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Is there anyone on my f-list who hasn’t seen the X-men movies but wants to? Good - didn’t think so, so no need to worry about spoilers. Since I finally am getting a chance to re-watch X3, I’ve been inspired to sit down and write out my views of the X-men movies. I’m categorizing my thoughts in terms of what I liked, what I didn’t like, and what I have mixed feelings on.
I liked :
- The movies are what got me into the fandom in the first place. For that reason alone, I have to love them. I’ll never forget going to see the first X-men movie 4 times (and dragging![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nytshd3 with me 3 times, though I think she wanted to go at least for the first 2). They captured the essence of what I love about this fandom – a group of people who have special powers and who are hated and feared by society but who do the right thing and work to make things better. I think the movies make their point – about oppression, about acceptance -- very well.
- Making a big generalization, I felt all the movies had solid plots, good effects, a few nice twists, cool music, well-choreographed battle scenes – just overall as movies they were good, especially the first two.
- Most of the Xmen were portrayed pretty well, in my opinion. Getting Patrick Stewart to play Xavier was a dream. I felt that the essence of Cyclops and Wolverine were captured too, more or less. Hank was really good, though he’s not in the movies enough. I also really like their Bobby. Nightcrawler was pretty good, I liked what we saw of Colossus. Also, he’s not an X-man but movie-Magneto was outstanding, far outshining TV-Magneto. But see below for the one X-man who got the worst of it – Gambit.
- The costumes were a hundred times better in the movies than the dork-ass outfits they wear on TV. (For the record, I like the TV costumes of Rogue, Storm, and Gambit. The rest of the team look like fucktards. Worst TV costumes include Cyclops’ underwear-on-the-outside ensemble and Wolverine’s goofy mask with the cutesy ears sticking up).
Didn’t like:
- Can movie-Jean possibly suck any worse? I thought she was dreadful. Easily the character they botched the most and maybe even the worst thing about the entire movie series. Maybe it’s because TV-Jean was so amazingly good -- the voice actor for the animated series was Catherine Disher and she was the bomb; she somehow conveyed warmth, strength, vulnerability, a powerful femininity . But I can’t stand movie-Jean. Her voice sounds all wrong, and she doesn’t even look the part. The personality is off. I think this is one of the movie’s biggest misses and I kind of want to throttle the casting director for this choice.
- Rogue. Can I simultaneously like movie-Rogue and wish that movie-Rogue had been animated-series-Rogue? I like Anna Pacquin and felt she did the best with what was given to her in the movies. They created an interesting character. But she’s not Rogue. Movie-Rogue is so different from TV-Rogue. I like both versions, but TV-Rogue would have been better.
- No Gambit!! Wtf?? No Gambit! I don’t know. Did the movie-makers feel that they already had too many strong male leads? Did they hate Cajuns? Did they not know what to do with him given how they screwed up Rogue? Whatever the case, it leads us to...
- No Rogue/Gambit. They are arguably the best X-couple ever and the couple is non-existent in the movies. That sucks. Bring back the animated series!
- I could sure have done without all the deaths in X3. Did the filmmakers decide it would be really neat to just kill off several pillars of the X-men?
- A few minor points:
1. Why does Shadowcat look like she’s about 13 in X3? And if Bobby is romantically interested in her, shouldn’t he be carted off to jail for that? Ewww.
2. I would’ve liked Jubilee to have a line or two, though I realize I may be alone in that opinion.
Mixed feelings:
- Storm. She’s so much better than movie-Jean and movie-Rogue that she kinda seems to be the pick of the lot in terms of movie-X-women. And at least they showcased her powers well in X3. But they still could’ve done a lot more with her, and as much as I like movie Storm, she really seems like a totally different person than TV Storm. It kind of sucks how she was always a peripheral character in the films. On the other hand, when you have 47 main characters, it’s kind of hard to focus on them all.
- The movies did a decent job of showing us how strong and powerful the women in the X-men realm are. But I also thought that women in general didn’t come through quite as awesome and powerful as they do in the TV show. In addition to the four strong X-women, the TV show gave us a female US President in early episodes, Llandra who ruled over an entire Empire in space, even powerful female baddies like Lady Deathstrike and Callisto who were the leaders of their own groups. Every time you turned around on the TV show, there was a strong woman in charge of something. In the movies, less so - unfortunately.
- Jean/Scott. I was tempted to put this in the “bad” category but the movies got a few aspects of their relationship right, and movie-Cyclops is good. The second movie gives us an idea of how much they care about each other. But the movies also could have done a better job portraying their love and illustrating that they are soulmates. I also thought the movie put too much emphasis on the Cyclops-Jean-Wolverine triangle, but I realize that I am just tired of the triangle and that other people think it’s cool.
- What’s with Wolverine always running off at the end of the movies? I’ve been re-watching the Animated Series, and was surprised at how loyal he actually is to the team. He has his episodes of needing to get away early on but generally he’s quite loyal to the X-men as the series progresses. He even states in one episode that the X-men mean more to him than anything. But in the movies, it’s like he’s always just passing through.
- A few minor points:
1. Lady Deathstrike was so cool in X2. And it so sucked that she gets killed.
2. It would’ve been nice if they’d shown Hank and Bobby’s friendship. The two don’t really interact in the one movie that they both appear in. But again, when you have 94 main characters this type of thing often gets overlooked so I can’t get too upset.
