"The one that started the comic movie craze"
It took something special to get moviegoers to take a chance on a big budget summer "comic movie" after the "cold" reception Batman and robin received after Arnies take on Mr. Freeze, thankfully Fox took a chance on one of comics most popular series of recent years the x men, a group of outlaw heroes struggling to protect a world that fears and even hates them. It's this franchise that has kept marvel afloat over the last few decades even on the brink of bankrupsy.
The movie starts out in Poland 1944 as were introduced to the x-mens longtime adversary Magneto as young Jewish child feeling the hatred of Nazi Germans as he is forced from his family triggering his first taste mutant powers. A welcome change from the Overloaded cheesiness of the last two Bat films of the time.
This scene not only introduces us to as why the villain Magneto should not be not looked at as just the bad guy but so that we can sympathize with what the character has gone thru discrimination is justified.
This scene also sets the foundation of the theme of the movie as we see hatred and persecution in its most raw and perverse as we see later that Mutants themselves are being persecuted in a more modern way.
Later we meet the young mutant Rogue (not a far difference from her debut in the comics) as this young girl's power of absorbing a person's life force by touch, this scene also may be a selling point to parents as it showcases the idea that teens shouldn't try to reach second base unless they want to be in coma for three weeks.
All kidding aside we next see young Rogue out on her own (hence the name) traveling to a bar in Canada.
It's here where we meet the true bread and butter of the film. Wolverine. A buff rugged street fighter with attitude to spare, beautifully shown in his true nature dueling in cage fights. This scene alone caused my first geekgasm at the time. Wolverine seeing that the young Rogue mirrors himself in a way takes her in under her wing.
After a narrow escape from magneto's forces they are rescued by the x-men where Wolvie gives us an outsider looking in approach to the school for gifted youngsters.
If for some reason you've never seen a comic movie adoption (shame on you if you haven't) this is a good place to start. Bryan Singer did a remarkable job bringing these Mutants alive and believable. This is Bryan singers love letter to fans from the utter elegance of magneto's powers to the Sninkt of Wolverine's claws there's plenty for fans to gall over, my personal favorite being the rivalry of Logan an Summers with Jean in the middle While some comic fans may gripe and grope over the lack of "authentic costumes" the black leather fits in well and makes for a unique design. While all the characters are unique in there own way all are outdone by the one and only Wolverine. Logan is like a modern Han solo, the cool badass who has all the best lines played to a tee by Hugh Jackman. Who should thank his lucky claws for the character jump started his career. The 1.5 edition comes packed with fan favorite extras commentary by Singer, deleted and
alternate scenes and much more. A pleasant treat for comic and UN comic fans alike definitely worth checking out bub. Nuff said
The Good: The introduction of one of the greatest fictional characters ever. Also the fight scene between Wolvie and Sabretooth atop the Statue of liberty is one of the most memorable scenes in comic movie history.
The Bad: Wolverine getting his ass handed to him by a chick? C'mon he's the best there is for a reason!
And the Ugly: "do you know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else" ugh worst line ever!
DVD Release Dates
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6 Comments
True, Canuckle gets his ass handed to him by Mystique, but not as bad as X2 when Deathstrike does him in for a good one. You gotta admit, JB, that any medium outside an actual comic issue or graphic novel that Wolvie is going to get his ass handed to him. Time to move on past this point, bub. Sure he's the best at what he does and what he does ain't very nice, but c'mon, at some point he's gonna get knocked out or dazed and eventually snap out of it to win the fight. Which proves he's the best.
You are right that Bryan Singer did such an amazing job with this film. What's even more amazing to me, is that Singer isn't even a fan. At least he wasn't going in to the project. He had to hire a writer that knew the backstory. He watched all the 90's animated episodes. He went on to Superman where he WAS a fan and flunked that one up. OK, so that last one didn't really count with this film, but I'm sure you catch my drift.
And that Toad struck by lightning line -- I have always wondered what that was supposed to mean. Maybe Singer didn't hire that good a writer for dialogue, hmm?
Peace bub. And good review.
Need more on the features of the DVD though.