into the patient at Moira's institute who'd been introduced earlier in the film, in the scene with Xavier teaching an ethics class -- the one who had a functional brain and body but whose mind was completely vacant.

Of course, there's another inconsistency between The Last Stand and First Class -- different interpretations of Moira McTaggert's job, age, and nationality. That one's pretty hard to reconcile.

 

[Set Harth]

Not to mention accent!

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

That guy at the end is his twin

 

[Timby]

and doesn't really have any memorable tunes,

I couldn't disagree more. I adore the soulful Rogue-Wolverine theme that's heard during her "death" scene in the torch and again in the end titles.

This may be because it's virtually identical to Kamen's Highlander theme.

 

[Pauln6]

I thought Cyclops had a good shout in the first movie but I agree that he was woefully underused in X2 and X3. My only hope is that if they want to milk Cable (metaphorically) then poor Scott may not be dead and may instead be in the hands of Sinister...

If the only reason Singer didn't go bigger in X1 was the budget, then I wish they'd keep a lid on the budgets of a lot more movies. I could have lived without the giant explosions and CGI scars in the Dark Knight for example. Silly when you consider how they avoided spectacular effects in the first movie and how minimalist the Joker was.

As for Moira, they may need to find a way to slow her aging but 30 years spent in Scotland is long enough to develop an accent. Basically, NuMoira is more like Carol Danvers but because she wasn't a mutant, I don't think they had the rights to use her.

 

[RoJoHen]

I would fucking love a movie about Cable.

 

[Skywalker]

I heard that Marvel, bizarrely, actually holds the rights to Cable, which is weird since I thought Fox would have had control over all X-Men-related characters. But Marvel apparently also has the rights to the Skrulls even though Fox controls the rights to the Fantastic Four. Silly Hollywood.

 

[Trekker4747]

Are they going to ever even make a Cable movie? Is he worthy of such a thing?

And who will they get to play him?

Well, the Liefeld version of him, that is.