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July 21, 2000
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Potential Spoiler Warning: If you're the sort who believes discussing a film before seeing it spoils it, please do not participate in this thread. Seen it yet? What'd ya think? Haven't seen it? Why or why not? I almost wasn't. till I heard Singer spoke with Stan Lee about what inspired X-Men and what makes it really tick. I'll see it tomorrow. Willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
posted by ZachsMind (45 comments total)

I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.

The website sucks.
posted by elgoose at 6:04 PM on July 21, 2000


I saw it last night, and I thought it rocked... then again, I haven't been heavily entrenched in the comic book for the last 30+ years, so I came to it knowing very little (yet acknowledging that there's a lot of stuff behind it and that a lot of people were disappointed in the "translation"). (I'm more curious about reading the comics now that I've seen this film.)

(Spoiler? I don't know if this is a spoiler or not, but yeah.)

It's pretty obvious that they left the ending hanging for a sequel, but as one of my friends said, "It's better than some movies where later they pull a sequel out of nowhere." Or out of a screenwriter's ass ("Speed 2", I'm looking in your direction).

I wish it had been longer, to explain a few things and explore a little more of what made the main characters tick, but for the running time I found it entertaining. The plot seemed a bit ordinary and I think that it was mostly geared towards effects and the spiffy things they could do, but I don't mind that, either - I was interested in the character's powers and the potential behind each.

(I know I'm being sort of vague, but I don't want to be all spoiler-y and upset someone who hasn't seen it yet. You know how it is.)

All that having been said, the bit I loved best was, well, any scene with Wolverine in it. He's my new secret boyfriend. (Because of the character and because he has some of the best one-liners, not so much that he's "hot", to clear up a point. But he isn't bad looking. I'm just saying.)
posted by sammy at 6:45 PM on July 21, 2000


It was better than the average action summer blockbuster (MI:2 sucked), but I was a little dissapointed. I believe that it was made for the general public, not anyone who has knowledge of the X-Men, as there are some inconsistencies. For instance, Iceman, who was one of Prof. X's first recruits, was portrayed as a teenager in the film. Sure, I'm nitpicking, but the devil is in the details... or something. There are a couple more instances I was able to pick out and I haven't touched a comic book in about five years, so I'm sure the true The Simpsons Comic Book Guy type fans are whining somewhere.

Otherwise, It was very entertaining. Lots of eye candy, lots of action. Just two things bother me: why do the three evil Mutant lackeys have roughly four lines between them? And if Cyclops can rip the roof off a train station with his eye beams, how does closing his eyes stop them?
posted by isildur at 7:16 PM on July 21, 2000


I can wait to see it... Cyclops, with the "Yellow Spandex" remark, had me LMAO....

Wow... a Marvel movie actually making it to the big screen instead of straight to video (wait, there was Wesley Snipes as "Blade", sorry)... who'da thunk it?

Speaking of this topic... is James Cameron *ever* going to do Spiderman??? That rumor's been out since before "Titanic".
posted by CyberPal at 7:17 PM on July 21, 2000


If this movie had come out ten years ago, my head would have exploded in giddy fandom. In the intervening decade since my avid Marvel-reading days, I feared I'd been left too far out of the loop. That, compounded with the lacklustre early reviews I read, nearly scared me off. Nearly.

I'm quite glad I paid the five bucks. Throughout the majority of the movie, the twelve-year-old in my brain said nothing but "Oh man!" and "Cool!" The action was good, everybody looked cool, Cyclops was the right mix of hero and dork, and Wolverine was badass. Actually, let me rephrase that as baaaaadaaaaasssssss. Hardcore.

The script, while frequently exposition-laden, wasn't overflowing with one-liners. The lines between good and bad were pleasantly grey. Social issues were raised but not beaten to death. Not bad for a comic book flick.

It was a shame, however, that Sabretooth and Mystique were nigh-speechless thugs. Proving further that cool-looking actors can win out over eloquent ones (though McKellan's disembodied head alone could carry most movies, so it balances out there).

