X-Men

Rating:
Summary: X-men the movie
Review: X-men was a good movie with good actors, and great special affects. However, several things were missing, that should have been included, especially if a second one is to be made. The first thing being, is that when Rogue first joined the x-men, she already had the ability to fly and had super strength.She got this from absorbing it permanently from Ms.Marble, but the way the story was written I don't see how in a second x-men she will obtain this power.It would also be pointless to make a movie with her in it witout having the power, because it takes away from her character. The second thing that should have been included in the movie, was that when wolverine and sabretooth were first introduced, they did not know who each other was. That's wrong, because when he was being tested on by the government, he knew sabretooth who was also being tested on.This takes away from the movie, the fact that they are rivals. The third thing I think is that the movie should have had more fighting scenes, and the ones that were in the movie should have lasted longer. I also think that Mystique and the other bad mutants, besides magneto, should have had more than 1 line of dialogue, that just wasn't reasonable. Finally, I think that in the fight scenes there should have been more effort to make it group on group battles between the good and bad mutants, rather than the one on one battles that occured. It made it less interesting, and the fight scenes occured slower, like when Wolverine fought Mystique, it seemed like he really wasn't fighting like he should have been since he's fast.These are the things that really would have made the movie great, and I think more fans would have been into it and liked it a lot better. Some hints for the next x-men is to include some of this.

Rating:
Summary: Good movie but falls short of the comic book quality..
Review: Ive been a huge X-Men fan for quite a while. I imediatley though that it would be worth going to see, and invited my friend who is also a great fan of X-Men, more than me. But as I watched I realized something, not enough fight scenes. Fighting scenes have been an integral part of the series and I looked for a little more action in the movie. The final sequence was top knotch and gave me hope for the sequel. I also thought they left out some characters that could have bettered the movie. Gambit should definitly have been in it and Rouge didnt even act like Rouge considering she didnt fly or have super strength. She also looked like she was 15. The story is layed out well but I think the director came short in creating a true X-Men epic. Great special effects and good acting save this movie, I just think it needed a little more...

Rating:
Summary: x-men (2000)
Review: this is a high flying movie with great affects and a great story line. Although it could have been a little bit longer with a few more x-men . The evil magneto has made a machine in which it changes people into mutations. He is going to change important people for revenge. he is trying to use one of the x-men to take some of his powers to work it,because it almost killed him the first time he used it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Action Movie
Review: A great movie for people that love action movies! Has a enough of the comic book action to keep the X-Men fans watching, and a good enough plot and characters to keep the new to X-men watchers watching. The DVD is great becuase of the deletd scenes and interviews. After it you'll be hoping for sequels!

Rating:
Summary: REMEMBER SPAWN?
Review: Spawn is a dark and humorous comic book that totally rocks. The film contains none of the pathos, imagination or spirit that the comic book had. Its main fault is that it was toned down for a young audience and had to many CGI FX.

X-Men suffers from exactly the same problem. There is VERY, VERY little violence or action and what little there is is very tame and stolen from other movies (Matrix, T2). Nothing much happens for long periods of time, the dialogue is nothing but mumbo-jumbo and there are plot holes all over the place. Professor X can sense the presence of mutants from far away but cannot notice a bad mutant walking all over his house. Duh!

The ending was ridiculous. It was completely senseless and did not impress me one iota. The word "contrivance" echoed around in my head. If the whole scene had been set on the roof of a supermarket instead of the Statue of Liberty...would it be cool? Of course the reason it IS on the big statue is because Magneto wants to turn a bunch of people into mutants with what looks like a giant whisk. Uh...yeah...that's inspired.

Anna Paquin was competent enough, Jackman was pretty cool, Stewart was Picardish, Jansen was underused, McKellen was campy as hell and James Marsden was as woodenly wooden as he was in Gossip and Disturbing Behavior. Thank Mother Nature he only had about 2 lines of dialogue.

I cannot think of any reason why this trash is in the IMDB top 250. It stinks. Perhaps fans of the comic book, who were so disappointed with the film, gave it 10/10 because they felt they owed it to the X-Men. Me? I just wasted my money.

The DVD is in Dolby 5.1 and is anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1.

Rating:
Summary: Better than expected
Review: Comic book adaptations have a decidedly mixed history, ranging from groundbreaking (e.g. the first Superman) to abysmal (e.g. "Batman and Robin"). Movies which try to split the focus among too many characters have fared even worse. (e.g. the last three Batman movies). X-Men, going in, was therefore running against long odds.

