We get to the granddaddy of them all. I’ve called Iron Man that with respect to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I have reviewed both Superman: The Movie and Batman. However, it was X-Men that gave birth to the comic book movie as a whole genre.
Prior to it, we’d had those two big series, but each one died a very painful death after four installments. Beyond that, well there was Blade, which was popular but hardly a classic, and after that the most famous comic movies were better described as infamous for how spectacularly they failed (e.g Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four, Captain America starring Matt Salinger).
They may as well have let DeBrie play Invisible Girl.
It boggles the mind, but, according to producer Lauren Schuler Donner (coincidentally, wife of Superman: The Movie director Richard), she initially couldn’t get this project greenlight, as studios thought a comic book movie would fail. Of course, even in the years following X-Men, some people thought it comic book movies were a passing fad of the 2000s, like reality TV.
Yes, this existed.
The MCU laid that idea to rest, forever, and it’s appropriate that soon the X-Men will join it. In fact, some believe Disney bought Fox specifically for that purpose.
However, there wouldn’t be an MCU if Marvel hadn’t founded Marvel Studios in the first place, and I highly doubt they would have done that if the movies that had been made in recent years hadn’t shown them how much money their properties could consistently bring in on the big screen. X-Men really started that!
Deservedly? Yes.
Like all others my age group, I loved X-Men: The Animated Series
and was thus excited about this movie. I was not disappointed.
Admittedly, the movie was somewhat hamstrung by its low budget. $75,000,000 in 2000 is equal to around $120,000,000 these days. Yet still, there were EIGHT movies released in the summer of 2000 that cost more. In no particular order, Gladiator, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Patriot, Dinosaur, The Perfect Storm, Hollow Man, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Mission Impossible 2. Heck, X-Men barely cost more than Disney’s The Kid, and if you’re wondering what that movie is I rest my case.
At least Fox sprung more for X-Men than for this film.
Yet X-Men still managed to have some well-choreographed fights, a nice climactic fight on the Statue of Liberty, and some special effects that hold up well.
Of course what makes a movie timeless is the story. Director Bryan Singer and crew eschewed having formal introductory scenes for everyone, instead establishing Wolverine and Rogue as the co-protagonists and letting us find out who the others are over the course of the story.
Unknown Australian Hugh Jackman became part of one of Hollywood’s greatest Cinderella stories when he was flown in and given the part immediately after the original actor had to back out because his previous film ran over schedule and he got injured making it. Jackman, two decades later, remains one of Hollywood’s top stars, has also excelled on Broadway, has received an Academy Award nomination for Les Miserables, is missing only that award to complete his EGOT,
is worth hundreds of millions, and has been named People’s Sexiest Man Alive. As far as the guy who was originally supposed to play Wolverine…you don’t even know his name, do you? Hint: that previous movie of his is mentioned in this post.
Fellow Australian (referring to the continent, not the country) Anna Paquin, only 17 when the movie came out but already an Academy Award winner for years, beautifully plays Rogue at the painful moment in adolescence when a mutant discovers that (s)he is different. She was certainly a teenage crush of mine and I’m glad she’s gone on to so much adult success (and let us see so much of her goodies) thanks to True Blood.
She looks like she just gave a heck of a hickey!
As far as the rest of the cast, Patrick Stewart is of course PERFECT as Professor X. Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), Halle Berry (Storm), and James Marsden (Cyclops) also shine as the rest of the good guys, as do Ian McKellen (Magneto), Rebecca Rojmin-Stamos (Mystique), Tyler Mane (Sabretooth), and Ray Park (Toad) as the baddies. Senator Robert Kelly (Bruce Davison), a bigoted human, is one of the ultimate baddies…arguably. Whether or not to subscribe to that mentality causes the perpetual conflict between X and Magneto.
Fun movie that most importantly set the stage for the awesomeness to come.
Bottom Line: Good start.
Up Next: Now we’re talking!
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