Bottom line: see it. It's a guilty pleasure that in the end doesn't make you feel too guilty after all.
posted by droob at 7:24 PM on July 21, 2000



I haven't actually seen the movie yet, but in response to cyber-pal: what about The Punisher? Was that ever in theaters or just straight to tv? I also seem to remember a Captain America movie; where'd that one go first? I saw both of them on cable so I can't say for sure.
posted by tomorama at 7:31 PM on July 21, 2000


I purposefully put the spoiler warning on this thread, so anyone who whines about that, I feel properly justified. I did the best I could. The only alternative is not to talk about it online until after everyone overseas has seen it. I ran into some X-Files message forums when the movie came out that were inundated by people from England who purposefully hung around just to annoy Americans who wanted to talk about it. Bad form. =)

I know enough about the comic book series to not believe it's possible to spoil it for me. The bad guys lose. The good guys win. I already know how it ends.

What interests me is this: this may very well be the first time in documented history that Hollywood got close to remaining true to the intent of a comic book. Granted, the first two Superman's got VERY close, and Blade was a pleasant surprise. Although I was not a fan of the original comic, the movie people did a good job bringing Blade to the silver screen. Most of the rest of the Hollywood Superhero movies have disappointed me. Granted, it's difficult to take vigilateism seriously without condoning it. And one man vs twenty? When put into practice outside the more static comic book medium, the bad guy's henchmen have to be dumber than Stormtroopers to make it believable.

But it sounds like this time, the X-Men movie captures the essence of what the comic book has always been about. It stays true to the underlying theme: What has X-Men really been trying to say for the last thirty or forty years? Differences make us stronger. Humanity has to learn this lesson before it can truly evolve. It sounds like the movie captures that in spades, so if it can do that, everything else is gravy. The special effects, the continuity, the dialogue, etc. Hit or miss the rest of it is gravy.

Just so long as they stay true to the inspiration of the work, I'll be happy. So I'm not exactly psyched to see this movie tomorrow, but I am hopeful.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:10 PM on July 21, 2000


When a mutant has an energy-based power (zing pow zzzt), it usually doesn't affect themselves. They have auto-immunity. In the comic books, so also do that mutant's siblings (so Cyclops' eye beam can't hurt his brother Havok, either). The latter goes for mental powers such as telepathy, too.

I am such a geek.

I could deal with the continuity issues (Iceman, Shadowcat and Jubilee all in one classroom? That's like three generations right there). What pissed me off (and this is petty, I know) is that Jubilee was in the movie and we didn't get to see one single spark or hear one smart-assed comment. I wanted to see things blow up in a hail of fireworks and it just didn't happen.

Jubilee, were she real, should have a weblog.
posted by jason at 8:29 PM on July 21, 2000


Ok, I've seen it a number of times now and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm tending to think of it in a sort of Star Wars: A New Hope way. Forgetting about inconsistencies between the movie and the comics and just focusing on the movie itself, I think it's a fun movie that rises above many similar genre films because of the story behind it all. There are a ton of stupid things about Star Wars, but we still love it. There are a few stupid lines in X-Men, but I don't think it hurt the movie as a whole.

I think the strengths of the movie are in its tendency to back away from excess. The effects don't take over and are mostly used only to illustrate the powers and skills of the charaters. There aren't any cars flipping over a la A-Team or giant explosions enveloping the eastern seaboard.

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan join Alec McGuiness in bringing their extreme talents to "goofy sci-fi/fantasy stuff" (something that Stewart is now a master of with Star Trek). Hugh Jackman makes Wolverine into this decade's Han Solo (dear god, Han Solo is 2 decades old). I think everyone I've talked to has considered Halle Berry to be the weakest actor involved, but even she is saved a bit by the purely visual nature of Storm's character and abilities.

Wow. Ramble ramble ramble. Anyway, to sum up, I went into this movie as a person with a very basic X-Men knowledge and now I'm eating it all up. So, even if someone doesn't like the movie, they can be assured that at least a few people will rediscover all of the history behind it.
posted by stefnet at 8:31 PM on July 21, 2000


Sorry to be picky about this Stef, but it's Sir Alec Guiness. No 'Mc'. I know that may sound petty, but he was knighted for pete's sake, and he's no longer with us. I got a soft spot in my heart for that talented old bastard and just want to make sure he's remembered properly. I agree with everything else you were saying. Don't mean to be anal about the Guiness thing.

