X-Men Dominates Super Hero Movies

Dec 18

JeremyMovies , , , , , , Comments Off

Question: What is your favorite superhero movie adaptation?

Answer: Hands down, this is so much easier than the Harry Potter question where I actually had to think about my answer. This time, I can go on pure instinct: the first two X-Men movies (thought I think I’m gonna give a brief shout out to Iron Man as runner up!). It might be cheating, but I’m going with both because I really view them as a single adaptation.

The first movie revived the 90′s-moribund superhero genre, despite Storm’s bad hair and “Do you know what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning?”; up to that point, the movie superhero had been largely dormant for quite some time. I mean, seriously, those were people’s main quibbles with the first movie. Well, those and Magneto’s largely one-dimensional minions. But it brought us action, it brought us character development (for the good guys) and it was superbly cast. I mean, the brilliance of casting Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan aside, Hugh Jackman is just delicious (and maybe James Marsden too).

Moving right into the second movie in a way that really advanced the plot and the relationships between the characters was superb. Anyone who has ever felt marginalized can really connect with these people who really would rather just be left alone to live their lives in peace. At the same time, it’s easy to understand how the experiences of someone like Magneto have shaped him in a way that has built up a burning hatred within.  How often does Hollywood manage to give us good action with a moral (that doesn’t feel like a moral bludgeon) and still leave some ambiguity in how we’re supposed to feel?  Rarely, but it was achieved with these two films.

Yup.  That’s my pick.

And now, a moment of vituperation:  Damn, damn Bryan Singer for bailing on us and letting Brett Ratner ruin the third! I find it entirely ironic that Singer jumped to Superman Returns and Ratner to X-3 and then no one liked either movie. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Twentieth Century Fox would be what Warner Bros is doing and just ignore the bad movie and move on with producing a replacement?

Alas and alack…at least I hear good things about X-Men Origins: Wolverine.