X-Men, not a blockbuster

[Coolkid]

I don't know about the US, but in the UK, X-Men was dubbed 'The Summer Blockbuster'. That is untrue. For X-Men buffs, half the film having explanations about them all is boring, and action scenes were too brief. That Statue of Liberty stuff was just a joke. What does everyone else think about this movie?

[Silent Bob]

I loved it. I thought the action scenes were great, filled with special effects, the story was interesting, and the cast was also great. I thought it was just the right lenghth and wasn't boring at anytimes.

[BlynS2]

I completely agree with Bob. The film never dragged at any points, which is unusual because it is a superhero movie. (look at Batman & Robin and Batman Forever) The cast was superior, acting was not bad even though particular characters could have developed more and had more lines (i.e. Mystique and Storm - oh, well, maybe they'll delve into that in the sequel) As far as the action scenes, I felt they were sufficient in time and that the fight moves were well done by their characters. I was not even bothered by the Statue of Liberty end because I thought it might be lame, but it wasn't, they pulled it off surprisingly well. I mean c'mon, the plot of the movie could be the plot of one of the X-Men cartoons and that is why the film was so good, because they did not try to be something they were not.

[DarkLight]

Brian Singer himself has said that he never set out to do a strict movie of the comic books because it never would have worked. He changed a heck of a lot of details in the conversion (Wolverine in the movie is 6 foot 2!) and I applaude him for his work because it resulted in a movie that worked without straying too far from the X-Men comics.

DL

P.S. Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine... he DOES look like a young Clint Eastwood doesn't he?

[Joe Bob Jim]

Knowing nothing about X-Men, I thought that the movie was over all really good. At first I thought that half of the characters where created just for the movie, just shows how much I know, i guess. One thing I did realize is they didn't have Gambit in it, (called him that card throwing guy). I am with Bob on this one

[stefanb]

Hey Joe Bob Jim. Funny you bring that up about Gambit. They did have a scene with him in there, but it got left on the editing room floor. You remember the basketball game? They were gonna have the ball thrown to Gambit, then blow up when he released it. The reason they cut the scene is because they wanted EVERYONE to understand the movie (not just the comic book fans). If the scene had been left in, everyone would be saying "What the hell's wrong with that basketball?" So, they cropped it. rom my understanding, we have a fairly firm promise that Gambit will be in X-Men II. I'd like to see a big-ass computer generated Jauggernaut (spelling?) character personally.

As for the show - LOVED IT! And I'm not a comic book fan either. I've read maybe 3 or 4 and saw the saturday morning cartoon a half-dozen times several years ago. That's it. And I thought the movie worked on all levels. Great story, acting, characters, action, ALL OF IT! Loved it!

[Crynot]

Okay, I loved the movie but I'm not the biggest X-Men fan. What is Gambit's special power then? He can blow things up?????


Crynot

[stefanb]

Everything he touches becomes "charged" so to speak. A true comic fan will call me an idiot and give you the real explination, but that's my half assed attempt. I know his big thing is that he always has a deck of cards. He grabs a playing card, 'charges' it, and flicks it at whatever the hell he wants to go ka-boom. Need to get through a wall. charge a playing card, and chuck it at the wall. poof! Instant door. Nedd to blow up a person - same idea. You just proved the problem with giving him a spot in the first movie. No one would have understood what the hell happened to the ball after he let it go.

[DarkLight]

Here comes the sciency bit, concentrate...

Gambit's mutant power is being able to convert the potential energy of any object into explosive kinetic energy. In addition, he's a member of a thieves guild, being a master thief. The ragin' Cajun joined the X-Men late in the timeline so it would make sense to leave him out of the first movie. I can't remember how he was introduced in the comic books, but I think it was through Storm.

Gambit did indeed carry decks of playing cards, all Aces. He also had an impossible ongoing romance with Rogue. It would be nice to see him an X-Men movie as part of Rogue's character development.

DL