X-MEN (FILM)

'''X-Men''' is a 2000 superhero film, based upon the fictional characters 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'', was released in 2003 and a third film, '', was released in 2006. The film franchise also brought up interest in a solo Wolverine movie and a Magneto-centered film.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Production

Reactions and box office

References

External links

Plot

In a German Concentration camp in occupied Poland during 1944, a young Magneto is separated from his parents as they are herded into the camp. In a moment of panic and horror, the boy reaches out and begins to bend the metal gates of the camp with the power of magnetism before being knocked unconscious. Many years later, in Meridian, Mississippi, a young girl named Marie kisses a boy and sends him into a coma. In Congress, Senator Robert Kelly attempts to pass a "Mutant Registration Act", which would force mutants to publicly reveal their identities and abilities. Dr. Jean Grey speaks against the act, but is balked by Kelly. Magneto begins his plans to level the playing field between mutants and humans. Marie, now calling herself Rogue, is on the run from her home and heads to a small town in Canada, where she meets a cage fighter calling himself Wolverine. As the two head off down the road, they are attacked by a mutant called 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, educate young mutants in the responsible use of their powers, and stop Magneto from starting a war with humanity. Professor X promises to help Wolverine discover his lost past, as well as determine why Magneto is after him. Rogue, in the meantime, has begun to make friends at school and a boy named Bobby shows a romantic interest in her.
Meanwhile, Senator Kelly is abducted by Mystique and Toad, and brought to Magneto, who tests a machine on Kelly that artificially induces mutation. 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 is convinced by Mystique (disguised as Bobby) that Xavier is angry with her and that she should leave the school. Professor Xavier, using his mutant locating device called Cerebro, locates her at a train station and sends Cyclops and Storm after her. Mystique, still disguised as Bobby, infiltrates Cerebro and sabotages the machine. Wolverine arrives at the station ahead of the other two and convinces Rogue to stay with Professor Xavier. While Sabertooth and Toad attack Cyclops and Storm inside the train station, Magneto reveals who he was truly after by kidnapping Rogue. Xavier confronts Magneto during his escape, but allows him to leave after Magneto threatens to kill the police that have surrounded the building with their own guns. Senator Kelly arrives at the school, in a rapidly deteriorating condition--his body is rejecting the forced mutation and now disintegrating at the cellular level. Professor Xavier reads his mind and learns of Magneto's mutation machine, which draws power from Magneto himself, severely weakening him in the process. 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. 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 Rogue. Mystique's sabotage causes Professor X to fall into a coma. Jean fixes Cerebro and then uses it herself. She discovers that the machine is on Liberty Island, leading the X-Men to the conclusion that Magneto intends to mutate the world leaders who are meeting for a summit on nearby Ellis Island.
The X-Men arrive to stop Magneto as he sets up his machine atop the torch of the Statue of Liberty. They are immediately confronted by Mystique and Toad. Mystique and Wolverine become separated from the others, as Toad takes on Storm, Cyclops and Jean. In the end, Mystique attempts to ambush Wolverine by disguising herself as Storm, but Wolverine recognizes her scent and stabs her. Storm eventually overcomes 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 a dying 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. Xavier checkmates Magneto and leaves.

Cast

★ 'Hugh Jackman' as 'Logan / Wolverine': A tough, rugged, belligerent loner who makes a living in cage fights. He has lived for fifteen years without memory of who he is, apart from his dog tags marked "Wolverine" and an adamantium skeleton. He has the ability to heal from numerous injuries, including the surgery that bonded the metal to his skeleton, which makes his age impossible to determine.

★ 'Patrick Stewart' as 'Professor Charles Xavier': Founder of the X-Men and the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Xavier hopes for peaceful coexistence between mutantkind and mankind and is regarded as an authority on genetic mutation. Although he is restricted to a wheelchair, he is a powerful mutant with vast telepathic abilities. Along with Magneto, he is the inventor of the Cerebro supercomputer, which further amplifies his abilities.

