Posted by Bigbrojav at proxy.netsetter.org on July 16, 2000 at 22:59:36:
Just curious as to weather Mr. Smith liked the X-men flick and weather he agrees with some of the complaints I had.
The X-men have arrived and we are left standing in its wake. Some of us are in awe and some of us are in mid yawn.
Was this the best comic book movie adaptation as has been purported by some? Not hardly. When compared to the big three, Blade, Superman, and Batman the X-men film just doesn't quite register. While action is a plenty in Blade with its stylish imagery, and a well crafted story was in place in Superman, and with the ripe blend of action and style mixed with the first Batman, X-men comes up missing the mark so to speak.
With X-men the story was hooky at moments and the action was anything but. This movie's plot borders on the silly and the action damn near put me to sleep. In all fairness I did enjoy this movie and my complaints, with exception of the fight scenes, are nit picking.
So what went wrong? The fights were boring, unimagined and nothing new. People want to see the fights, they want to see the good guys open that can of whoop ass and they really didn't. The plot-the mutant machine idea was silly, there was no real sense of urgency. The acting? almost everyone did a hell of a job. I have no earthly idea why people complained about Halle Berry's performance her character was one of the brighter spots of the movie. If anything her role should have been expanded. the acting I did have a problem with is the senator. I had a hard time believing that there was some type of mutant hysteria. I had a problem with a white jubilee....imagine how you out there would feel if there was a black Harvey Dent (as in the first Batman). of course since the only color that matters in Hollywood is green I can't wait until Will Smith gets the nod for Batman and all you white cats out there who say it doesn't matter what race Jubilee is will eat your words. Should singer be back? Not so sure. I think the matrix brothers could have made it hotter and I think Singleton would have made it even more entertaining. Singleton has worked with the multi-character stories many times before, he's done the us against them story, he was up for an Oscar, his action scenes in Shaft were much more engaging than those in X-men. he's a huge comic book fan and his movie Higher Learning, could have been the plot of X-men had the characters had super powers. For the inevitable sequel Singleton should get the nod.
Javier Benton
illtop staffwriter