X-Men (film)

X-Men
Image:X-men poster.jpg
Directed by	Bryan Singer
Produced by	Bill Todman, Jr. Ralph Winter Avi Arad Bryan Singer Joel Simon Richard Donner Tom DeSanto Lauren Shuler Donner
Written by	Comic Book: Stan Lee Jack Kirby Story: Tom DeSanto Bryan Singer Screenplay: David Hayter
Starring	Patrick Stewart Hugh Jackman Ian McKellen Halle Berry Famke Janssen James Marsden Bruce Davison Rebecca Romijn-Stamos Ray Park Tyler Mane Anna Paquin Shawn Ashmore
Music by	Michael Kamen
Cinematography	Newton Thomas Sigel
Editing by	Steven Rosenblum Kevin Sitt John Wright
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 14, 2000
Running time	104 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$75 million
Gross revenue	$296,250,053
Followed by	X2: X-Men United
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

X-Men is a 2000 American action movie, featuring a group of comic book superheroes called the X-Men. It formed a major part of the current revival in comic-book adaptation movies. The film is about mutants who are the next evolutionary step in the chain of humanity, with special powers that manifest at puberty. These mutants are almost universally feared and loathed by the rest of humanity.

Professor Charles Xavier (the world's most powerful telepath) takes gifted individuals and teaches them to control their powers for the good of mankind in Xavier's Academy for Gifted Youngsters, his school for gifted youngsters. Opposition to them includes United States Senator Robert Kelly (Bruce Davison), a McCarthyesque politician trying to pass legislation crafted to expose the dangers of mutants, and Erik Lehnsherr (also known as Magneto), a mutant who blames humanity for the death of his family during the Holocaust. Believing that humans and mutants can never co-exist peacefully, he builds and tests a machine that develops humans into mutants.

The movie was directed by Bryan Singer and explores the ideas of prejudice and discrimination in the United States. The screenplay was written by David Hayter (who has a cameo appearance in the film as a police officer in the Statue of Liberty area). A sequel, X2: X-Men United, was released in 2003 and a third film, X-Men: The Last Stand, was released in 2006. The film franchise also brought up interest in a Wolverine-centered film and a Magneto-centered film.

MSN movies ranks X-Men as the greatest superhero movie to date.

Plot

As the certain senators attempt to pass a "Mutant Registration Act", Magneto begins his plans to level the playing field between mutants and humans. A young girl, calling herself Rogue, is on the run from her home where she accidentally put a young boy in a coma from a simple kiss. She finds herself in a small town in Canada, where she meets a cage fighter named Wolverine. As the two head off down the road, they are attacked by Sabertooth, an associate of Magneto. Cyclops and Storm arrive and save Wolverine and Rogue. When Wolverine regains consciousness, Professor Xavier explains that Cyclops and Storm are part of a group of mutants who are trying to seek peace with the human race, and also stop Magneto from starting a war. Professor X promises to help Wolverine discover his lost past, as well as determine why Magneto is after him.

Meanwhile, Senator Kelly, a very outspoken senator for the registration of mutants, is abducted by Mystique and Toad, and brought to Magneto. Magneto uses a powerful machine on Kelly to turn him into a mutant. Kelly, thanks to his new abilities, manages to escape imprisonment, and he eventually washes up on a beach. After an accident causes her to use her powers on Wolverine, Rogue flees the school in fear. Professor Xavier, using Cerebro, locates her at a train station and sends Cyclops and Storm after her. Mystique, disguised as Professor Xavier, infiltrates Cerebro and sabotoges the machine. Wolverine arrives at the station ahead of the other two and convinces Rogue to stay with Professor Xavier. While Sabertooth and Toad are keeping Cyclops and Storm busy inside the train station, Magneto reveals who he was truly after by kidnapping Rogue. Xavier confronts Magneto during his escape, but allows him after Magneto threatens to kills the police that have surrounded the building with their own guns. Senator Kelly arrives at the school, in a rapidly deteriorating condition. Professor Xavier reads his mind and learns of Magneto's new machine. Xavier realizes that Magneto plans to use Rogue's ability to absorb other mutant's abilities on himself, this way Rogue can power his machine and turn all the world leaders on Ellis Island into mutants. Kelly's body is rejecting the mutation and he soon dies. Knowing he must prevent this from happening to anyone else, Xavier attempts to use Cerebro to locate Magneto's machine. The poison in the machine causes Professor X to fall into a coma. Jean fixes Cerebro and then attempts to use it herself. She discovers that the machine is on Liberty Island.

