Directed by: Bryan Singer
Written by: Tom DeSanto, Bryan Singer & David Hayter
Since I brought my X-Men movies home with me I've been planning to watch them all again. Also since I've been inactive due to projects at school I've decided I'd write about each of them. I've written some reviews of some X-Men movies but I thought after studying films for almost a year and since I haven't seen all of them for a while, I could maybe offer something new to these. I'm not sure if that's true with all the movies, but I'm giving it a go.
The first X-Men movie I actually saw was actually X-Men: First Class. Still, when I watched the very first one for the first time, it had the same haunting, effective start. As I get older I start understanding Magneto's background more and more, which is why the whole Hydra thing was weird. I tried to find more information on that but it's not clear to me if there actually was a comic or at least a storyline with Magneto working for Hydra. So because I don't know where to find clear information about this, I won't go into it much, just say it would be the worst idea ever, just like making Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver work for Hydra in Avengers Age of Ultron, but let's be honest, that movie was bad.
The story here is solid. It's not as epic as the plots seem to be nowadays, but I don't think they all need to be like the most awesome thing ever. Sometimes something simple is enough, especially when the movie is the start for a series. And when it comes to X-Men, it came out before superhero movies were the big deal they are these days. The plot works, it's still thrilling and action packed even though they aren't dealing with end of the world or some other huge threat like that.
X-Men has two weaknesses in my opinion. One I can forgive, due to the age of this movie: special effects. They just look awful in this movie, but you're able to look past them. The other thing is something that bothers me with every fucking superhero movie: the writing just happens to be so fucking cheesy at times. It's mostly dialogue, which has cheesy one-liners that make you roll your eyes or just lines that feel really insecure: not because of the character but because of the writing behind it. But the thing is, you can't blame that on the year since superhero movies keep doing that. It annoys the hell out of me.
The first movie doesn't offer as much philosophy as other X-Men things. Usually the philosophical pondering comes from Magneto, because sometimes you just have to wonder if Magneto's right. And I think there are a lot of people reading X-Men comics who can admit that sometimes Magneto has a point. Human beings don't seem to accept mutants at all, so sometimes it's like yeah, maybe Magneto should get rid of them all. ... Well, not exactly like that, but you get the point.
But here the thing is you know the fault in Magneto's plan before he does, so there's no "so who's right?"
Another philosophical thing about the X-men is that the mutants are a symbol for oppressed groups, but... there's the same problem as with Zootropolis. Why are oppressed groups in these movies more powerful than humans who oppress them? The symbolism doesn't work because it's not the case in the real world. In real world there's no real reason to hate / be afraid of, say, LGBTQ+ people, but then there's X-Men... These people have the reason to be afraid of mutants because like isn't there always some threat with them like oh shit, the world's going to end, and it's because of mutants.
I'm not saying "yeah human beings are right, mutants are bad" because... well, they aren't real. I'm just saying the symbolism doesn't necessarily work.
But I'm saying that now so I don't have to say it with every X-men I watch.
The first X-men movie is a solid superhero movie, definitely worth watching and definitely a great start. It leaves you wanting more, because you don't know everything about characters, and of course there will be another movie. I don't know if it was that clear when it came out but these days, if there's a superhero movie, there's going to be a sequel.
☆☆☆☆☆☆
6 / 10
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