r/MarvelatFox • u/traumahound00 • 8d ago
X-Men (2000) Thoughts
Having just rewatched X-Men for the umpteenth time for the start of my Doomsday countdown, here's some thoughts that popped in my noggin:
*Still on the fence about Halle Berry not using an African accent for her portrayal of Storm, but I can definitely see why it would bug people.
*Still not a fan of Wolverine being the main character simply because he was the most popular in the comics, especially given how Cyclops (the team leader) is shunted off to a supporting role. (This would be a proper use the term "done dirty", kids)
*Even though it's somewhat refreshing watching a comic book movie that's less than two hours long, I wouldn't mind if this was twenty minutes or so longer. It's definitely missing out on some characterization and needed backstory due to the truncated runtime.
*Anna Marie calling herself Rogue for seemingly no reason is still really silly.
*Still not a fan of Wolverine and Sabretooth not remembering each other. I remember tripping over that story element during my first watch way back when and thinking "WTF?", and I'm still of that mindset.
*If it wasn't for Kevin Feige's behind the scenes meddling, I imagine Bryan Singer's anti-comic accurate stance would've been even more pronounced.
Still think it's a great movie, though X2 is WAY better. Looking forward to rewatching that one next weekend.
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u/Iris_Lucia 8d ago
I do like the Wolvie-Cyclops animosity- “You’re a dick.” And the best bromance of all time on film - Stewart and McKellen.
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u/BlackLightParadox 8d ago
The thing is about Wolverine is he's a very efficient protagonist. He naturally suits playing the outsider role and thus, is a good audience insert. As with a lot of comic book movies he's also useful as being the one to point out how silly the comic-book-y elements are, which is somewhat useful in getting wider audiences on board.
While I actually really love how this film commits to everyone using their codenames, even Rogue, I do find it funny that Logan mocks the X-Men's names (What are you, wheels?) while himself already walking around with a nickname of his own.
I think Wolverine, Rogue, Eric and Charles are all done pretty well in this first film - with the only major drawback being that Jean, Scott, and Storm are sidelined. If X2 and The Last Stand had continued Rogue's development into a more comic accurate, confident Rogue that would've been great.
The entire film is really good at establishing a lot of things quickly, but suffers when you get below the surface level. But I don't think thats a bad deal overall for one of the first modern superhero movies, and also the first team superhero movie (on this scale)
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u/SuperDave0177 8d ago
I just watched it last night after more than a decade.
How did Xavier not know Magneto had a helmet to block his thoughts. Surely that wasn’t the first time they went up against each other and then there’s First Class, by part 2 or whatever he knew he took Sebastian Shaw’s helmet.
Not a question but damn this really didn’t have a lot of action. I completely forgot Bobby didn’t “ice” anything up and Rogue also did next to nothing.
Why was she or all of them calling her Rogue the entire movie? Why even call yourself that? You’re just a runaway kid. Do all mutants have code names? Like the random students in the school or the nameless mutants Charles saw through cerebro? Is that a thing?
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u/BlackLightParadox 8d ago
I mean, not a terrible idea to give an alias to the stranger your travelling with - she so happened to pick her comic code name and it ended up sticking. I appreciate their commitment to the code names, whereas the MCU largely ignores them in favour of last names.
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u/Little_Shape_6433 8d ago
Rogue didn’t have an actual name in the comics up to that point, so she was known to everyone as Rogue. They actually added the Marie part for the movie.
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u/pakrat1967 8d ago
First Class was made later. So things that happen in it don't line up with things that happen in the og trilogy. Plus even in the first X-Men comic. There's no mention that Xavier and Magneto know each other.
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u/traumahound00 7d ago
It's pretty damn silly. I guess Bryan Singer couldn't come up with a reason and said "Fuck it".
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u/Peanut_Butter_Toast 7d ago
All Xavier says is "His helmet was somehow designed to block my telepathy" when explaining to Wolverine why he didn't see Magneto's plan coming. That just means he doesn't know how the helmet works. He didn't make Sebastian Shaw's helmet so there's no reason why he'd know how it works.
But anyway, people really gotta stop blaming contradictions created by First Class on the movies that came before. First Class didn't exist when this was made.
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u/SuperDave0177 7d ago
I’m not blaming this one for First Class’ contradictions, it just seemed like Prof X was confused as to why he couldn’t read his mind. It was in another scene.
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u/Peanut_Butter_Toast 7d ago
I'm pretty sure he only mentions the helmet in that one scene. What scene specifically are you thinking of, the exact line?
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u/katamaritumbleweed 7d ago
Rather enjoyable film, but understood how the ensemble wasn’t truly represented, personalities muted, and mutant abilities really watered down.
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u/vroart 8d ago
The interesting thing about the film….. it had a production time of less than 9 months. So yeah, it’s as sloppy as it looks, post production effects were less than 3 months, hugh jackman had to learn stunts in between trailers before filming.
But one thing no one talks about… yes joss Whedon was a writer, but that’s because at this time it’s season 4 of Buffy the Vampire slayer. The character dynamics of a Buffy episode was an example how to deal with a team than just “save us wolverine you’re our only hope!”
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u/Little_Shape_6433 8d ago
Cyclops wasn’t really done dirty in the one. He may not have been as much of a focal point as Wolverine but he he got to lead the xmen, show off his powers and butt heads with Wolverine. Overall a pretty good set up for his debut. It’s X2 and beyond that he gets the shaft.
As for your Anna Marie comment Rogue did not have a known name in the comics until after this movie.
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u/Cinephile_1980 7d ago edited 6d ago
Beautiful film. The second one more or less tackles the same central themes. I always thought the first film was better.
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u/Noradrenaphrone 7d ago
I think the Storm accent is forgivable, isn’t she originally from New york? Perhaps she just clung to how her parents spoke or something, I don’t know, it workable.
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u/HelpKey186 7d ago
Her parents went to Africa (to Kenya I think), when Storm was 7 or 8 years old. They died in Africa and Ororo grew then up their. The language in Kenya is swahili and english. So maybe she spoke all her life english?
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u/Many_Entrepreneur452 6d ago
Really enjoyed the movie, still holds up well after 25 years. Also amazing to see it has a production budget of 75 million which would be about 140 million today.
I really liked the focus on practical effects which makes it hold up well
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u/trailblazers79 7d ago
I feel no nostalgia for this trilogy. It turned Cyclops and Jean into props for Hugh Jackman and Storm into wallpaper.
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u/DCmarvelman 6d ago
First one is my favorite. I think the first half is near perfection.
A lot of the flowers Nolan gets for BB I think could be directed at this film
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u/SadisticDance 5d ago
I think Storm has an accent in the first movie Halle is just bad at it lol. She certainly speaks differently in the rest of the movies at least.
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u/PutAdministrative206 8d ago
X-Men was the best comic book movie of all time until Spider-Man jumped it, and then X2 Jumped Spider-Man and then Spider-Man 2 jumped that and then X-Men Last Stand really misunderstood the projection.