Taking a short break from Ciao....will be back ASAP LOL :)
Taking a short break from Ciao....will be back ASAP LOL :)
Member since:02.10.2000
Reviews:101
Members who trust:26
It was a dull afternoon at work today, not much doing, feeling a bit down, what with the weather turning wintry again, and having that deja vu feeling of wanting to be anywhere else but where one is right there and then, I decided to tip toe to our local co-op store when no customers were in wanton need of my ever so revered services (don't tell on me now), just to have a look around, and waste a few minutes away.
I started looking at the video rental section, which just by pure luck, I'd joined a few days before if ever the need arose - I'm boring you with all this babble, but bear with me - and skipping through what was on the shelf, there it was, light beaming outward from it, blinding me momentarily, I saw our film in question. I missed watching X-MEN when it came out at the cinema a couple of years back, and knowing that I was spending the night in all alone (get the violins out),
and nothing decent showing on TV (what a surprise!), I thought I'd rent the film out for tonight and see if it lived up to the hype. I went along merrily to the counter, gave the lady cashier my gorgeously coloured, recently acquired video club member card, paid my 99p rental fee, and went back to the aforementioned exciting work place.
I won't bore you with what happened in between (I hear many sighs directed at many monitors right now), except that I settled down with my crisps and chocolate and put the video on.
The whole thing stars Hugh Jackman (in swordfish), Patrick Stewart (Star Trek), Halle Berry (Swordfish pops up again), the ever so edible Famke Janssen (will you marry me?), and Ian Mckellan amongst others. Our world has two species living in it, your normal mankind, and mutants, to which the above actors belong. These mutants each have special powers, one can create storms, one has eyes emitting destructive laser-like beams, one can control your mind, etc. Charles Xavier / Professor X (Stewart) runs a school which provides a home and nurtures young confused mutants. His adversary, known as Eric / Magneto (Mckellan), wants to utilise one of Xavier's young mutants to achieve his own evil purpose of switching a number of normal human beings into mutants, triggering a war, whereby, mutants, due to their obvious advantages would be victorious, and can take over, thus preventing the ever increasing threat emitting from the American Congress (another joke for another time) about naming the mutants individually on a register, thus making them exposed to harassment/abuse.
The film, although predominantly about special effects does, to its credit, try to sell across a half-decent script with not too bad a story line about human tolerance of things we don't understand but have to live with , in this case, the mutants mirroring people with various abnormalities in normal life. Also, of how we take simple things for granted, for example when a mutant girl cannot touch or kiss anyone else as she simply ends up hurting them involuntarily.
You want ACTION, you got it. You want excellent special fx, boy have you got them, and even more extravagant sets are in this movie than in quite a few others that have come out as yet. One thing I have to moan about, through no fault of the film itself, but it gags to be seen with the biggest TV screen you can find, preferably cinema screen (too late now), to really appreciate how much work went into those scenes.
The film glides effortlessly through its sub-ninety minutes duration, and you do feel totally engrossed in the plot till the end, which, for its genre, is saying something. I don't think I sat with eyes fixed on the screen like I did since seeing Terminator 2 a few years back, and that is a classic in every aspect. So it tells you how good the film is overall.
The end is what you'd expect, good conquering evil, but leaving the whole thing wide open for many more money-spinning sequels to be made. If theses sequels are anywhere as good as the original, and have Miss Janssen in them, then, hurrah!
To summarise, a fantastic film, certainly a must see one, if you enjoy escapist films with a twist here and there.
X-iting stuff
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Willow Smith, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson, Alice Braga
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
A great film op! Lots to base a judegment on whether it is your kind of film on, without giving the entire plot away! Vicky
LostWitness 04.11.2001 11:41
I thought this film was great as well - although as a long-time reader of the comics, I have to say that Mckellen just wasn't menacing enough as Magneto! Cheers, Phil :O)
Mouldy_Cheese 27.10.2001 20:04
Your right - it definatly is better on the big screen. I saw it then, and was dissapointed by the VHS version.
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![X-Men [DVD] [2000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78537118.jpg "X-Men [DVD] [2000]")
Oct 25th, 2001
(Oct 26th, 2001)
very helpful by (100%):
