'X-Men' stays true to comic book tradition

By Tom McHenry
Summer Editor

There's a rule about cinema that says superhero movies by and large suck.

But then there are always exceptions. Exceptions and X-ceptions.

Tim Burton's original "Batman" movie is an exception, for example, and most recently Bryan Singer's "X-Men".

The story, based on the Marvel comic book series of the same name, is of a group of people, "mutants", who have begun the next phase of evolution for Homo sapiens. This evolution brings them a wide variety of superpowers, in addition to hatred and fear from "normal" un-evolved humans.

The movie itself has to deal with its own hatred and fear. Fear by the comic fan audience of seeing their beloved heroes misrepresented on screen, and hatred from the mainstream audience of moviegoers who gave up on superhero movies back when they put away their Legos.

But if Bryan Singer has a mutant power, it's the Midas touch of movies - every script he picks up turns to gold.

His second film, "The Usual Suspects", erupted from its rather quiet release to be hailed as one of the best films of the 90s. His third film, "Apt Pupil", lacked the approval of most audience but was adored by critics nationwide.

So why embrace a big budget superhero summer blockbuster as his next project?

Maybe to prove that a movie with a big budget, huge cast, superpowers and implausibility abounding can still be a rather good movie.

And if so, Singer definitely managed to prove himself. Sure, some of the characters remain two dimensional and the dialogue is hokey. Audience members expecting to find heaps of resonant images and existential questions posed by a movie about a gang of superheroes fighting a gang of super villains have only set themselves up for disappointment. They are also not giving "X-Men" a fair chance to prove itself as a high caliber action movie.

Whereas this summer's "Mission: Impossible 2" was an exercise in action for action's sake, "X-Men" has more of a brain behind its rampage.

"X-Men" tries and succeeds to shed many of the cliches that surround the action movie formula. Though the plot is fairly standard, there are endearing details that deviate from the norm enough to set it apart. Ian McKellan plays Magneto, the chief villain and master of magnetism. His best and oldest friend is also his chief rival, Patrick Stewart, as the wheelchair bound Professor X.

The two manage a strange chemistry that makes you believe that, were it not for a chief philosophical difference, these learned men and old friends would be on the same side.

As it is, though, Magneto wages his war on the human race he believes gave up on his people just as they gave up on his people in the Holocaust. Professor X and his "X-Men" simply try their damndest to keep him from hurting anyone while working to bring about some social reform to make the conflict unnecessary.

This central point of the comics makes for some of the most believable and captivating scenes in the movie. It also elevates the fight scenes beyond standard "chase the bad guy/ fight the bad guy/ arrest the bad guy" fare.

As for the action, the movie is filled with a number of "Or-how-about-when…" scenes. Scenes that inspire a string of dialogue after seeing the movie where every sentence begins "Or how about when…" as in:

"Or how about when she blew that stuff up?"

"Yeah! That ruled! Or how about when you thought that guy was dead?"

"Oh man- or how about when…"

And so on and so forth.

The most challenging feat accomplished by the movie is its ability to strike a balance between remaining true to the comic and appealing to newcomers.

Quite the challenge indeed considering how jaded and devout comic fans tend to be, holding fast to the convoluted comic book history of characters. The minute inconsistencies between the comic and the movie might go better if overlooked by fans, as the movie will probably add more to their numbers.