Rating: 13/20 (Emma: 20/20; Abbey: 16/20)
Plot: The bald guy in the wheelchair and his mutant friends including a guy who wears sunglasses indoors and an albino woman and a fuzzy guy and Boobsy have to stop the guy with the funny-looking helmet and his mutant friends including his own fuzzy guy and a naked blue woman and a guy with a long tongue.
What's all this stuff about evolution? I heard at church camp that it wasn't real. Evolution, an opening scene that takes place in a concentration camp, hints at McCarthyism. I'm not sure this is as smart as it wants to be. In fact, I'm pretty sure this movie indirectly calls Jewish people mutants which doesn't seem very nice. The stories, including Magneto's big plot to take over the world or whatever the hell he's doing, are strong, but the storytelling isn't. Comic book movies usually confuse me, and this one wasn't exactly easy for me although it helped that this was my second time. There's an interesting hodgepodge of mutant super powers which I imagine is part of the appeal, but they do kind of come together in really convenient and therefore kind of unbelievable ways at times. Also kind of unbelievable--the special effects. The multitudinous explosions were fine, probably because Hollywood's had more than enough practice with explosions. However, a scene where Lion Man throws Wolverine around, the senator's oozing through bars and his rubbery visit to a beach, a fast motorcycle, and a big white laser show were all laughable. I was also annoyed by how much these characters talk during action sequences. There's a lesson that action movie screenwriters need to learn: Characters don't need to talk to each other during action sequences. Halle Barry's Storm Lady character actually says, "Do you know what happens when a toad is struck by lightning?"--a line that caused me to miss a chunk of the climax because my eyes were rolling too much. The entire climax at a national landmark is actually pretty dopey. I do like the conflict, especially since the good guys and the bad guys, in a way, are kind of looking for the same thing, but this movie felt repetitious after a while. I also got tired of them finding excuses to get Hugh Jackman to take his shirt off. His character even has a line about that in the movie. Now, don't get me wrong--I'm a warm-blooded American male and can enjoy a shirtless beefcake as much as the next fella, but this got ridiculous after a while.
I hope that's not why Emma's suddenly into X-Men movies. For whatever reason, her biology teacher showed the students this movie in its entirety and part of the sequel. She likes them for some reason. Hopefully, Plastic Man is in the sequels. He's an X-Man, isn't he?
This was the first of the "modern" big budget Superhero movies we now get every summer. I didnt think it was all that great when it first came out, and its not aged all that well. The major problem with it is the complete lack of any fun in it. It might as well have been a black and white movie for the lack of color in the characters or especially the costumes. Its dour and lifeless and kind of dull in parts. However it is nice to see Rebecca Romijn parade around nude for long periods of time. The use of Nazis as villains for Sir Ians Magneto also make him a less credible threat in the time period this movie is taking place in. Magneto is at least ten years old when he is being drug into the concentration camp, which puts him at over 70 when he faces the X-Men. Its hard to get too worried about a purely physical threat in a septuagenarian. Its got a little excitement and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is great casting, so it gets a 14 from me.
ReplyDeleteSo I can blame this movie for the onslaught of comic book stuff?
ReplyDeleteI'll write about the second one in the next couple days. I liked it, probably bunches more.
RE: old-man Magneto...that's supposed to be the kinds of things I worry about. You're a big budget superhero fan, so you're just supposed to enjoy them, right?
I'm giving you bonus points for using the word septuagenarian and, I assume, spelling it correctly.