Everyone must be in a good mood today, the new reviews page is filled with 4/5 star ratings. Must be...
Everyone must be in a good mood today, the new reviews page is filled with 4/5 star ratings. Must be the sun finally returning.
Member since:22.09.2005
Reviews:124
Members who trust:55
Wow. Simply wow. Call me backwards but after catching bits of X-Men on TV quite some time ago I didn't think anything of it, but then when I received X-Men 2 as a gift and watched that I had to rush out and buy X-Men to watch it properly. And boy was it good. Now I mean call me backwards because of the order I watched the films in, not because I thought X-Men was geeky.
But if X-Men is still geeky then call me a geek, but the comic and cartoon series going Hollywood has set it on the map as a credible franchise. Both films are 12 certificates, with the sequel being just over 2 hours compared to the first 100 minutes. Where to start? The beginning.
X-Men. X-Men 1. Here we are introduced to Wolverine, who just so happens to be the most recognisable X-Man so it was a good place for the director to start. He is still trying to put together pieces of his life, to remember why he can now suddenly have metal claws shoot out of his body - like a wolf. It is on these travels of a lonely wolf man he meets Rogue, who has ran away from home because she is a mutant.
For those who don't know what a mutant is, basically they are human beings only they are the next step in evolution, they have been born with a power. Rogue's power
just so happens to be that anything she has physical contact with dies. Great for a teenage girl, huh?
There is a bad guy though that wants to keep to Wolverine, and it wouldn't be a superhero movie without a good versus evil battle. This bad guy is Magneto, who just so happens to be able to manipulate metal. Wolverine having a layer of metal underneath is skin definitly seems to play into Magneto's hands.
When Magneto sends one of his clowns to try and capture Wolverine things don't go so smoothly, and the back up arrives. The back up comes in the form of Storm (who controls the weather) and Cyclops (who shoots red beams out of his eyes). These good guys are lead by Xavier, who runs a school for mutants where they can come together and be safe to learn how to use their powers for good.
I know, if you don't like the whole fantasy thing, things are probably sounding pretty crazy right now. It is good though, honest.
X-Men 1 works as an introduction to the series, introducing the characters and most noticeably Wolverine. There is no crazy special effects in the film (made in 2000) but there is the odd Storm making a storm.
The love story in the film features Wolverine, who has fallen for Jean, but she just so happens to be dating Cyclops. This creates a love triangle, setting the scaffolding for later films.
Magneto naturally won't stop to get to Wolverine, and this leads to the big finale fight scene on the Statue Of Liberty. Who will live? Who will die? It's a short and sweet film, which fits enough in. I would recommend it to anyone who has a spare 100 minutes on their hands.
This is where the real business starts though, and it's possibly one of the best building blocks for a follow up film ever. Unfortunately the second film was so good as a building block, it surpasses the third film. X-MEN 2.
A war is beginning between mutants and humans, with humans scared of the evolution happening in front of their eyes. When a mutant nearly kills the United States President , this gives General William Stryker a chance to unleash his plan that will wipe out the mutants completely.
This attack introduces a new character in Nightcrawler, played by Alan Cumming. This new blue mutant has the power to transport places, but only places he can see. Classic characters such as Xavier, Magneto and Mystique (one of my personal favourites, the sidekick of Magneto who can transform into different forms and features heavily in X2).
Who would make Nightcrawler attack the President? Well to find the answer both the good and evil sides must unite (that's Xavier and Magneto working together, just as the back story shows us they have in the past). Their common enemy is William Stryker.
When Xavier's mutant school is broken into all chaos breaks out and they travel to Bobby's (Iceman's) house; along with Wolverine, Rogue and Pyro (who has the ability to manipulate fire). When Bobby's parents turn up their nose at his power and Bobby's own brother phones the police on them we are shown first hand the distance between mutants and humans. This leads to an exciting action scene, and something to watch out for.
Wolverine is still trying to understand how he came to have metal under his skin, and X2 promises answers. William Stryker is a key to this. Another interesting scene to look out for is a Wolverine/Deathstrike battle (Deathstrike has the same power as Wolverine). In fact this film is littered with things that will make your heart race faster.
One of my negative points about the film is that it may be a little too long for some people. At first I really didn't like the scenes with Xavier being kidnapped by William Stryker, and then having Stryker trying to use Xavier to wipe out the mutant race, but now I love every minute of it and I wish X3: The Last Stand was the 2 hours+ that X2 is.
Storylines feature Jean making her decision in the love triangle, Stryker trying to wipe out the mutants and Magneto being typically evil. Factor in all that as well as the new characters, the action and Rogue/Bobby's difficult relationship you have an amazing film.
All in all I think if you are 25+ X-Men is a long shot, but for 15-18 year olds this film would be really good. The certificate is only 12 as I said earlier, so it should be a good time to pass the time for the children. Who knows, you might like them too, as I would by no means consider the X-Men films "kiddy".
I highly recommend you watch both these films, although you shouldn't really by this boxset out with a trilogy boxset also on the market. It's just a shame the third and final film didn't end things the way these two began them. X-Men is Xtraordinary.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Science Fiction - Director: Alex Proyas - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Chi McBride, Alan Tudyk
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
X-Men 2picks up almost directly whereX-Menleft off: misguided super-villain Magneto (Ian ... more
McKellan) is still a prisoner of the US government, heroic bad-boy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is up in Canada investigating hismysterious origin, and the events at L...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
X-Men 2picks up almost directly whereX-Menleft off: misguided super-villain Magneto (Ian ... more
McKellan) is still a prisoner of the US government, heroic bad-boy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is up in Canada investigating hismysterious origin, and the events at L...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
![X-Men 1/X-Men 2: 2 disc doublepack [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78509786.jpg "X-Men 1/X-Men 2: 2 disc doublepack [DVD] [2003]")
very helpful by (85%):
not helpful by (15%):