X-Men is not as good as the first Superman, but that isn't a strike against it. The first Superman had the advantage of one hero, one villain, and a mythology ingrained in popular consciousness. However, X-Men certainly far exceeds most of the comic adaptations out there. Though some have criticized the focus on four characters (Wolverine, Rogue, Magneto and Professor X), a film that tried to flesh out everyone would end up pleasing no one. The focus was also appropriate because Paquin, McKellen and Stewart clearly have acting chops and bring depth to their performances. The real surprise was newcomer Jackman, who fully occupies his role as the feral Wolverine. Wolverine is, for most fans (myself included) the character on who this film would live or die, and Jackman more than lived up to the challenge. The script, though somewhat thin, did make the right calls overall on what to accept and what to reject in the mythology. The villain's master plan was a little contrived, but the same could be said of Lex Luthor's master plan in the first "Superman" movie.

"X-Men" is not a deep film and won't show up in the major awards at the Oscars, but it was a very entertaining film that brought the comic book to life. The big mistake now would be to accede to fan demands for more characters. I love Nightcrawler as much as anyone, but we need to develop the characters we have.

Rating:
Summary: Gets better with each viewing
Review: When I first viewed this film in the theatre I did not feel as impressed as I thought I should have been. However, after purchasing the video and watching it several times I realized that there were several subtleties in the plot that I simply did not catch on that single viewing. The movie seems to grow on me and gets better with each viewing.

Sure there are places where the action could look a little more realistic (such as when Sabre Tooth goes flying through the air in a perfectly horizontal path after Storm zaps him with a bolt of lightning in the train station scene.) But then again, immediately after that we see a man jumping around like a Toad and we are reminded that the film was not intended to impress us with its documentary-like realism -- it is supposed to entertain us. And this it does very well. So unless you happen to be a very critical cinema expert (who probably has not made a box-office hit movie himself) you will probably be quite entertained by X-Men.

Rating:
Summary: excellent...but not perfect
Review: This is a must-see movie that has been tranfered to the silver screen with much excitement and spectacle. I just wish the characters' pasts were explained better, especially concerning the experimentation on Wolverine. Maybe that was the point to leave loads of loose ends for more films to come - but it needed to be half hour longer as the finale is over all too quickly.

Rating:
Summary: cool science fiction for the silver screen
Review: although I wouldn't dare going as far as claiming this movie is one of the most demanding of film history - something like a milestone in filmmaking (we could debate about the milestone though)- it is one helluva comic-book adaptation.I watched this great mother of a movie on the first day it was released in theaters and I have to say that it really satisfied me. the action somehow made me think of The Matrix (damn good special effects), manifesting something like a true nature to the comix. the movie's plot is no big deal to tell: our world's not only the home of humans, but of mutants as well - gov wonders wheter the mutants are dangerous or not - wheter their skills are dangerous or not. Magneto - bad guy - invented a machine when installed on the statue of liberty, will turn the gathered gov watching the fireworks on new year's eve into mutants ... and only the good mutants have the possibilities to prevent this disaster. wolverine's girlfriend's also involved in this kind of apocalypse and Prof. X and his x-men have to save the world ... or at least a part of it. if you like watching movies packed with action, convincing actors, great storytelling and quite a lot of science fiction, put your index finger on the right button of your mouse (or on your touchpad if you re using a laptop), click on add to shopping cart and there you go. believe me, this film will give you the chance to enter a totally different world, threatening you with the frightening end of mankind as you know it ... if the movie's magic doesn't work out the thing will at least entertain you. and I think twenty bucks should be worth to spend for two hours of really great acting and great entertainment. just buy it!

Rating:
Summary: Preachy but Fun
Review: The X-Men writers always did take themselves seriously, and this film is no exception: it begins with the round up of Jews during World War II. From there, the analogy between Mutants and "the oppressed" jumps to a senate hearing where a Mutant representative attempts a defense against the world's increasing fear of Mutants. Or I should say, the Mutants power. From there, the whole tone of the film is set. Mutants are trying to survive global hostility, as well as the central villian in the film: Magneto, a holocaust survior who is supposed to be a "tragic figure" while possessing enough power to single handedly destroy the human race. Some tragedy. The film aslo introduces us to the central character: Wolverine; who is essentially the best thing here. Hugh Jackman really sinks his teeth into the role of the violent and deadly Mutant with a mysterious past. Unfortunately, everyone else get's pushed aside in favor of Jackman, making this more like The Wolverine Show instead of The X-Men.

[Director] Singer seems comfortable with the material; after all, he directed the preachy Apt Pupil. But with so many character and plot introductions, Singer isn't really able to give everyone the attention they need and deserve. The relationship between Jean Grey and Scott Summers, so vital in the comics, barely registers here. Shame. Fortunately, he does give the film a very serious edge which prevents the "cheeze" factor from dooming this project the way it has so many other comic-turned-films. Overall, it's a well made film with a serious but flawed message: no, Mutants are not in danger; in fact, they have such awesome power, in reality, they would never fear us normal humans. Think about it.