When I heard Stewart was playing Prof X, that's the first time I vaguely took the idea of seeing X-Men on film serioiusly. Hearing Halle Berry is playing Storm was a disappointment. I also question having Storm in the first movie. Anyone who knows the history of X-Men may understand why. Cyclops and Storm together for the introduction of the series to film just doesn't work, but I also accept that they couldn't stay true to the story by going religiously from issue one on.

They're reinventing the history. That's unfortunate, and another example of why I think Hollywood has difficulty being true to superhero stories. With the Batman Animated series, they didn't introduce Robin until the second or third season. Very good choice there. Movies could learn from that.

But they want to get the best that's available from a given franchise up there in the first shot. So the movie should be a conglomeration of the best X-Men has to offer. Going into it with that realization will keep me from throwing things at the screen. =)

At least they didn't start with the whole Phoenix Saga. That should be saved for a few sequels, when they need to revitalize people's interests in the movies. Probably the fourth one. They shouldn't shoot their wad too soon, I guess I'm trying to say.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:51 PM on July 21, 2000


Oh and yeah, were Jubilee real she'd definitely have a weblog. So would Kitty Pryde. *shudder*
posted by ZachsMind at 8:55 PM on July 21, 2000


tomorama: The Punisher, Fantastic Four, and Capt. America... all straight to video. I remember Captain America was *supposed* to come to the big screen, but they pulled it out at the last minute. Now that Universal(I think) owns Marvel, maybe now they can have the same financial backing that DC has gotten from Warner Bros for almost 3 decades....

Speaking of....

Oh Zeldman? Is Happy Cog doing the next "Batman" movie site? (Assuming there is a new movie coming out?)
posted by CyberPal at 8:59 PM on July 21, 2000


PS: And me & Skizz is working with you on it, right? :0)
posted by CyberPal at 9:00 PM on July 21, 2000


Cyberpal: thanks for clearing that up. While we're on the subject of other superhero movies, have they given Superman w/ Nicholas Cage the final axe, or is there still hope?
posted by tomorama at 9:55 PM on July 21, 2000


After seeing Ian McKellen in this movie, I'm even more excited about seeing the Lord of the Rings movies. I hadn't thought was even possible.

Oh, and Zach - Alec Guinness is still kicking.
posted by Aaaugh! at 10:10 PM on July 21, 2000


Where the heck did I get "Alec McGuiness" from? Sheesh... I own about 4 different copies of the movies and have a bookshelf dedicated to the novels, etc.etc. and I do something silly like that. I think I was going to mention something involving the Phantom Menace though and therefore had Ewan McGregor in my head for the Obi-Wan slot.

SIR ALEC GUINNESS
SIR ALEC GUINNESS
SIR ALEC GUINNESS
(btw, I should be picky too and point out the two Ns)
heh
posted by stefnet at 10:20 PM on July 21, 2000


I don't mind most of the changes to the characters (since when does Toad have a prehensile tongue, dammit!) since they seem to have been made for the sake of the story, rather than for the sake of the actors' egos. Mostly, I felt that this flick was a lot more respectful of the characters and themes of the comics than any comic book movie since at least Superman II. Makes me look forward to the sequels (BTW, most of the cast has signed on for at least two more).
posted by harmful at 10:52 PM on July 21, 2000


Someone who's seen the movie answer me this question:

Did or did they not give Kitty Pryde tits?

When she was first introduced into the comic, she was intended to be prepubescent, and she was flat. Later, however, she acquired a fairly typical comic book heroine figure (by which I mean a bra-maker's nightmare or dream, depending on your point of view). I was, quite frankly, much disappointed that they couldn't stay true to the character. (Eventually I got tired and stopped collecting.) I'm sorry that Kurt's not in it (Bamf!) but he would have represented an overwhelming challenge to the makeup department, and they had to leave someone out...
posted by Steven Den Beste at 11:06 PM on July 21, 2000


I just went to see the movie tonight. My thoughts?
Being an avid fan of the television cartoons on Saturday morning (which I'm sure were not completely true to the comic book), I had my doubts about this film too. I had very low expectations for it considering the past track record of comics brought to the silver screen.