X-fans, what do you think?
I liked :
- The movies are what got me into the fandom in the first place. For that reason alone, I have to love them. I’ll never forget going to see the first X-men movie 4 times (and dragging
nytshd3 with me 3 times, though I think she wanted to go at least for the first 2). They captured the essence of what I love about this fandom – a group of people who have special powers and who are hated and feared by society but who do the right thing and work to make things better. I think the movies make their point – about oppression, about acceptance -- very well. - Making a big generalization, I felt all the movies had solid plots, good effects, a few nice twists, cool music, well-choreographed battle scenes – just overall as movies they were good, especially the first two.
- Most of the Xmen were portrayed pretty well, in my opinion. Getting Patrick Stewart to play Xavier was a dream. I felt that the essence of Cyclops and Wolverine were captured too, more or less. Hank was really good, though he’s not in the movies enough. I also really like their Bobby. Nightcrawler was pretty good, I liked what we saw of Colossus. Also, he’s not an X-man but movie-Magneto was outstanding, far outshining TV-Magneto. But see below for the one X-man who got the worst of it – Gambit.
- The costumes were a hundred times better in the movies than the dork-ass outfits they wear on TV. (For the record, I like the TV costumes of Rogue, Storm, and Gambit. The rest of the team look like fucktards. Worst TV costumes include Cyclops’ underwear-on-the-outside ensemble and Wolverine’s goofy mask with the cutesy ears sticking up).
Didn’t like:
- Can movie-Jean possibly suck any worse? I thought she was dreadful. Easily the character they botched the most and maybe even the worst thing about the entire movie series. Maybe it’s because TV-Jean was so amazingly good -- the voice actor for the animated series was Catherine Disher and she was the bomb; she somehow conveyed warmth, strength, vulnerability, a powerful femininity . But I can’t stand movie-Jean. Her voice sounds all wrong, and she doesn’t even look the part. The personality is off. I think this is one of the movie’s biggest misses and I kind of want to throttle the casting director for this choice.
- Rogue. Can I simultaneously like movie-Rogue and wish that movie-Rogue had been animated-series-Rogue? I like Anna Pacquin and felt she did the best with what was given to her in the movies. They created an interesting character. But she’s not Rogue. Movie-Rogue is so different from TV-Rogue. I like both versions, but TV-Rogue would have been better.
- No Gambit!! Wtf?? No Gambit! I don’t know. Did the movie-makers feel that they already had too many strong male leads? Did they hate Cajuns? Did they not know what to do with him given how they screwed up Rogue? Whatever the case, it leads us to...
- No Rogue/Gambit. They are arguably the best X-couple ever and the couple is non-existent in the movies. That sucks. Bring back the animated series!
- I could sure have done without all the deaths in X3. Did the filmmakers decide it would be really neat to just kill off several pillars of the X-men?
- A few minor points:
1. Why does Shadowcat look like she’s about 13 in X3? And if Bobby is romantically interested in her, shouldn’t he be carted off to jail for that? Ewww.
2. I would’ve liked Jubilee to have a line or two, though I realize I may be alone in that opinion.
Mixed feelings:
- Storm. She’s so much better than movie-Jean and movie-Rogue that she kinda seems to be the pick of the lot in terms of movie-X-women. And at least they showcased her powers well in X3. But they still could’ve done a lot more with her, and as much as I like movie Storm, she really seems like a totally different person than TV Storm. It kind of sucks how she was always a peripheral character in the films. On the other hand, when you have 47 main characters, it’s kind of hard to focus on them all.
- The movies did a decent job of showing us how strong and powerful the women in the X-men realm are. But I also thought that women in general didn’t come through quite as awesome and powerful as they do in the TV show. In addition to the four strong X-women, the TV show gave us a female US President in early episodes, Llandra who ruled over an entire Empire in space, even powerful female baddies like Lady Deathstrike and Callisto who were the leaders of their own groups. Every time you turned around on the TV show, there was a strong woman in charge of something. In the movies, less so - unfortunately.
- Jean/Scott. I was tempted to put this in the “bad” category but the movies got a few aspects of their relationship right, and movie-Cyclops is good. The second movie gives us an idea of how much they care about each other. But the movies also could have done a better job portraying their love and illustrating that they are soulmates. I also thought the movie put too much emphasis on the Cyclops-Jean-Wolverine triangle, but I realize that I am just tired of the triangle and that other people think it’s cool.
- What’s with Wolverine always running off at the end of the movies? I’ve been re-watching the Animated Series, and was surprised at how loyal he actually is to the team. He has his episodes of needing to get away early on but generally he’s quite loyal to the X-men as the series progresses. He even states in one episode that the X-men mean more to him than anything. But in the movies, it’s like he’s always just passing through.
- A few minor points:
1. Lady Deathstrike was so cool in X2. And it so sucked that she gets killed.
2. It would’ve been nice if they’d shown Hank and Bobby’s friendship. The two don’t really interact in the one movie that they both appear in. But again, when you have 94 main characters this type of thing often gets overlooked so I can’t get too upset.
X-fans, what do you think?
