X-Men (4½ Stars)

The first film in the X-Men trilogy was the film that kicked off the whole new phase of Marvel super-hero films. Without "X-Men" there would have been no "Spider-Man", "Iron Man" or "Avengers". The film took a long time to cast. There were problems casting all the main characters. For instance, Russell Crowe was the original choice to play Wolverine, but the studio turned him down because he wanted too much money. Keanu Reeves was considered for the role, which would have made the film a certain failure. Finally a relatively unknown actor called Hugh Jackman was picked, in retrospect the perfect man for the role.

The film is centred around Wolverine and Rogue, and their arrival at Professor X's School for Gifted Children in Westchester, New York. The origins of the X-Men are skipped over. It is hinted that they have already had combat experience. While I enjoy the film overall, I've deducted half a star because of its muddling up of the chronology. No attempt is made to match the events with the comics. The cast can be considered a "Best of X-Men" line-up. I won't even try to describe all the mistakes that were made with relative ages and continuity, except for a few examples. Bobby Drake (Iceman) is shown as a junior student, although he should be the same age as Jean Grey (Marvel Girl). Scott Summers (Cyclops) should be slightly older than Jean Grey; in the first X-Men he was about 16, while she was 13.

The problem is that the X-Men existed in two main phases as a team. In the original silver era comics they had a core membership of five mutants: Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, Beast and Marvel Girl, with a few additional members later on. When the comic was revived in the bronze era there were many new members. Initially only Cyclops remained from the original team, but as time passed all the original members returned. Wolverine quickly became the fan favourite in the new team, so it was a logical choice for the film to revolve around him. Logical, but I still don't like it. I would have preferred a film that started with the original team.