2000 / 104 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Jason Jones

1999 was an unforgettable year for movies. Week after week something new, and amazing, was being introduced. After such a wonderful year it is hard to expect anything other than a letdown to take place the following year.

The year 2000 has lived up to it’s billing and then some. Week after week we have been pummeled with shit, shit, and more shit with a few very notable exceptions being “Gladiator”, “Mission: Impossible 2″ and “High Fidelity” to name a few of the few. To sum it up the year has, for the most part, been forgettable. It is at this bleak time in filmgoing history that Bryan Singer (”The Usual Suspects”) brings us the long-awaited screen adaptation of the adventures of the comic book legends known simply as the X-Men.

Going into the film I must say that I didn’t expect much. I’ve never read the comics and didn’t know anymore about the X-Men than the characters names and what a few of them were supposed to look like. I knew Wolverine was supposed to be one bad mutha and not much else.

After the film I felt quite differently about the X-Men. I think the feeling I had would be somewhat akin to that which was felt by those fortunate souls who were able to see the original “Star Wars” during it’s initial theatrical run. “X-Men” is by no means as revolutionary as “Star Wars”. Not by a long shot. What it is, however, is the dawn of a new world that we will come to know very well in the years to come. It will inevitably transform itself into one of the cinema’s more legendary film franchises. That is, if those films that are sure to follow, can live up to the original and the expectations that will undoubtedly follow along with it.

So what the Hell makes this movie so damn special you ask? That’s a difficult question to answer, since I think everybody will be able to take away their own memorable moments from this movie. Maybe that is what makes it great. The fact that it is so solid, that virtually every scene can be described as memorable.

This film took me on a ride that I never expected to take. From the Concentration Camps of Nazi Germany to a final battle atop the Statue of Liberty in the present day. Along the way we are introduced to a variety of colorful characters that we will find ourselves caring about as the film carries out it’s appointed tasks.

What makes this movie work is that it lets us get to know some of these X-Men on a more human level. The film does a wonderful job of grounding itself in reality by taking us beneath the skin of it’s two main characters, Wolverine and Rogue (Anna Paquin).

We are first introduced to Rogue when she shares her first kiss with a boy. At first it appears that her lips are more lethal than Xenia Onatopp’s formidable thighs, but eventually she realizes that she is one of the mutants her government is attempting to regulate. With this knowledge she goes on a trip to Canada. It is in Canada that she runs across a brawler who goes by the name of Wolverine. He is, as the name implies, a badass. He seemingly earns his living from beating the hell out of anyone who is stupid enough to fight him at the local bar and grill. But there is more to this man than a lot of broken bodies being scattered around him. Like Rogue, he too is a mutant, but he has a past that is unknown to him. It haunts him much the same as the day that I made the decision to buy “The Talented Mr. Ripley” on DVD haunts me. I am still looking for the reasons behind my purchase much the same as Wolverine searches for the reasons behind his mutant powers.

After a misguided hitchhiking attempt, Rogue and Wolverine hook up and find their way to Professor X (Patrick Stewart). He is the head of a sort of “mutant academy” for those who would otherwise be outcasts to the rest of the world. From here the action and intrigue kick into high gear as the plot unfolds with Magneto (Ian McKellan) planning to eventually turn the population into mutants just the same as he and his cohorts in crime. It’s a fun ride that will keep you involved from beginning to end.

The best thing about this movie is that you don’t have to be an ardent fan of the comic series to enjoy it. This is a film that could exist with or without the comic books to back it up. It will please both those who have followed the X-Men for years and those who are meeting them for the first time with this movie.

Despite the notion of sounding cheesy I have to say that this movie is X-cellent!!! It is without a doubt the first surefire hit of the year. So get your ass out from behind that computer monitor and head down to the local theater. If you need a little motivation just think about the fact that you will get to watch Rebecca Romijn-Stamos parade around naked for the better part of two hours. Granted she’s wearing a beautiful coat of body paint, but hell you’ve got an imagination for a reason. Use it!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 14th, 2000 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Jason's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.