But I'll have to admit that the movie was pretty slick and didn't have an excessive amount of the usual Hollywood explosions, light and magic. The storyline was captivating enough, even though it had to compensate to ensure that people who hadn't watched the cartoon or read the comic would understand it. Good job there.

I thought the casting was pretty good for the movie. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan are PERFECT for the roles that they play. The CANADIAN guy playing Wolverine is awesome too. Ditto w/ Cyclops and Jean Grey. I would have sworn Rogue was a little older, but oh well. As for Halle Berry as Storm, I guess I didn't really mind her. Storm always had a coolness to her, and the special effects were good enough to bring that part of her out.

Just a few little things bothered me about the movie:
First, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos was completely wasted. Sure, they needed someone with that kind of figure to do the blue bodypaint thing, but we don't even see her face and she doesn't do much talking neither. Mind you, she's not a proven actress, but I would have at least liked to have seen a bit more of her.

And the black costumes. I know they were trying to instill some Hollywood coolness there. The usual cartoon uniforms would have looked kind of dorky in real life. And they're forgiven for bastardizing the costumes for having the sense of humour to poke fun at the "yellow spandex". I was LMAO at the theatre too, although it seemed like nobody else seemed to get the joke. :(

And the lead-into-the-sequel ending sort of didn't end the movie very well, but it had to be done (this being a big budget Hollywood film and whatnot). Mind you, I'm eagerly awaiting the next X-Men movie now. Hopefully they'll introduce the rest of the X-Men.... like The Beast and Gambit.

Final words: Go see the movie. Don't wait for the video (well, maybe the DVD if you have a crazy home theatre at home), don't watch it on MPEG/DivX. It's a good movie experience.
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 11:11 PM on July 21, 2000


I thought Jackman was Australian? Also, I heard a rumor that they're planning to do The Beast jar-jar binks style in the sequel.
posted by tomorama at 11:23 PM on July 21, 2000


Hugh Jackman is Australian - he had his voice coach teach him how to do a Canadian accent because he figured Wolverine to be Canadian. Also because some fans of the comic advised him as such and he jokingly said in an Entertainment Tonight interview that he begged the voice coach to teach him a Canadian accent or the fans would kill him. ;-)
posted by sammy at 12:07 AM on July 22, 2000


Or it may have been NBC Today, I can't actually remember which... d'oh.
posted by sammy at 12:09 AM on July 22, 2000


My bad. Guess I should do a little research before I go posting like an idiot on MeFi. =P

As for The Beast being done Jar Jar Binks-style, I think it'll piss off the real hardcore X-Men fans. The Beast is supposed to be an incredible intellect, not some stupid little character meant to attract little kids to watch the movie. I don't think it'll happen. The X-Men story is much more intricate and real than the Star Wars universe will ever be.
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 12:14 AM on July 22, 2000


I don't think he mean that the beast would be done as a cartoon wacky guy. I think he meant that they were talking about doing him as a CGI character.
posted by dogwelder at 1:08 AM on July 22, 2000


Steven...I can't believe I'm gonna answer this, but Kitty seemed a slender, if rather attractive, young woman. She's an actress. You know what I mean. And the Beast is probably only going to be CGI after he mutates himself, according to some folks.

Oh, and on the Spiderman movie: Cameron is out, Sam 'Darkman, Army of Darkness' Raimi is in. What that means, I'll leave as an exercise for the viewer.

One more note: The 'Captain America' made by Albert Pyun is Space Alien Incomprehensible. Unlike the X-Men movie, the changes aren't made in the interests of compression or story, but because Pyun is out of his mind. Italian Nazi's? The Red Skull as a goofy italian businessman? Captain America killing folks? Ronny Cox as a good guy? The whole thing is about as quality a film as your finer class of soft core pornography, but instead of people, it's the character who gets sodomized. And I'm sorry, but Captain America does not stare vacantly at evil. He gives it one of those burning defiant looks John Wayne was good at.
posted by Ezrael at 9:10 AM on July 22, 2000


I'll say what I said on my weblog: all I ever learned about X-Men was what I needed to understand the parody references in Cerebus! Well, perhaps a bit more than that. So I can't call myself an X-Men fan, just a comics fan. Still, I loved it and left the theater wanting more. It's not just a terrific comic book movie, it's a fun summer action movie that doesn't, for a change, insult your intelligence. Singer actually took care to ground the fantasy aspects in solid realism and detail.