As Magneto sets up his machine atop the flame of the Statue of Liberty, the X-Men arrive to stop him. They are immediately confronted by Mystique and Toad. Mystique and Wolverine become separated from the others while doing battle, as Toad takes on Storm, Cyclops and Jean. Mystique attempts to confuse Wolverine by morphing into a teammate, but Wolverine stabs her when he sniffs out her scent. Storm eventually over comes Toad, and electrocutes him with a bolt of lightning. Just as the group arrives at the top of the statue, Magneto and Sabertooth incapacitate the group and continue with their plans. Magneto transfers his powers to Rogue who is forced to use them to start the machine. Wolverine breaks free and initiates a fight with Sabertooth. Wolverine is thrown over the side of the statue and Sabertooth redirects himself to the group to finish them off. Wolverine returns, and Cyclops, with Jean's help, blasts Sabertooth out of the statue. With Jean stabilizing him, Storm uses her abilities to send Wolverine to the top of Magneto's machine. With time running out, Wolverine attempts to stop the machine and save Rogue, but Magneto, now having regained some of his strength, halts Wolverine's claws. Cyclops manages to find a clean shot, wounding Magneto and allowing Wolverine to destroy the machine. Placing her hand to his face, Wolverine succeeds in transferring his regenerative abilities to Rogue. Professor Xavier recovers from his coma, and the group learns that Mystique is still alive when they see her impersonating Senator Kelly on a news broadcast. Xavier visits Magneto in his plastic prison cell, and the two play chess. Magneto warns his friend that he will continue his fight, to which Xavier promises to always be there to stop him.

Cast

• Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier: Head and founder of the X-Men and the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Prof. X is famous for his dream of peaceful coexistence between mutantkind and mankind. Although he is restricted to a wheelchair it does not stop him from being a very powerful mutant. Along with Magneto, he is the inventor of the Cerebro supercomputer, which further amplifies his abilities.

Powers: Very powerful psychic abilities. He can even "freeze" a great number of people.

• Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine: Wolverine is a loner and makes a living by winning bar scraps. He had been indoctrinated into a living weapon program. He has a tough personality. His cover as a mutant is blown when his beaten contestant is about to jump him and Logan reacts by nearly cutting his throat with his claws; he is barred and drives away (with Rogue in the back). He takes Rogue away from the city and finds out they are both mutants. There he falls in love with Jean Grey, making Cyclops his rival.

Powers: Wolverine heals at an exceptionally rapid rate, curing most wounds in a matter of seconds. He also has enhanced strength, stamina and sensory acuity. As part of the living weapon program, he was implanted with retractable metal "claws" which sheath in his forearms and an indestructible metal skeleton composed of hardened adamantium.

• James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops: First seen saving Wolverine and Rogue from a truck explosion, taking them to safety to the X-Mansion where they live. He the second leader of the X-Men behind Xavier, and is the team's field leader when they are out on missions. He is in love with Jean Grey and has a relationship with her.

Powers: Constantly produces a strong red beam of force from his eyes, which is only held in check by specialized ruby-quartz sunglasses.

• Famke Janssen as Jean Grey: In a relationship with Cyclops and works as the doctor of X-Mansion.

Powers: Has mild powers of telepathy and telekinesis.

• Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm: Seen saving Wolverine and Rogue from a truck explosion and are taken to safety to X-Mansion where they live. She has become bitter with other people's despise for mutants, and says she hates humans sometimes.

Powers: Can control the weather.

• Anna Paquin as Marie / Rogue: A seventeen-year-old girl, forced to leave her family in Mississippi after putting her boyfriend in a coma by kissing him. She travels to a snow-filled city where she meets Wolverine.

Powers: If she has contact with another human or mutant she can absorb their powers for a time, if she holds on longer, she can take their life. These powers prevent Rogue and Iceman from having a more intimate relationship.

• Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman: Student at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, who takes a liking to Rogue.

Powers: Can change temperatures to subzero degrees and use the moisture in the air to create ice.

• Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: The leader of the Brotherhood, Holocaust survivor, and primary user of the mutation-generating machine. He and Charles were allies once—he even helped build Cerebro—however, his belief that humans and mutants could never co-exist lead to their separation.

Powers: Can manipulate metal of any form due to being able to create and control magnetic fields.

• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique: Magneto's loyal second-in-command, she is an agile fighter and expert with technology. She survived the attack at the Statue of Liberty, and subsequently infiltrated the White House as Senator Kelly.

Powers: Can shapeshift into any human, as well as imitate their voice accurately. She can take on other objects that have human forms, such as the Statue of Liberty replica.

• Ray Park as Toad: A very agile fighter, with a menacing streak (at least with the X-Men).^[1] He is first seen spray painting an unknown machine, possibly the mutator. It is unknown whether he survived Storm's lightning shock.

Powers: Increased jumping ability, comparable to that of a toad's, as well as a long, prehensile tongue.

• Tyler Mane as Sabretooth: Attacked Wolverine and Rogue in Canada before being stopped by Storm and Cyclops.

Powers: Feline-like abilities, enhanced strength and agility, as well as claws extending past each finger.

• Bruce Davison as Senator Kelly:

Making the film

According to Joss Whedon, who made an early draft of the screenplay, only two parts of his draft made it into the final film. The first is the exchange between Wolverine and Cyclops ("It's me." "Prove it!" "You're a dick."); the other is Storm's, "Do you know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else." Whedon was disappointed with Halle Berry's over-dramatic delivery of the latter line, which he imagined as an offhand, casual comment.^[2]

Wolverine's claws required a full silicone cast of Hugh Jackman's arm, and 700 versions for Jackman and his stunt doubles.^[3]

The scene at the train station where the young boy smiles at Cyclops, and Cyclops smiles back was unplanned. The boy was a huge fan of the X-Men, and Cyclops was his favorite. The scene originally called for Cyclops to look at the train schedule, however, according to Bryan Singer, the boy could not stop smiling at James Marsden (the actor playing Cyclops). Finally, during one shot, Marsden just looked back at him and smiled, much to the boy's delight. Bryan Singer liked the idea so much, he kept it in the film, and told the actress playing the boy's mother to react the way she did.

The relatively unspectacular scene where the X-Men leave the X-Jet and hop over a wall to step into the Statue of Liberty caused much hilarity. The reason was that the actors Berry, Janssen, Marsden and Jackman wore such tight fitting costumes that they simply could not make the jump over the small ledge. Another problem was that they were supposed to hold their breath to avoid clouding in the cold weather, a point which Berry forgot at least once. This can be all seen on the blooper reel of the DVD X-Men 1.5.

During the film, as Logan mocks the X-Men's black uniforms, Cyclops replies: "What would you prefer? Yellow spandex?" This is a reference to Wolverine's blue-and-yellow uniform from the comics.

At one point in the film, Toad grabs an iron pole and proceeds to twirl it around in a fashion not unlike that of Gambit. In actual fact this was in reference to the Star Wars character Darth Maul, whom actor Park had portrayed in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

When appearing at Wondercon 2006 to promote Superman Returns (2006), Bryan Singer mentioned that he originally approached composer John Williams to compose the score for X-Men, but Williams was too busy composing the score for Saving Private Ryan (1998). [1]

In the scene when Senator Kelly emerges from the water at the beach a hot dog vendor can be seen. The vendor is Stan Lee, the original creator of X-Men. George Buza, the voice of Beast in the X-Men animated series, has a cameo as the truck driver who brought Anna Paquin's Rogue to the bar at the beginning of the film.

Much of the film was shot at locations in and around Toronto, Ontario. Casa Loma, a local landmark and museum, was used as the set for all above-ground scenes inside Xavier's school, whereas the exterior shots of Xavier's school were filmed at Hatley Castle in Victoria, British Columbia. The scenes in Cerebro were filmed in a large soundstage within the downtown CBC building. Hamilton's Liuna Station, a former train station converted into an event hall, stood in for the Westchester train station in the unavailability of Toronto's downtown Union Station. A beach in nearby Oakville was originally intended to serve as the beach where Senator Kelly washes up after his escape from Magneto.

