X-Men (2000) – In
many ways, we comic book movie fans owe a lot to Bryan Singer, who demonstrated
in this film that the genre was a viable one beyond the self-parody of the
Schumacher era. Singer wisely opts to
throw viewers into the midst of the mythology without a lengthy origin
sequence; we join Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) as they meet
the X-Men, a group of powerful mutants led by Professor X (Patrick Stewart) in
opposition to the evil Magneto (Ian McKellen).
Using Wolverine and Rogue as entry points is genius; diehard fans
already love Wolverine, and newcomers will find Jackman one of the more
engaging comics-to-film translations.
But the film is populated by fantastic actors – including Halle Berry,
who doesn’t do much but does it well – and none are more brilliant than Stewart
and McKellen, who as dueling foes are more Shakespeare than Stan Lee (who
cameos, by the way – his first in a Marvel movie). Even James Marsden, who’s usual more
milquetoast than Patrick Wilson, proves a good fit as the stick-in-the-mud
Cyclops. As director, Singer does a great
job making the soap opera source material accessible and streamlined without
sacrificing the emotional complexity of the characters; there are hundreds of
X-Men, but Singer picks the big ones and never loses sight of the fact that their
interactions are more interesting than the giant machine Magneto builds for the
surreal climax of the film. Above all,
this is a film that feels real, that winks
not ironically but lovingly at its source material, acknowledging its depth
without overloading its audience.
X2: X-Men United (2003) – Singer proves the
rule here with a comic book sequel that is leaps and bounds better than its
predecessor (which, if you’ll recall, was no slouch). Unfettered by the necessity to introduce the
characters and their world, Singer dives headlong into the central problem of
acceptance by pitting the X-Men against military bureaucrat William Stryker
(Brian Cox), whose policy of indiscriminate mutant genocide unites heroes and
villains. Everything successful about
the original stands here, as well, turned up to 11; the acting excels, from
McKellen as caged animal Magneto to newcomer Cox, whose performance drips sadistic
menace with each drawled consonant. The
cast of characters is beefed up a little, but never disproportionately beyond
what the film can handle and never without significant narrative and thematic
purpose; each addition deepens rather than overfills. X2,
perhaps more than its antecedent, operates on the level of metaphor, something
I really want my superhero films to do.
Here the metaphor is on the nature of intolerance, which Singer carries
off without being overbearing; in one standout scene, among my favorites in the
trilogy, a mutant’s mother asks, “Have you tried not being a mutant?” It’s an oddly quiet moment in a summer
blockbuster, but it’s one that reminds us what’s at stake behind the flash of
optic blasts and the snikt of razor
claws. Bonus points for its clever link
with Stryker’s abuse of his own mutant son, which reminds us that bigotry isn’t
a spectrum. Even the previous film’s
villain recognizes this, and McKellen’s nuanced return is a more than welcome
one.
X-Men 3: The Last Stand (2006) – When Singer
stepped aside from his pet franchise to direct Superman Returns, Brett Ratner stepped in. It’s a series of bad decisions that led to a pair
of lackluster films (more on Superman
Returns later), which is a shame because there are obvious moments where X-Men 3 is on the right track and other
moments when it obviously goes awry. The
introduction of the “mutant cure” is in many ways a perfect end to a trilogy
about what to do about heterogeneity, but Ratner seems to overcompensate for getting
a shot at the X-Men toy box by cramming the film with scores of new characters
who don’t do much at all. (Ask yourself
how many of their names you can remember.)
Worse, the film kills off some of the more interesting characters very
early on, presumably to make room for the new faces, but for my money the film
never really recovers from (spoiler warning) the death of Professor X. The film trades in clichés, as when a
military drill sergeant is played by R. Lee Ermey or when a character repeats,
dead serious, the bromide about a woman scorned. The climax is among the better action
sequences in the trilogy, if only on a purely visceral level; Magneto’s
manipulation of the Golden Gate Bridge is a brilliant visual, and the execution
of the “fastball special” is as fun on film as it is on panel. But the film fumbles so much before that
point – and butchers the “Dark Phoenix” plotline almost beyond recognition –
that X-Men 3 tries to be too much and
ultimately never succeeds at being much at all.
The trilogy deserved better.
That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you here next week!
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