One of hte problems, I thought, was the unfortunate last-minute studio-mandated cut. I'm sure we'll get more details eventually, but allegedly the original running time left some test audiences bored, so they took a chainsaw to it and excised 45 minutes. My feeling was that they could have left maybe 20 of those in, kept the same sense of pacing, and maybe some of those characters (like Mystique) would have actually had some lines. I hope we'll get it in the DVD.

For me, what held the movie together was the strong focus on the Wolverine and Rogue story -- not exactly a conventional love story, but very central to the themes of the X-Men universe.
posted by dhartung at 10:33 AM on July 22, 2000


Another thing that irked me about the Captain America movie, Brother Ezrael, the movie wasted so much time with Steve Rogers trying to adapt to a world he "woke up to" 50 years later.... give me a break! Why couldn't he have just stayed in the 40's at least for this movie? Whip some GERMAN Nazi ass through most of the movie, instead of that lame 3 minute showdown with the Red Skull? It was all there, but a bad script and a low budget just killed it.

There's talk of doing another "Fantastic Four", I'm *afraid* of renting what they put out... The Thing in CGI... that would be kewl.

And tomorama, according to the rumors "Superman Lives" is still in the planning stage (shooting sheduled tentatively late 2001?), but it looks like Nicholas Cage is out....



posted by CyberPal at 10:39 AM on July 22, 2000


I read about the new superman something like 2 1/2 years ago in one of my brother's film magazines, I always figured it'd be out by now. I guess all those problems were just too much.And yes, when I mentioned the rumor that they were doing The Beast jar-jar binks style, I meant that he would be done in CGI. No reference to his personality whatsoever.
posted by tomorama at 12:37 PM on July 22, 2000


Hey. I loved X-Men. My husband and I saw it at a matinee the day it came out (Stadium Theater #2, Rohnert Park, CA). It was goooooooooood! We rated it a 7.5(me) and an 8(him).I just wish my favorite X-Man, the Scarlet Witch, had been in it. Maybe in the inevitable sequel(s)....
posted by Lynsey at 4:31 PM on July 22, 2000


You're trolling for me to prove how big a geek I am, aren't you, Lynsey? You're just dying for me to get all snotty and go off on how the Scarlet Witch was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, never an X-Man, aren't you? Well, I'm not going to do it. After all, Wanda was in as many issues of the book as Toad, and she was a lot nicer to look at.

Cyberpal's analysis of what else was wrong with the Pyun version of Captain America is also dead on. I mean, what the hell? Is it that hard to figure out? Cap and the Howlers take on the Nazi scourge! It's easy. I think the problem was due to the fact that the screenwriter admitted to having never ever heard of Cap before being assigned to write the film, and then refusing to read the comics.

Also, as for Superman Lives...the Kevin Smith shooting script was good. That's all I know about it.
posted by Ezrael at 5:52 PM on July 22, 2000


So if we have seen it or read/followed the comics, which character, if you were to be a mutant would you want to be or to just have the power that would be cool to use. I wouldn't mind having the ability to walk through walls just to see some reactions.
posted by brent at 7:02 PM on July 22, 2000


I'd give my left nut for adamantium bones and rapid healing power... wouldn't complain about the claws either. :0)
posted by CyberPal at 8:04 PM on July 22, 2000


I just got back from the Comic-Con in San Diego where X-Men executive producer Tom DeSanto and Kevin Smith both talked.

One thing Tom mentioned was that the yellow spandex joke was something that a fan on the Internet had actually made a joke about after the photos of the black suits where leaked during production. Cool.

