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X-men

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A Techtite Review

The Film : (the full review, as posted on opening day, in Techtite's Movie Reviews): It's rare to see Marvel comic book characters in a movie. I think DC comics lucked out, due to a business link with Warner Bros., leading to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in any number of TV series or films. Marvel comics, however, has often been left in the lurch, probably because the inspired original visions by Stan Lee were too impossible to achieve with special effects...until now. Finally, 20th Century Fox releases X-men, and it's one of the best action-savvy flicks you'll be offered this summer.

The story is one of the most classic comic tales; one that has kept the comic alive and well since 1961! In the near future, humankind has reached the next stage of evolution. A powerful gene --the "X Factor"-- has allowed certain humans to develop a small taste of the power we will all soon have. Some have ESP, and others have telekinesis, while others have powers even more incredible. The apprehension for such "mutants" is brewing...

One of the first such mutants, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), has decided to use his vast fortune to seek out young mutants, and put them in his "special school," so they can hone their skills. The best of these mutants get to be part of his secretive superhero team, the X-men. By the start of this film, he has found five such mutants : the metal-clawed Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the elemental powered Storm (Halle Barry), the power-absorbing Rogue (Anna Paquin), the telekinetic Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and the laser-eyed Cyclops (James Marsden). The core goal of these X-men is to help humankind, and prove that mutants "are not what you think...not all of us."

Occasionally, however, mutants receive too much power, and decide to use their special powers against the "normal" humans who despise them. This "Brotherhood" includes the magnetic charged Magneto (Ian McKellan), the shape shifting Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), the animal instincts of Sabretooth (Tyler Mane), and the truly creepy Toad (Ray Park, who last year was Star Wars' Darth Maul). It's mutants like these that are giving the new breed of humans a bad name. Things are bound to get worse, as Magneto devises a plan to accelerate the process of mutant evolution...if a few "normal" humans are killed in the meantime, so what? Xavier must stop him at all costs, with the help of his fellow X-men. Will they succeed? To doubt this is to have never read the comic book.

The only thing going against this film is initial buzz...a lot of which was pretty unreliable. A few web surfers claimed to have seen raw footage of the film, before the effects were added. As a result, allegedly honest folks, under nicknames like "Guido the Killer Pimp," said the film was terrible without its effects; it just made no sense. Well, what sci-fi film would make sense, without its effects? Not even the original Star Wars would be worth the price of celluloid without the scenes of the Falcon entering hyperspace, the Death Star destroying a planet, or the infamous trench scene. All you'd be left with is a boy in the desert with two droids, one of which was ripped off from the silent film, Metropolis. Under such scrutiny, even last year's smash hit The Matrix wouldn't survive, if its award winning effects were removed.

This isn't to say that X-men is merely special effects. I'm just saying that sometimes effects are needed to help tell a story, as opposed to a story written around pretty effects scenes. Examples of the latter might include Twister, where snazzy tornado FX were put in a film, and a script was written around them. In X-men, by contrast, effects are used to enhance the feeling that these mutants are ominous: one can bend metal to his will as if it was tissue paper, while another can become a dead ringer for any person she sees, with merely a glance. The final battle between all 9 mutants --an excellent lesson in teamwork, so pay attention!-- is one of the best superhero bouts since, possibly, Superman II.  In another memorable scene, the villainous Magneto casually walks over a large chasm, while mentally "building" a metal bridge brick by brick as he walks across. Such scenes will, at the extreme least, guarantee an FX Oscar nomination next year.

The best part of X-men, though, is its excellent handling of the subject matter. The film will appeal to kids and adults alike, because it doesn't talk down to you, as if telling a story to a little child. Much like Superman : The Movie --and probably for the first time since that film's '78 release-- this film takes the storyline and characters seriously, leading to a more gripping film. Magneto, for example, is not just painted as "the bad dude," and instead is painted as a WW2 holocaust survivor, who always has to live with the fact that his powers could have saved his mother, if only he had honed his skills enough at the time. It also paints a nice prelude to X-men's constant message against racism, which is excellently handled, in a very subtle way.

The biggest fans of the film, of course, will be readers of the comic book over the past 39 years. While some might not like how their fave character is not present (after nearly 4 decades, there's so many of them!), there are some amusing cameos of the most memorable ex-X-men, including Bobby "Iceman" Drake, Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde, and, I think, "Pyro" (his cameo is too brief to know if it was him). There's a lot to like in X-men, and fans should be thrilled. It might even coax a few non-readers to give a story or two a glance...and there's no better endorsement than that, for any film.

The DVD: The amusement here is that the makers of the DVD were able to ad everything they did --on one, single-sided DVD-- and still have it rival most of the other sci-fi disc offerings out there. The Matrix DVD still has its level of mass appeal, though this disc has its perks as well.

Much like the Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition DVD set, menus are offered as fully animated CGI animations (in this case, Professor Xavier's Cerebro machine). Among the options chosen, via the special features menu, is to view the film in a "director's cut" format. This version includes ten minutes of footage not seen in theaters, which are mostly just scenes already in the picture, that were cut down for time concerns. Among these missing moments is a longer interaction between Wolverine and Jean Grey (when she shows him to his new room), and an intriguing speaking part for Kitty "Shadowcat" Pride, who asks Rogue about Wolverine (fans of the comic series may remember how Wolverine became Kitty's mentor, leading to her better knowledge of combat skills, and even a side-story which introduced her "Shadowcat" moniker).

Added features include the complete special "The Mutant Watch," as shown on the FOX channel to promote the film upon its release. There is also a Brian Singer interview, and the chance to see Hugh Jackman's screen test. Many were surprised at him getting such a lucrative role in the film; this screen test, for many, might explain why. Some storyboards and an art gallery are also available.

The best amusement, however, are two ingeniously placed "Easter Eggs." In the Special Features Menu, choose the menu for "Theatrical Trailers," then click on the white rose to the left. An outtake will play, where...well, the X-men get greeted by a surprise mystery guest! Second, select the "art gallery" menu option, then highlight and click on Wolverine's dog tags. This reveals some additional conceptual photos, of characters decided to be cut from the final film: "The Beast" and "The Blob."

The end result is a DVD I'm glad to have in my collection. I may get some ribbing for giving this film such a high rating, though hey, Roger Ebert gave The Cell four out of four stars. I think I'm allowed a similar attempt, to tell Hollywood what films I really like. If they release more films like this and The Matrix, than this sci-fi fan is more than happy.

	Final Rating : Deep Impact. While often reserved exclusively for Oscar heavyweights, this is the film other Y2K action flicks should give a look; this is how to do it!
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