| X-MEN
DVD review
Marvel Comics have never had much success with transferring
their characters to film. Why this is nobody seems to know, after
all their characters don't tend to wear capes so shouldn't look
as cheesy on-screen as Batman or Superman, but somehow things just
never work out, with the exception of 1999's Blade.
The plans to bring the X-Men to the silver screen sparked off mixed
reactions from fans of the comic; some thought it was to be the
greatest film ever while others held their breath. After seeing
the film I had a mixture of opinions, but I went ahead and bought
the dvd edition anyway.
There's no doubt that director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects)
has done a fine job in bringing the complex storyline of the X-Men
to the cinema so that it can be enjoyed by all. He avoids the trap
the others sometimes fall into (see Spawn) of telling the story
from the beginning, but gives enough information about certain characters'
past so as not to be too confusing.
The film tells the story of the Marvel world where Mutants exist.
These Mutants are normal people except for certain powers they posses,
such as walking through walls or flight. Professor Charles Xavier
(Patrick Stewart) runs a school for young Mutants, not only to help
them understand themselves but to keep them away from the hatred
of the outside world that's aimed towards them.
However, Xavier faces two main enemies. Firstly there's Senator
Kelly, a human who wishes all Mutants to be state registered and
no doubt impounded. And secondly Magneto, Xavier's Nemesis, the
master of magnetism who can control and manipulate metal at will.
Whereas Xavier only wishes humans and mutants to co-exist, Magneto
sees mutants as superior to humans and therefore should be controlling
them.
Despite this basis, the main story revolves around one mutant in
particular, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and his struggle to find some
way to come to terms with himself and find some kind of peace. Wolverine,
at first surviving by fighting in Canada, is taken in by the X-Men
who want to help him and generally try to calm him down. Wolverine
is dubious.
Of course things develop, Wolverine starts to trust the X-Men and
the film ends with a climactic battle between Magneto's Brotherhood
of Mutants and Xavier's X-Men.
Probably the best decision for this film was not to use the costumes
from the page of the comic book, they would never have worked no
matter how great the script or acting was. Instead they went for
the quickly-becoming-an-action-movie-cliché Matrix style black rubber
and leather, which works, but X-Men was never a dark comic.
The film isn't bad at all, and is one of the better Marvel films
made, but being a reader of the comic some things just didn't sit
right. For a start Wolverine's claws came out of the wrong place,
now they probably had their reasons for changing this and that's
fine. Also, Magneto is a very strong, powerful, tall and muscular
character in the comic books, not Ian McKellen. His very presence
should instil fear, whereas McKellen's appearance makes you want
to help him cross the road. I'm not holding these point against
the quality of the film, they're just personal gripes, and I have
others but I won't go into them here.
Sequels are bound to emerge featuring different enemies and more
complex plotlines. X-Men is one of the better, more mature written
Marvel Comics thus leaving a lot of room for interesting scripts.
Personally I'd like to see the story of Apocalypse and his horsemen
handled, and a prequel involving the Weapon X storyline would be
interesting.
As for the DVD release, they could have done a lot more. The special
features include a five-question interview with Bryan Singer; stills
gallery; trailers; deleted scenes and Hugh Jackman's screen test.
Quite what the point of including this screen test is beyond me
because it does no favours for demonstrating his acting ability.
His performance in the film was great, but after seeing this screen
test it seems he was lucky to get the part.
However, internet rumours state that a special edition is on the
way featuring many more deleted scenes and hopefully a commentary.
On the plus side, the DVD box, although cardboard, has a lovely
metallic blue shine to it.
X-Men is a good film that any fan of the comic book should add to
their collection, if only for prosperity. However, the special edition,
although still just a rumour, should probably be waited for as this
edition, for such a hugely marketed film, is below standard.
Film 7/10
DVD 4/10
david twomey
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