Kevin Smith told a long story about the script he wrote for "Superman Lives". He said that the producer had given him free reign with only the following guidelines: 1) Superman would never wear the dumb suit, 2) he would never be seen flying, and 3) he would fight a giant spider. I'm not making this up.

The point being that it's a miracle that the X-Men movie followed the comic at all.
posted by y6y6y6 at 8:45 PM on July 22, 2000


Agreed, Y6cubed. Still, they didn't really follow the comic. I was pleased they successfully got the theme to shine through, as I said I was afraid about before. Overall it was a great movie. I felt like a child again. My personal favorite's always been Kitty Pryde, and by the time I noticed it was her, all I saw was her back as she slipped through the door. I would say I wished they put more characters in the film, but in actuality considering the pace of the film, they may have been better off leaving a couple out. There's just too many characters in the X-Men universe to properly do justice to them in less than two hours.

Wolverine and Rogue have always been two of my least favorite characters. So I was pleasantly surprised to find myself leaving the theater actually liking them.

Loved Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler in the comix. If they can do Mystique, they can do Nightcrawler. Not sure if they could ever do a movie with them. With a young Rogue, they don't need Kitty. If they bring in Beast next time, Nightcrawler would almost be redundant, although I've personally found Nightcrawler's character more interesting than Beast.

I was the only person in the theater who laughed at the 'yellow spandex' line. I also felt like the only person in the room who caught Kitty Pryde's brief appearance. I never saw Jubilee.

Did anybody else catch the Toad thing, right after he tosses Storm into the elevator shaft, he grabs a metal poll and spins it in a very familiar way. Very obscure signature there. If memory serves, Toad is played by the same actor who was Darth Maul in Episode One. Toad briefly looks right into the camera when he does that. Was that my imagination or do you think that was done on purpose? That was another moment when I laughed and the rest of the audience was still as a tomb.

Captain America? Haven't seen it. Won't see it. Fantastic Four? I heard an FF movie was made several years ago but Spielberg bought it and shelved it permanently, cuz he reportedly wants to do it someday and do it right. Spider-man is so locked up in court battles we may never see it happen. Nick Cage as Superman? I'm glad that one DIDN'T happen. As long as Christopher Reeves is still alive, I personally don't want to see another Superman. The first and second movies are enough to go back and watch if I ever need a Supes Fix.

Sorry about the Alec GuinNess thing. I almost kept my mouth shut about it. One of those potential flame-bait misunderstandings. My heart was in the right place even if my mouth, as usual, was not. Good to hear he's still kicking. I did read an obit about him several months ago on the 'Net. Good to know that wasn't accurate.

As for what power I'd personally want, I think I'd go for the ESP route, but I'd want it ALL. Telepathy. Telekinesis. Clarivoyance. All that stuff. =)
posted by ZachsMind at 11:09 PM on July 22, 2000


All right, I've held it in long enough. I've read X-Men for about ten years, and my fixation was always for Jubilee, both because I like her spunk and she was befriended by Wolverine. Best Jubilee issue: Uncanny, #261. (Introducing Hardcase and the Harriers).
I saw the first show last Friday, so as you can imagine the place was packed with fanboys (and girls, oddly enough) so everyone laughed at the spandex line.
Yes, my brother and I caught the Darth Maul reference and I almost spewed Diet Coke all over the person's head in front of me.
As for the nitpicking (Iceman AND Kitty as students?!?) I think the beauty of having an armada of characters is that for each medium you can select the best characters for your intended story. They aren't impinging on Kitty, Jubes, or Bobby's personalities by making them all teens; in fact, they're really just thrown in to make us fanboys titter in gleeful recognition.
On that thought, animation fans, this fall the WB is premiering "X-Men Evolution" (according to my new issue of Toyfare in which it is alluded that many different generations of X-persons will be amalgamated into one new class of teens super mutants.
posted by Awol at 3:51 AM on July 23, 2000


brent: You want reactions? Have Husk's power. The ability to shapeshift by tearing off your own skin.
posted by jason at 10:23 AM on July 23, 2000


Well jeez guys.... everyone nitpicking over chronological member rosters....

Think about it.

Who would have given a rat's ass about this movie if it just had Professor X, Marvel Girl, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman & Angel (ala the original 1963 comic)???

