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X-Men

X-Men

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Fine Adaptation
Review: Continuing his character and plot driven craftsmanship from "The Usual Suspects," Bryan Singer does a fine job of balancing between the hardcore X-Men fans and those who had never read the comics. A surprisingly enjoyable movie, this has a good dose of the humor of the comics (c'mon, they're mutants - that's inherently silly) while providing a serious dramatic thread (Hugh Jackman's performance as Logan is a breakout, as we can almost feel his anger at the world and his frustration with not being able to remember his past). The real standouts here, though, are Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, who dominate the two sides of the movie. It's a real treat when two actors of their caliber can go up against each other in a movie. The DVD is flawless, and has plenty of fun extras (Jackman's screen test, obviously done after the original actor playing Wolverine was injured, is interesting to see). A small warning to parents: the flashback scenes are quite intense and more than a little disturbing. There is one glaring omission to this DVD, probably the result of it being rushed out for the winter holidays: there is no commentary track from Bryan Singer or from anyone else. That, and the DVD menus can be annoying to navigate. Make sure to turn the sound down before going to the special features menu, as it has an annoying motorcycle sounds that never stops.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Successful in every way
Review: When translating comic books to the screen, it is typically a hit-or-miss affair. The last real success was Tim Burton's 'Batman', which is still debatable. Incredibly, it took a non-comic film like 'The Matrix' to elevate standards beyond the schlock that characterizes the 'Batman' series. 'X-Men' meets the difficult standards of portraying characters everyone already knows and walking the fine line of making them realistic without destroying their identities. Doing this while making a film that is its own coherent work while doing justice to the comic series is another fine line to walk. In every way -story, effects, acting, characters- 'X-Men' pulls it off. Beginning with the concentration camp scene was startling, and a stroke of genius; Magneto's depth of character was both well acted by McKellan, and well set by the scenes of demagoguery. By focusing on Wolverine and Rogue to create depth, without burdening the story with every aspect of the heroes, the good-vs-bad struggle does not come across as merely effects-driven eye candy. Leaving enough loose holes at the end to make the story bigger for sequels, one isn't left with a sense that they're going to bastardize the whole concept just to make a buck off of McDonald's Happy Meals, as the 'Batman' series has become. Incredibly well done.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellently plotted and acted comic book adaption.
Review: You'd think with a movie like X-Men that it would just be all action and no character development or any sense of depth. But this movie is way different. The film takes time to develop its characters, especially Rogue, so you feel sympathy or agony for what they are going through, men or women. The plot of the movie is really quite simple but is given a lot of intelligence by the clever dialogue and good set-ups. The acting is fantastic - Ian McKellen is a good baddie despite his age, Hugh Jackman is hairy and fabulous, Patrick Stewart puts on a believable show as Professor Xavier, Famke Janssen is sophisticated and sexy, Halle Berry looks cool in a white wig and acts well as the powerful Storm, James Marsden is given heaps of opportunities to WOW! the audience, Anna Paquin is sweet and expresses Rogue's emotions brilliantly and the other evil X-Men do well too, including Ray Park (Darth Maul, anyone) in a tongue-twisting and scene-stealing role. Wow! Good casting, too, as you can see. Okay, back to the facts. The screenplay is neat and has heaps of depth, action, technology, adventure, science, chemistry and comedy. I enjoyed all the action sequences and the film is really hard to dislike, even for people who have never heard of or read the comic book. The story seems quite realistic too and you can even believe its happening, which is a big compliment for a fantasy flick. I loved the techno music on the soundtrack too, really good stuff for a party or something. The third or fourth time you watch this movie it isn't nearly as good as the first or second, but X-Men remains a cool, awesomely designed and entertaining visit into the world of comic book characters. X-Men 2, bring it on!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: X-cellent
Review: I saw this movie for the fourth time last night, it gets better everytime you see it! The acting is magnificent despite all the newcomers. The storyline is magnificent and appeals to a wide variety of people, even those who aren't big fans of the comicbook (but how could you not be? :P)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Huh?!
Review: Okay i was just going to review this film, and i founded out,that the film was going to come out on DVD on August 14, i don't get it, i have the DVD, and the DVD has been in stores, since November, I don't get it, Is it going to be re-realeased? Anyway, i love this film great acting, great plot, great script, and is packed with action, also the DVD is wonderful, the Dolby 5.1 sound and the pictures are excellent (Even though i would have preffered a DTS track), and the bonus material are great, i loved the Behind the Scenes documentary.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: To paraphrase Claire Pellar...:"WHERE'S THE BEAST?".
Review: It was a lot better than I thought it would be and has definitely raised the bar for all other Marvel movies to come,in every aspect of film making. Sure it was different in someways than the book, but it could stand alone from them and more importantly it was good. As much as I liked the cheesy 70's and 80's Marvel movies(like Dr. Strange starring Peter Wooten in the title roll, thank you very much), Marvel movies to come will have to measure up to this one. And that's a good thing because sometimes Marvel doesn't place as much emphasis on story telling quality as it does on marketing. But they made one stupendous,unforgivable error. They left out Hank McCoy,aka The Beast! Woe betide them! I'm looking forward to a sequal, and I'll really enjoy it more if it contains the only X-Man who can fight crime in his swim trunks,differentiate between Keats & Yeats,type his doctoral thesis with his toes, the thinking man's Tarzan...........The Bombastic BEAST!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great special effects
Review: This film has great special effects. And the DVD has excellent sound and picture quality, and some really good extras. Yes, it has a comic book plot and the characters are kind of one-dimensional. But it's supposed to be that way! Some things are just meant to be a lark! Park your brain at the door, turn off the analyzer, and just enjoy it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Comic Book Adaptation to Rival Superman-The Movie
Review: Normally when I watch a movie based on a comic book I cut it a bit of slack when it comes to things like character motivation. After all, we are dealing with characters who are larger than life. Heroes wear white and are motivated by a sense of justice, villains wear black and do their evil deeds basically because they are evil.

