After watching the first three X-Men films from the early 2000’s, I realize that I have watched entirely too many superhero films from this age that I feel like it’s not fair to go back and compare these to something like Avengers or even Superman (and I hate to even say that). With that being said, I’m going to do it anyway because that’s what I do. Also, we’ll be reintroduced to these mutants in Avengers: Doomsday, so we’ll be talking about them even more soon. Here goes…
Let’s get this out of the way. What were these graphics? Were we just watching any ole thing back in the day? The action kept me entertained but I hated seeing Scott use his powers, but, again, we’ve been watching pristine graphics for the past decade, so I’ll allow it. It also seemed like they saved all the really compelling dialogue for Erik and Xavier, and with actors like Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart….duh!
One thing Americans respond to is anything related to slavery and the Holocaust. I did forget this movie started with Erik’s origins in Auschwitz which, for me, is never really a focus but is always a nice subtle reminder of why he fights so hard for mutants to be who they are without hiding or being punished for it. Made his character and passion richer for me. The classic moral beef between Xavier and Magneto was the core of at least two of these first three films, and it’s always a good story. It’s not just good versus evil or right or wrong. Erik and Xavier really make you think what would be a right or wrong decision in these types of situations. Is a Mutant Registration not like that of the Holocaust or when freed slaves had to carry around freedom papers? Or is that not a fair assessment because being able to identify a mutant and its powers could be a matter of national security? Who’s to say, but I do love that I thought about that often as I watched this film.
For those who forgot, this movie started and centered around Wolverine, the bond he forms with Rogue, and hints of Wolverine’s origin story for this cinematic universe. Tom Holland was right in a recent interview with Jon Bernthal where he said there are a few heroes you’ve never want to play because of who came before. Iron Man was one and Wolverine was another. I don’t know if it’s because we’ve seen Hugh Jackman as Wolverine for so long, but he was just so perfect as this character. This rugged yet soft character arc was just done so well for me. I also forgot how young Jackman looked in this film. The love triangle between him, Scott, and Jean was cute. I like that it stayed very low level. It didn’t overtake the heroes and their mission or the movie, for that matter.
This is going to sound crazy, but for a movie that started with her, I didn’t feel like we go enough of Rogue. I’ll get to the second movie in another post, but it felt like her main goal was to be someone to give Wolverine a heart and motivation, and not for us to explore her as a person. The only person we really get a backstory to are Wolverine (sort of) and Magneto. For that reason, you’re really only concerned about Magneto’s plan because Wolverine is determined to save Rogue and because the beef between Xavier and Erik is just so compelling because of the dialogue! Other than that, saving humans from becoming mutants to….I guess give them an understanding of what they were trying to regulate. Yes, I understand that Thanos snapping half of the universe out of existence or Wanda terrorizing universes until she found her happy ending is skewing my view of the stakes in this film. Yet and still, when you go back and look at it, it’s like, “I guess, Magneto.”
Mystique, regardless of what side you’re on, is just a badass. Every time I saw her, I said to myself, “Where did she get this level of training?” Not only is she great with hand to hand combat, but we saw her fly a plan, hack into a computer system, and a bunch of other things down the line. And these are things she’s doing as herself. Not copying anyone. Does she retain what the can do over time? No one told me so I’m left to wonder and assume.
Small thing her but I didn’t realize that Halle Berry as Storm only had like five lines in this entire film. Looking through her filmography, this was her first major role at the time. The closest one to this was her role as Angela in Boomerang. The next year would be Monster’s Ball. X2 came out a few years later and she had more lines then.
Honestly, compared to X2 and X-Men Last Stand, I would put this dead last. I think the other two films have a higher stakes and a little more action and story that carries more weight for me. It is a great movie for setting the stage for the next two but that’s about it.
Last but not least, how did they get that machine on top of the Statue of Liberty AND disguise it? I had questions, and yes, I know movie has got to movie and I know Magneto probably moved it, but to put it up there WITH the torch cover?
What do you remember about this movie? Was this your introduction to mutants?
