Where Can I Get Me One of Those X-Hoodies (X-Men)
X-Men (2000), Bryan Singer. Apr. 08, 6pm. View count: Two?
Seeing this again was sort of nice, after the travesty that was III. Halle Berry was mercifully given little screen time (notable exception: the appalling 'toad gets hit by lightning' quip, eeeuurgh); presumably it took whatever popularity she'd managed to garner from this movie and the next to trade up to the 'extra obnoxious' contract that she clearly had in the third movie.
Everyone else did a great job, maybe discounting that wrestler what played Sabretooth, even though, really, I don't know how else Sabretooth is going to act.
Character-wise, Toad was not used particularly well; not that he's terribly exciting to begin with, but presumably the only things he has going for him are jumping ability and prehensile-tongue-aided agility. He didn't much get to use either of those in a particularly cool way. You'd think he'd be all lassoing people's ankles with his tongue and easily evading attacks, if not being particularly awesome on the offensive, which was not really how he was used (he was essentially a somewhat acrobatic normal fighter). Of course, it's also true that breaking a fall by catching a stationary object with your tongue is a pretty good way to snap your own neck, but I guess Toad also has, uh, a super-strong and -flexible spinal cord?
Jean Grey had a good setup for II/III with her 'Oh, my little old psychic power is really lame compared to basically everyone else! I could never do anything Truly Awesome.' This was well-borne-out by her actions, too, so ++ on that. Cyclops' powers' implications were pretty nicely laid out, although I still don't really know if his beam is concussive or heat-based here. I guess it is 'energy', which means 'both, or either.' (Funnily, as chmmr observed, he entered Cerebro's room at one point, which we'd only seen before opened with a retinal scan. Hm.)
Rogue was like nine years old, and suitably played an overpowered kid. Her power is pretty easy to get across on film, which is lucky (Magneto's also did a great job; tossing cars around looks really nice in live action, as chmmr said). I don't know about her naming herself, though; who named her, unpleasant? It didn't feel right to me, especially since she didn't visibly have any knowledge of groups of code-named mutants.
Wolverine was fine, although, as in II, a little too in touch with his feelings. He also deferred easily to the leadership of Cyclops toward the end, which didn't seem warranted at all. There was no respect-earning sequence. I suppose that the purpose was to show them coming together as a team under adversity, however poorly, which sort of worked.
I guess the explanation for everyone's incompetence is that both the X-Men and the Brotherhood are really new and ill-prepared for one another. No real explanation for why Mr. Verine seemed disallowed from actually using his claws on anyone; when he managed to stab (never slash) people, it was played as a really terrible thing, even though neither of those stabbings had any lasting effects (the victim is narratively whisked away to recover, good as new). He didn't even get to stab Sabretooth in any serious way that I recall, and if he's gonna stab anyone, that'd be him. OH WELL.
The opening sequence was still the best part of the movie, easily beating out the other major good part ('you're a dick'). It's really a brilliant stroke, being both awesome and character-building, and additionally moral-ambiguity-seeding (which is largely squandered later on, but good effort). This is also bolstered by Ian McKellan being quantifiably more of a badass than Patrick Stewart. The second movie begins similarly, with a big aggrieved-Magneto-does-something-really-satisfying scenario, and again after that, his sympathy-meter is largely ignored. It's a weird series of choices.
Anyhow, it's still an enjoyable thing, with a bunch of good performances. Jubilee's totally in it, too.
Seeing this again was sort of nice, after the travesty that was III. Halle Berry was mercifully given little screen time (notable exception: the appalling 'toad gets hit by lightning' quip, eeeuurgh); presumably it took whatever popularity she'd managed to garner from this movie and the next to trade up to the 'extra obnoxious' contract that she clearly had in the third movie.
Everyone else did a great job, maybe discounting that wrestler what played Sabretooth, even though, really, I don't know how else Sabretooth is going to act.
Character-wise, Toad was not used particularly well; not that he's terribly exciting to begin with, but presumably the only things he has going for him are jumping ability and prehensile-tongue-aided agility. He didn't much get to use either of those in a particularly cool way. You'd think he'd be all lassoing people's ankles with his tongue and easily evading attacks, if not being particularly awesome on the offensive, which was not really how he was used (he was essentially a somewhat acrobatic normal fighter). Of course, it's also true that breaking a fall by catching a stationary object with your tongue is a pretty good way to snap your own neck, but I guess Toad also has, uh, a super-strong and -flexible spinal cord?
Jean Grey had a good setup for II/III with her 'Oh, my little old psychic power is really lame compared to basically everyone else! I could never do anything Truly Awesome.' This was well-borne-out by her actions, too, so ++ on that. Cyclops' powers' implications were pretty nicely laid out, although I still don't really know if his beam is concussive or heat-based here. I guess it is 'energy', which means 'both, or either.' (Funnily, as chmmr observed, he entered Cerebro's room at one point, which we'd only seen before opened with a retinal scan. Hm.)
Rogue was like nine years old, and suitably played an overpowered kid. Her power is pretty easy to get across on film, which is lucky (Magneto's also did a great job; tossing cars around looks really nice in live action, as chmmr said). I don't know about her naming herself, though; who named her, unpleasant? It didn't feel right to me, especially since she didn't visibly have any knowledge of groups of code-named mutants.
Wolverine was fine, although, as in II, a little too in touch with his feelings. He also deferred easily to the leadership of Cyclops toward the end, which didn't seem warranted at all. There was no respect-earning sequence. I suppose that the purpose was to show them coming together as a team under adversity, however poorly, which sort of worked.
I guess the explanation for everyone's incompetence is that both the X-Men and the Brotherhood are really new and ill-prepared for one another. No real explanation for why Mr. Verine seemed disallowed from actually using his claws on anyone; when he managed to stab (never slash) people, it was played as a really terrible thing, even though neither of those stabbings had any lasting effects (the victim is narratively whisked away to recover, good as new). He didn't even get to stab Sabretooth in any serious way that I recall, and if he's gonna stab anyone, that'd be him. OH WELL.
The opening sequence was still the best part of the movie, easily beating out the other major good part ('you're a dick'). It's really a brilliant stroke, being both awesome and character-building, and additionally moral-ambiguity-seeding (which is largely squandered later on, but good effort). This is also bolstered by Ian McKellan being quantifiably more of a badass than Patrick Stewart. The second movie begins similarly, with a big aggrieved-Magneto-does-something-really-satisfying scenario, and again after that, his sympathy-meter is largely ignored. It's a weird series of choices.
Anyhow, it's still an enjoyable thing, with a bunch of good performances. Jubilee's totally in it, too.