During filming of the scene just outside the train station, Bryan Singer was prevented entry by a local police officer, who was assisting with crowd control. Singer's youthful appearance and casual dress failed to impress the officer, who flatly refused to believe that the "kid" in front of him was even involved in the film, let alone somebody important.

Reactions and box office

The film went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2000, taking in more than $296 million worldwide and becoming the 8th highest grossing film, domestically, of that year. The film is also widely credited as being the patriarch of the current "Comic Book Movie Age" that Hollywood is currently experiencing with releases such as, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Daredevil, Elektra , Fantastic Four, The Punisher, Constantine, Sin City, Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, The Hulk, Superman Returns, Ghost Rider, X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand.^{[citation needed]}

Some fans were not entirely pleased with the first large scale adaptation of the X-Men. Many fans complained about the change in costumes and the overall depiction of Rogue as frightened, naive, and defenseless - even with her powers. Another overall complaint was that the other X-Men, featured so prominently in the comic books, were relegated to playing second fiddle against Wolverine. Many fans felt that Cyclops in particular, the field leader of the X-Men, and his long-term romance with Jean Grey were minimalized to emphasize Wolverine's role in the group, and Wolverine's infatuation with Jean.

Currently, there are two prequels in planning: Wolverine and Magneto.

Trivia

• Although Wolverine is 5'3" in the comic books, Hugh Jackman is 6'3", forcing the other actors to wear platform shoes and stand on risers to compensate. [2]
• Ray Park and Tyler Mane who play Toad and Sabretooth in the movie were signed up for two movies, as is standard in franchise production, but were not in X2 or X3. It is unknown if they will reprise their roles in any future X-Men films.
• A blooper available on the Internet and also in the DVD release as a hidden Easter Egg features a take of Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey running inside the Statue of Liberty; however, instead of Wolverine following them, the fourth member of the group was someone wearing a Spider-Man costume. When the other three realize this, they (and the crew) burst out laughing.
• Originally Toad was supposed to wear his goggles throughout the whole movie, but he only wears them at the first part he is in.
• When the four X-men are leaving in the jet, Logan says, "You actually go outside in these things?" to which Cyclops replies, "Well, what would you prefer, yellow spandex?" In the comics, Logan's outfit is yellow spandex. Additionally, the original outfits of the X-Men were made from yellow spandex.
• In the beginning when the 20th century fox logo is fading the 'x' stays on just a bit longer.
• In the scene where Logan meets Professor Xavier for the first time, the girl who forgets her bag and then goes through the closed door is Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat.
• In the scene where Rogue is in class and receives an ice rose from Bobby, the girl sitting next to her is Jubilee, another X-men character. Also, the student who manipulates a ball of fire behind his back (prior to Iceman freezing it) is Pyro.
• The trucker who drives Rogue to Northern Alberta is George Buza, the actor who read for the voice of Beast from the X-Men cartoon series.
• Stan Lee, creator of X-Men, has a cameo on the beach scene as a hot dog vendor.
• In the shot where security guards in the Statue of Liberty find the body of another guard (actually Mystique's body) with Wolverine's claw marks in the chest, the security guard crouched by the body is in fact X-Men's screenwriter - David Hayter.
• In the scene by the Statue of Liberty where Toad squashes a security guard, that security guard is actually X-Men's executive producer - Tom DeSanto.
• Natalie Portman was offered the role of Rogue
• The man who plays the guard in the plastic prison cell is David Hayter, the man who wrote the screenplay and the voice of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid game series.
• In the scene where the X-Men are fighting in the Statue of Liberty, Toads wires and harness can be seen due to an editing error.
• In the audio commentary towards the end of the film while the chess game was being played by Professor X and Magneto, Bryan Singer is asked about the person who wanted the role of Professor X that Patrick Stewart now has made famous may have been Sean Connery due to Sean stating he had been offered roles in movies like The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, X-Men and others but turned them down due to not understanding character developments.
• In 2006, Michael J. Nelson and Bill Corbett of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame released a humorous audio commentary for the film on their RiffTrax service.

References

1. ^ This was explained in a documentary included on the X-Men DVD.
2. ^ Nazzaro, Joe (2002). Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy Television (ISBN 1-84023-383-4)
3. ^ Abel, Kris (2006-10-26). Making Wolverine's Claws. CTV. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.

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