It reminds me of the furor when we all heard in 1988 that Michael Keaton was cast as Batman (I assumed right then & there it was going to be a comedy)... guess what? A decade later and the general concensus was that the Keaton/Burton versions were the best of the series (I personally thought Kilmer was but...)

And I still remember so many people leaving the theater bitching that Robin was nowere to be found... Can't please everyone. :0)
posted by CyberPal at 6:21 PM on July 23, 2000


To the person who couldn't find Jubilee in the movie: She's the one wearing the yellow jacket thing that's sitting between Rogue and Kitty Pryde in the classroom scene.
posted by stefnet at 6:32 PM on July 23, 2000


I haven't seen the movie yet, and I'm typing this with my head down. Zach, you're a mean mean person for creating the temptation. :-)
posted by cCranium at 6:52 AM on July 24, 2000


Couple things:

I totally noticed the Toad thing too! He is all aloof and joking and then suddenly pulls an evil grim and staredown, spins the bar, even the stance is totally Darth. The actor is Ray Park - he does both roles well.

Hugh Jackman was awesome: I heard somewhere that he read tons of comics and studied up because he knew the fanbase of fanatics was out there.

It was a pretty bad ending if you ask me: Better to make the movie good and end on a good note, and attract viewers for the sequel that way, then leave it so open-ended. Like I'm going to see a sequal just because I want to see what happens with a story I saw in a movie 2 years previous!


posted by pixelboy at 9:48 AM on July 24, 2000


I had that same feeling with "The Empire Strikes Back"...
Ended on all these bad notes... I hated that f*cking movie. Then had to wait 3 years for a sequel????

Memo2Hollywood: If you're going to leave audiences with a bad taste in their mouths... have the sequel ready for release, or at least in production (take a lesson from "Back To The Future") while this movie is in the theaters....
posted by CyberPal at 11:48 AM on July 24, 2000


But isn't that why it's taking so long for us to see the Tolkein movies? They don't want to put the first one out there without having the other two in the can, or did I miss a step somewhere?

Sorry Cranium. Tried ta warn ya dude! =) Actually I don't think anything in this thread would ruin the movie for anyone. In fact you might catch a few little things that are pretty hard to see the first time you watch. Even if someone posted all the dialogue online, that wouldn't ruin the film. It's great eye candy. Arguably, it is perhaps one of the best attempts by Hollywood to put comics on the silver screen.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:29 PM on July 24, 2000


Zach, you did warn me. I just wanted to growl at you.

And, now that I've seen the movie and read the thread, you're right, I could've read the entire thing and not missed out.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, although having to explain to my girlfriend why the Cyclops character was perfect was irritating. :-)

I will comment on the 45 minutes on the cutting room floor though. I noticed a number of spots that dialogue seemed to end quickly, or start seemingly mid-conversation.

-- REAL SPOILER WARNING actual plot mentioned below:

When Jean goes into the "Big, spherical room" is the most noticeable of these. I'm guessing there's something elaborate that happens in there, but all we see is the doors close, her collapse, and the door open. After, her powers seem significantly advanced, and her and Prof. X share a nice little moment near the end of the film.
posted by cCranium at 6:19 AM on July 25, 2000


Can anyone say X-men 2: Phoenix Effect? I think they did plenty of hinting towards this (or possibly jumping right into Dark Phoenix) as a sequel.

I want to see Juggernaut, myself. Being Xavier's brother and all, I think it would be quite appropriate. As long as they don't do any of the Shi'ar stuff with Xavier. There would be way too many Star Trek references going on. They would be wise to stay away.
posted by dgallo at 10:46 AM on July 25, 2000


I figured on X-Men 2: Wolverine, Where are you? Oh yeah, and What happened in your past.

Dark Pheonix probably won't be 'til the third one, which is too bad, 'cause that was one of the greatest series of cartoons every on TV and comics in print.

What'd you see that hinted towards it? There's no talk of aliens in this one, and they've got (from what I remember) a significant role in the whole Pheonix story-line.
posted by cCranium at 2:18 PM on July 25, 2000


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