Super-Cember Day #2: X-Men (2000)

(Originally poster December 2nd, 2017)

Day two of Super-Cember saw me watching the first of the 9 X-Men films I'll be watching this month: X-Men (2000). Directed by Bryan Singer and starring Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier/Professor X, Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Halle Berry as Ororo Monroe/Storm, Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey, James Marsden as Scott Summers/Cyclops, and Anna Paquin as Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue.

X-Men (2000)

Before this, the only piece of X-Men media I'd seen was the animated TV show, Wolverine and the X-Men. And, I remember enjoying that quite a lot. As such, I was pleasantly surprised, not just by how good this movie was, but how much it reminded me of that old TV show, and that went beyond simply hailing from the same source material. This movie gave me a feeling similar to that of a comic-book reader, in that I recognised a lot of these characters from that old show, and I was able to pick up on a few small things that might have gone over my head had I not been familiar with that old show.

Wolverine & the X-Men

As you can see in the first paragraph, there are a lot of main cast members in this film. I had to leave a few out, such as Mystique, but this is certainly an ensemble movie, like Guardians of the Galaxy. Fortunately, we spend just enough time with each member of the team that it just works. We learn about their abilities quickly, so we can spend more time on their personalities; who they are as people beyond what their mutant powers are. It would have been so easy to just throw in a whole army of X-Men and just watch them fight, but we really only focus on a few, and I'm assuming they'll introduce more in the sequels, but for this film the size was perfect.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

Of course, Hugh Jackman was amazing as Wolverine, but I expected that going in, considering how much universal praise he's been given for the role. There's not really much I can say about his performance that, I assume, hasn't been said already. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan were especially good picks for Professor X and Magneto. They have enough of an enigma about them that really sucks you in, especially for McKellan. There are moments where you can completely see his point of view, and you can easily believe how he'd come to see the world as he does. This makes him a really powerful villain for this story, and that goes beyond just having those great abilities.

Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Ian McKellan as Magneto

But, really, the stand-out for me was Anna Paquin as Rogue. She's the first mutant we see in the present day, and she, along with Wolverine, is our surrogate into the world of mutants. Not only that, her abilities are very cruel, and there need to be those scenes that show how completely thrown she is. Anna Paquin does an excellent job of finding that balance, and you really sympathise with her situation. Just the fact that she was able to not only work off Hugh Jackman as well as she did, but that she was a match for him; that alone is impressive. In a movie that has both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan in it, for me to be as impressed by her as I was certainly means it was a powerhouse of a performance.

Anna Paquin as Rogue

Are there problems? Of course, no movie is without its flaws. For example, you can tell this was made in the early 2000s. The CGI effects, while some of them are impressive and hold up even by today's standards, others are incredibly dated. Anything that Toad does just looks ridiculous, but that's nothing compared to what happens with the Senator. Speaking of the Senator, and I wouldn't normally talk about little plot issues, but this one stuck with me: why did no-one on the news broadcast notice what happened with the Senator's eyes in the that final news clip? Surely, that would have been bigger news. It would've taken more than pausing the TV to see what happened there. I'm trying to be vague to avoid spoilers, but in context, it was a big flaw, especially with how big a deal the Mutant Registration Act is in this film.

Ray Park as Toad

Overall, X-Men (2000) was a fantastic watch, and one that I'd be more than happy to revisit later. A fantastic introduction to the X-Men, and there's plenty more to come. 9/10.

Tomorrow: it's Spider-Man.