วันอังคารที่ 24 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2552

X-Men Collection (X-Men/X2 - X-Men United - Widescreen Edition)

X-Men Collection (X-Men/X2 - X-Men United - Widescreen Edition) Review



Again, I'll say it's not easy to make a movie about super heroes, especially popular heroes that have been around for 40+ years.

It's a challenge to make a movie that appeals to people like myself, who were around to see the beginnings of Marvel and the X-Men in the 1960's, in addition to other generations who've followed the characters in the decades since. And then it's not so easy to appeal to those who've never heard of Marvel or the X-Men.

I did a little research, and confirmed my guess. The movies reflect a combination of different lineups over the decades.

The original team consisted of Professor X, Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Ice Man, and "Marvel Girl" (Jean Grey.) Beast looked more human, in that he originally didn't have the blue fur.

In 1975, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine and others were introduced.

There were even more changes, and different "factions" of X-men in the past 40+ years. In the 1990's, the X-men started wearing the suits that are seen in the X-Men movies.

It's difficult to follow the movie with so many X-men. This is especially true in X-Men, The Last Stand. I can't help wonder why they didn't limit the sheer number of characters. They could have chosen to introduce them in future X-Men movies.

The first X-Men movie introduces Wolverine and Rogue... They have a very dynamic and dramatic relationship... a friendship rather than a romantic relationship. Rogue can literally suck the life out of people, while Wolverine has amazing recuperative powers, coming back from the Brink of Death.

We see some of Magneto's background, and perhaps get a better understanding of what made him the villain of the movie. We see his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and witness their plot to turn normal humans into mutants. It's a great story.

X2 depicts more insights into Wolverine's origins, and introduces General Stryker, a human villain, intent on exterminating all mutants. We see the powerful Magneto reduced to a helpless, tortured prisoner, and his eventual escape. We see the unlikely alliance between the Evil Mutants and the X-Men, and so much more.

Again, another great movie.




X-Men Collection (X-Men/X2 - X-Men United - Widescreen Edition) Overview


X-Men
It's a rare comic-book movie that doesn't fall over its cape introducing all the characters, and X-Men is the exception, dropping us into a world that is closer to our own than Batman's Gotham City, but is still home to super-powered heroes and villains. Opening in high seriousness with paranormal activity in a World War II concentration camp and a senatorial inquiry into the growing "mutant problem", Bryan Singer's film sets up a complex background with economy and establishes vivid, strange characters well before we get to the fun. There's Halle Berry flying and summoning snowstorms, James Marsden zapping people with his "optic beams," Rebecca Romijn-Stamos shape-shifting her blue naked form, and Ray Park lashing out with his Toad-tongue. The big conflict is between Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, super-powerful mutants who disagree about their relationship with ordinary humans, but the characters we're meant to identify with are Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Anna Paquin's Rogue. There are in-jokes enough to keep comics fans engaged, but it feels more like a science-fiction movie than a superhero picture. --Kim Newman

X2: X-Men United
X2 does a fine job of picking up where X-Men left off, giving fans more of what they liked the first time around. Under the serious-minded custody of returning director Bryan Singer, the second film of this Marvel comics franchise ups the ante on Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and the superhero mutants from the first film, pitting them against a mutant-hating scientist (Brian Cox) who's determined to wipe out the mutant race by tricking Xavier into abusing his telepathic powers. More a series of spectacles than a truly satisfying thriller, X2 introduces new mutant allies while giving each of the X-Men alumni--notably the temporarily helpful Magneto (Ian McKellen)--their own time in the spotlight. Well aware of the parallels between "mutantism" and virulent intolerance in the real world, Singer lends real gravity to the proceedings, injecting dramatic urgency into a continuing franchise that, in lesser hands, might've grown patently absurd. --Jeff Shannon


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