I’ve never read a single X-Men comic in my life. I know that is weird to bring up but I had not too much recollection of who the X-Men were and what their adventures consisted of. I mean I knew who Wolverine was and kinda knew a little bit about his personality, but the rest of the X-Men characters I knew very little of. I was hoping the X-Men movie released in 2000 would elaborate on the well know Marvel characters that were introduced by Stan Lee and company. Sadly, I felt the movie while good for its time seemed to be lacking when compared to superhero movies from the MCU or the Sam Rami Spider-Man movies. So many moviegoers enjoy this adaptation of the superhero team, but I just couldn’t bring myself to feel the same way for many reasons.
In a world where mutants co-exist with humans, Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) tries to keep the peace between the two halves while running a school for young people who were born mutants. Charles then sends out his former students now teachers Storm (Halle Berry) and Cyclops (James Marsden) to find and escort mutants Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and a stowaway named Rogue (Anna Paquin) back to Xavier’s school. However, when a new treat called Magneto (Ian McKellen) steals Rogue for his own plans for destruction, it’s up to the mutants and reluctant Wolverine to stop Magneto in his tracks before he harnesses rouges power to kill off innocent people
Now before I go harsh on this story let me tell you what I thought did work in the overall narrative. I do like the idea that there is a school for people who are gifted with superpowers and the tone of the film leads the movie to take itself seriously which is welcomed. The problem with that though is that the film takes itself too seriously to the point that it becomes boring and drained of personality. I’m not against serious comic book stories, but sometimes it’s okay to have comical and over-the-top ideas to help make your product stand out from others as long as you don’t go too far with one or the other. It’s sad too because the story does have some makings of a good comic book adaptation with its worldbuilding and action set pieces. the problem is that because it’s so set on being “realistic” it feels very lacking and not at all fun. I wanted to believe I could like this movie’s story, but it was just too boring and standard of a superhero movie that is too boring for me to claim it to be good.
Having a sluggish storyline seems to be hurting this movie, but hey maybe the characters can save the storyline with their charm and charisma, and they….sort of do to an extent. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is honestly okay, at the time he seemed like a fitting choice but his motivations and reasons for being the way he is seemed underdeveloped and not very interesting. I’m not blaming Jackman, I just think Wolverine's character could use some more interesting quirks and character traits to make him stand out. The rest of the X-Men are honestly hit or miss as they ride the line of being okay to just being bland and uninteresting and I don’t think that should be the case. This is especially the case with Cyclops played by James Marsden who I know can be a good actor and play a variety of characters. The way this movie portrayed him feels dull and uninteresting and it’s not just him it’s also prevalent in characters like Storm and Rogue as they aren’t given enough time and care to show what their personalities are capable of. The only characters that seem to be having any fun in this movie are Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier and Ian McKellen as Magneto as they both have great personalities and seem to take advantage of the fact that they are in a comic book movie and their unique character traits make them a stand out in this movie. I hope the X-Men characters are better crafted in the comics because from the looks of this movie, most of them seem to be lacking in personality and interesting character arcs.
The cinemotogrpy has the potential to show off cool superhero action and unique settings. While we do get those things in time, sadly even the cinemotogrpy is somewhat lacking in staying true to comic book visualization sometimes. The school of Charlies Xavier for example seems empty and lacking in personality. We barely get enough time to see the mutants use their powers in the school setting and a lot of the school has a gray and colorless feel that is boring and redundant. the costuming for the characters such as wolverine feels dull and uninteresting and makes me wish i could see a more stylised and colorful costume from the comics However, the action scenes do have some aspects of comic book action, and seeing characters like Wolverine and Magneto in action with their powers can lead to some interesting visual choices. I wished we could have gotten more creative visuals like in the Sam Rami Spider-Man movies or most of the MCU films, but I guess the cinemotogrpy is fine enough.
The Music is done by Michael Kamen who did the music score for the cult 80’s favorite Adventures in Babysitting. While this is far from the best superhero music ever crafted, I give the movie and the composer full kudos for trying their hardest to create a music score worthy enough for a comic book adaptation.
I want to love this movie and I know a lot of people do, but I’m sorry, I just thought this was a bland and uninteresting movie that had a lot of potential for creative ideas and interesting character insights. This does however make me want to take a look at the comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko as I would hope the characters and stories of the X-Men would be much better and more engaging on paper than they were in this movie. It’s not a bad movie by any means necessary, it just felt okay and it honestly should have been better than just okay especially knowing how far superhero movies have come. If you love it all power to ya, but there are many other superhero movies I would rather be watching that have better execution and likable characters.
(Final Grade: C)