FILM: X-Men

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

X-Men

After seeing First Class last week, and probably going through the Batman films this weekend I thought it prudent to go back to the genesis of the modern era superhero film. X-Men.

Singer had the good fortune that Marvel did not have a style and system in place, so he could do his own thing. It feels like a singular film, rather then part of a product line.

The film is well structured. The opening scene at the concentration camp not only introduces Magneto, but also clearly established his main motivation, and gives us a real world parallel of what mutants are. Without hammering the point in. The rest of the film does a good job introducing characters one after another AND actually having something of a plot.

This is an ensemble film. Casting is important. Each character has a limited amount of screen time so the actors need to get their point across straight away. Overall the cast is very good. Patrick Stewart was probably born to play Xavier and when we first see him and McKellen together in a very brief scene, they are able to tell us more about their past then X-Men: First Class did in more then 2 hours. McKellen is a joy to watch. There's a measures flamboyance to his Magneto, but he doesn't ham it up. He understands that Magneto is a hero is his own mind, fighting on the front line to prevent his race from being outcast again.

Hugh jackman became a star overnight because of this film. and the few scenes he was with Anna Paquin provide the films emotional centre. Famke Jansen and Rebecca Romein are strong in their roles

Less successful is Halle Barry as Storm. Angela Basset was considered and would have made a more forceful impression.

Also Magneto's 2 henchmen, Toad and Sabertooth are not very interesting.

Singers direction is very good, but the film suffers from studio politics. The release date was pushed forward 6 months and parts feel rushed. (for instance Xavier gets poisoned by Cerebro, get hospitalized, Famke Jansen fixes Cerebro and uses it all in a couple of minutes).

Another issue are the special effects, which even for 2000 standards feel a bit rough and unfinished. (is there even a cool shot of the X-Jet?) The action scenes are well done, but suffer a bit from the Matrix syndrome (fancy swivelling cameras in slow motion).

Michael Kamen was a great composer but his music was butchered in this film. Mixed too low most of the time. Techno added by Klaus Badelt.

Despite these niggles this is far better then the average Marvel fare. Pity it would be followed by only one other really good film.

[Jay 37,336]

I remember reading at some point that the original cut of the film was something like 30-45 minutes longer than the final theatrical cut. As scripted and filmed, instead of only Wolverine and Rogue having their origin explained at the beginning of the film, Cyclops and Storm had origin sequences too. I forget what the other footage was. Everyone assumed when Fox announced the "X-Men 1.5" DVD that it would be an extended cut with the footage restored, but that didn't come to be. Only a small amount of deleted footage has turned up, the Cyclops and Storm origin footage hasn't turned up at all. I'd assume the rushed release date and budget constraints meant the special effects were never finished for them, but after the huge success of this film and all its sequels, not the mention the success the Extended Editions of the LOTR films had, you'd think Fox would front the bill now to get those scenes finished? I'd be very curious to see them.

 

EDIT: I guess I was remembering wrong. This is what IMDB says about it:

 

Quote

Similar to Magneto's and Rogue's background segments, scenes explaining Storm's and Cyclops' backgrounds were scripted and storyboarded, but never shot. Storm's background segment involved her changing the weather drastically in her home country in Africa and causing vast damage; Cyclops' story would show him manifesting his mutant power at school as a teenager, causing him to accidentally destroy a school bathroom. There was a brief talk of shooting these scenes while shooting X2 in order to insert them into the X-Men Special Edition DVD, but the idea was later scrapped. However, the bathroom set (which had actually been built) was used for the scene in X2 where Mystique drugs Magneto's guard with a metal solution.

[EdC 16]

Here's my analysis/cue guesses for Michale Kamen's "X-Men".

 

http://cuebycue.blogspot.com/2016/06/x-men-kamen-2000.html

 

Interesting that the Cyclops scene Jay mentions above actually made it into X-Men Apocalypse. 

[Trent B 337]

I watched it today and forgot how fun the film is and your points on it Steef, are right on.

 

"Young people".

 

[Oskar 77]

On 18-6-2016 at 1:45 AM, EdC said:

Here's my analysis/cue guesses for Michale Kamen's "X-Men".

 

http://cuebycue.blogspot.com/2016/06/x-men-kamen-2000.html

 

Interesting that the Cyclops scene Jay mentions above actually made it into X-Men Apocalypse. 

 

Great analysis!

 

What you call the X-men theme fragment, I actually always considered to be the theme for Magneto since it's virtually always used when he's on screen.

 

I also remember listening to an audio interview with Michael Kamen before the first X-Men was released. He previewed some of his themes including the main X-Men theme and Mystique's theme. He also gave a brief taste of a theme/motif he composed for Wolverine.

 

What he previewed can actually be heard in the film a few times notably during the senate discussion (curiously when we are first introduced to Prof. X), during the bar fight when Logan straightens his jacket, when he runs through the mansion just before entering Xavier's classroom and during the final confrontation between him and Sabretooth on the head of the Statue of Liberty.

 

On the OST it can only be heard in the track The X-Jet at 1:55.