This sort of basic motivation has even snuck into mainstream movies. Gladiator and The Patriot both had villains who, when asked why they do the evil deeds they do could be expected to reply, "Because I'm the bad guy and that's my job." The heroes of these movies are motivated by revenge rather than justice.

Here comes X-Men and shows them up with style. On one side we have Normal Human Senator Kelly, out to register Mutants because he is afraid of them. He is afraid they will make him obsolete, afraid they have the ability to destroy him at will and he has no way to protect himself from them except by marking them as dangerous beings.

On the other side is Magneto, a mutant with the power to control metal and a survivor of the Holocaust. He sees this as an attempt to bring back those bad old days and is ready to fight it at all costs.

Both of these villains have motives that are wholly understandable. In today's movies that is unusual. In a movie based on a comic book it seems remarkable.

In between these two forces are the X-Men led by Professor Xavier who is out to keep the peace, prevent Senator Kelly's Anti Mutant law from being passed by legitimate debate and similarly try to keep Magneto from killing Normal Humans. His team rescues Wolverine (Hugh Jackman in what should be a star making performance) and Rogue (The lovely Anna Paquin) from an attack by Magneto.

Purists to the comic book may balk at the variations from the original, but these things almost always happen when translating a story from one medium to another. Even a simple origin story like Superman went through variations when translated to film. The fact of the matter is that this movie treated the source material with respect in a quest to make a decent movie and the result is a movie which should have been hyped as an event when initially released.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I Expected More from "The X-Men"!
Review: This movie was pretty good. I definitely have seen worse however, I expected the fight scenes to be greater than they were. I didn't really see Storm, Cyclops, or Wolverine utilized to their fullest capabilities, and certainly not like the cartoon.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: X-men
Review: this dvd wuz really awesome! It had good story line and had great special effects and good suspense. This is surely a movie I would see over and over.


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