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Post by Famous Rocking Chimes on Jul 29, 2013 10:04:42 GMT -5
Since X-Men Fever is running rampant with the recent release of The Wolverine and the hype slowly gaining steam for Days of Future Past next year, I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the franchise's already released films starting with the original film made by Bryan Singer in 2000.
The film is actually pretty good considering it's short length (just over an hour and a half) and I think the tight nature of the running time added to the film's benefit by not focusing on every mutant's origin story. Really the only origin story we see is Rogue's and to an extent Wolverine's. Not one member of the X-Men felt overshadowed or left out like some of the following films would do, although Halle Berry's African accent as Storm is really bad.
Hugh Jackman is brilliant as Wolverine in this film. Regardless of the quality of the films I've always felt Jackman gives it his all in his performances in Wolverine and to be honest I don't think he phones it in. It's so easy to see how this role made him a star. Rogue's major part of the story is a pleasant surprise but Singer has always seemed like an intelligent director to me and thus the themes of the film fit in with Rogue's character. Stewart and McKellen are the ones who really sell this though. It's always been said that X-Men started the renaissance of comic book films after Batman & Robin plunged the industry into a laughing stock, and I think that if Stewart and McKellen hadn't been so into the roles like they were I don't think many of the casual audience would be as interested nor invested in the film's events.
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Post by Hit Girl on Jul 29, 2013 10:57:53 GMT -5
It's a fine movie with one exception, Rogue. They never got her right in the films. I thought Rogue was supposed to be a tough sassy southern gal who kicks ass and flies. Not a whiny little kid. They should have used a different mutant for her role in the film.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Jul 29, 2013 11:56:29 GMT -5
agreed. over all a good movie, but they messed up Rogue's characterization way too much. not as badly as in X-3 but still...
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Post by Hit Girl on Jul 29, 2013 12:35:24 GMT -5
The Anna Paquin role should have been like a reverse Leech. Magneto wants her because if she touches someone, she greatly increases their mutant powers, this allowing Magneto to use her to create that giant energy wave thing. That way, they could have saved Rogue for a better role and an older actress in a later movie.
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StuntGranny®
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Post by StuntGranny® on Jul 29, 2013 13:22:02 GMT -5
To be honest, I was never a huge fan of any of the X-Men movies until First Class. That and The Wolverine are the only two I enjoyed.
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Bub (BLM)
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Jul 29, 2013 13:26:30 GMT -5
It's a fine movie with one exception, Rogue. They never got her right in the films. I thought Rogue was supposed to be a tough sassy southern gal who kicks ass and flies. Not a whiny little kid. They should have used a different mutant for her role in the film. Well, Rogue didn't always have the super strength and flight, so it made sense for her not to have them in her origin story. Still, I think her role in the first film should have been Kitty Pryde instead. I'm guessing the only reason it wasn't is because they needed her powers for Magneto's little plot device at the end of the film. As for the movie itself, it's actually my favorite of the X-Men films. Cyclops is actually the clear leader of the team, Wolverine is actually grumpy, unkempt, and dangerous, and it had the best Brotherhood roster.
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Blindkarevik
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Post by Blindkarevik on Jul 29, 2013 14:37:06 GMT -5
I liked the movie quite a bit. But one part stops my enjoyment dead and turns into a Lewis Black "If it weren't for my horse moment."
"Do you know what happens to a Toad when it's struck by lightning?"
** Everyone ** Ooooh, this is gonna be good! It's gonna be some badass saying! Or she's gonna say he's gonna explode then Toad explodes... or, damn, I don't know, let's just see where this goes!
"... same thing as everything else."
** Everyone ** ...... oh COME ON!!!!
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Jul 29, 2013 14:39:26 GMT -5
Still a really good film.
Also, 90 minutes is not short. 90 minutes is a sensible film length, especially for an action movie. I'm sure the average film length these days is longer than it used to be.
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Burst
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Post by Burst on Jul 29, 2013 14:41:17 GMT -5
I feel like aesthetically this movie and the 2002 Spider-Man really haven't aged well at all, but the performances and whatnot still definitely measure up. I honestly can't visualize any other actor as Wolverine.
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Post by Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie on Jul 29, 2013 15:10:20 GMT -5
I liked the movie quite a bit. But one part stops my enjoyment dead and turns into a Lewis Black "If it weren't for my horse moment." "Do you know what happens to a Toad when it's struck by lightning?" ** Everyone ** Ooooh, this is gonna be good! It's gonna be some badass saying! Or she's gonna say he's gonna explode then Toad explodes... or, damn, I don't know, let's just see where this goes! "... same thing as everything else." ** Everyone ** ...... oh COME ON!!!! that's the most maligned line in the entire movie! and it's one of my favourites too!!! yeah i said it *sticks an adamantum claw at all of you* but on first viewing i didn't think it was that good actually, but i still bought XMEN 1.5 2disk dvd, and never looked back since! i LOVE it now, and well the others too ..... even ORIGINS (i have that taped off the tv, all the rest dvd's) funny thing is, i've never seen any of the cartoon series ..... "you're a dick"
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Post by Cela on Jul 29, 2013 15:43:04 GMT -5
I liked the movie quite a bit. But one part stops my enjoyment dead and turns into a Lewis Black "If it weren't for my horse moment." "Do you know what happens to a Toad when it's struck by lightning?" ** Everyone ** Ooooh, this is gonna be good! It's gonna be some badass saying! Or she's gonna say he's gonna explode then Toad explodes... or, damn, I don't know, let's just see where this goes! "... same thing as everything else." ** Everyone ** ...... oh COME ON!!!! Written by Joss Whedon.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2013 17:00:02 GMT -5
It was alright. I didnt like the fact that the X-Men took their uniform cues from Demolition.
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Jiren
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Post by Jiren on Jul 29, 2013 18:35:49 GMT -5
To be honest the ONLY X-men movies I've liked are "First Class" & "The Wolverine".
I honestly don't like the rest
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AFN: Judge Shred
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Post by AFN: Judge Shred on Jul 29, 2013 19:47:53 GMT -5
The X-men films are kind of fortunate compared to other powered flicks because their origin is "born that way" so you can tell stories out of the gate.
X1 is still ok, it hasn't aged as well as it could have, but Stewart, McKellen, and Jackman help hold it up with fantastic performances. And Ray Park made Toad way cooler than he had any right to be.
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Glitch
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Post by Glitch on Jul 29, 2013 22:15:19 GMT -5
I think this movie got the X-men very wrong . Once you see The Avengers, you really know how they royally f***ed up this movie. Even though they have powers, most of the action involves martial arts. The powers are more of a supplement to that. And the thing I hate about the costume change was how Singer pretty much said "yellow looks like shit on screen". Which he is then proven wrong in First class. I personally don't like Jackman as Wolverine since he really doesn't pull off the grittiness or the grizzled look of the character.
X1 was pretty much a superhero movie trying it's hardest not be a superhero movie. Singer was obviously trying as hard to get as close to a realistic setting as he could, and it does not work with the X-men. It had the discrimination part down, but frankly that part alone isn't what makes the X-men work. It's the fact of how it's balanced with superheros that the appeal comes from. If I wanted a story that was only about decriminalization, I would have watched a better film probably involving the civil rights movement.
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Post by Big DSR Energy on Jul 30, 2013 0:23:55 GMT -5
It's been at least a year since I watched it.
But I remember going to the theater to see it when it first came out, and I was filled with this kinda weird, dorky hope for the future of comic book movies. Like I knew this was opening the door for a bunch of exciting stuff to come.
When I watched it again more recently, I recall this feeling like they were setting up Wolverine more than they were setting up the X-Men as a whole. Granted, the team got a lot of spotlight, but I just remember feeling like "Why is Logan calling these guys a bunch of dorks? Aren't they supposed to be the stars of the movie?" Though I may simply be projecting, since Logan got more and more of the spotlight in X2 and X3.
Anyway, I still like the movie. It's obviously a product of its time, and we've gotten better comic book movies since then. But I think it did a good job of laying the groundwork for what was to come.
Also, you should do a thread about the Generation X made-for-tv movie that came out about 4 years prior to X-Men. You can watch that thing in its entirety on Youtube, if you...y'know, hate yourself.
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Jul 30, 2013 2:24:04 GMT -5
I could watch the scenes between Magneto and Xavier over and over. Say what you will about the weak performances from Anna Pacquin and Halle Berry, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart more than made up for it. Both, for me, have made the characters their own.
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Post by Hit Girl on Jul 30, 2013 4:44:22 GMT -5
McKellen and Stewart were like Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing in the first Star Wars movie.
Having two heavyweight British actors in your sci-fi/fantasy film raises the bar of quality.
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Post by Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster on Jul 30, 2013 5:22:33 GMT -5
It was decent.
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Post by Famous Rocking Chimes on Jul 30, 2013 5:44:26 GMT -5
It's been at least a year since I watched it. But I remember going to the theater to see it when it first came out, and I was filled with this kinda weird, dorky hope for the future of comic book movies. Like I knew this was opening the door for a bunch of exciting stuff to come. When I watched it again more recently, I recall this feeling like they were setting up Wolverine more than they were setting up the X-Men as a whole. Granted, the team got a lot of spotlight, but I just remember feeling like "Why is Logan calling these guys a bunch of dorks? Aren't they supposed to be the stars of the movie?" Though I may simply be projecting, since Logan got more and more of the spotlight in X2 and X3. Anyway, I still like the movie. It's obviously a product of its time, and we've gotten better comic book movies since then. But I think it did a good job of laying the groundwork for what was to come. Also, you should do a thread about the Generation X made-for-tv movie that came out about 4 years prior to X-Men. You can watch that thing in its entirety on Youtube, if you...y'know, hate yourself. Yeah I've seen the Generation X TV film, it makes Howard the Duck look like The Dark Knight in comparison. I'd like to think nobody counts that as an actual X-Men film haha.
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