★ 'Anna Paquin' as 'Marie D'Ancanto / Rogue': A seventeen-year-old girl, forced to leave her family in Mississippi after putting her boyfriend in a coma by kissing him. If she touches anyone, she absorbs their strength, memories and abilities, potentially killing them. During her travels, she meets Wolverine, who becomes fatherly to her.

★ 'Ian McKellen' as 'Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto': A Holocaust survivor, he and Xavier were allies once — he even helped build Cerebro — however, his belief that humans and mutants could never co-exist lead to their separation. He has powerful magnetic abilities and a sophisticated knowledge in matters of genetic manipulation, which he uses to plan a mutation of the world leaders, allowing mutant prosperity.

★ 'Bruce Davison' as 'Senator Kelly': An anti-mutant politician who supports a Mutant Registration Act, and wishes to bar mutant children from schools. He is kidnapped by Magneto in a test of his mutation machine, which causes his body to turn into a liquid-like substance.

★ 'James Marsden' as 'Scott Summers / Cyclops': He rescues Wolverine and Rogue from a truck explosion, taking them to safety to the X-Mansion where they live. He is the second leader of the X-Men behind Xavier, and is the team's field leader when they are out on missions as well as an instructor at the Institute. He is in love with Jean Grey and has a relationship with her. He produces a strong red beam of force from his eyes, which is only held in check by specialized ruby-quartz goggles.

★ 'Famke Janssen' as 'Dr. Jean Grey': In a relationship with Cyclops and works as the doctor of X-Mansion. She has powers of telekinesis and limited telepathy.

★ 'Halle Berry' as 'Ororo Munroe / Storm': She works as a teacher at the X-Mansion, and has the ability to manipulate the weather. Ororo has become bitter with other people's despise for mutants, and while comforting a dying Senator Kelly says that she sometimes hates humans.

★ 'Rebecca Romijn' as 'Mystique': Magneto's loyal second-in-command, she is an agile fighter and expert with technology. She is a shapeshifter, with a default form of blue, scaly skin.

★ 'Ray Park' as 'Toad': A very agile fighter, with a menacing streak and a long, prehensile tongue.

★ 'Tyler Mane' as 'Sabretooth': A ferious, feline-like fighter who attacks Wolverine and Rogue in Canada before being stopped by Storm and Cyclops. He is a brutal and sadistic henchman of Magneto, and wields claws extending past each finger.

★ 'Shawn Ashmore' as 'Bobby Drake / Iceman': A student at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, who takes a liking to Rogue. He can change temperatures to subzero degrees and use the moisture in the air to create ice.

Production

Carolco Pictures bought the film rights to the X-Men in the late 1980s, with James Cameron set to produce. James Cameron jumped ship from the project to work on Spider-Man and Carolco Pictures went bankrupt. The rights to the film property then reverted back to Marvel. Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad successfully put together '', which created interest from 20th Century Fox in producing a live action X-Men film, and purchased the rights.
In 1994, 20th Century Fox and producer Lauren Shuler Donner bought the film rights to the X-Men, hiring Andrew Kevin Walker to write.^[1] Walker's draft included Professor Xavier hiring Wolverine into the X-Men, which consist of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast and Angel. The Brotherhood of Mutants, consisting of Magneto, Sabretooth, Toad and the Blob, try to conquer New York City, while Henry Peter Gyrich and Bolivar Trask attack the X-Men with three eight-feet tall Sentinels. The script focused on Wolverine and Cyclops' rivalry, as well as Cyclops' self-doubt as field leader, and Magneto's backstory was that he caused the Chernobyl disaster. The script also featured the X-Copter and the Danger Room.^[2]
John Logan wrote another draft, X-Man Out Tom DeSanto courted Bryan Singer to direct in 1995. Singer, who was looking to do a science fiction film. and turned down the opportunity of X-Men at first. His reactions to comic books were that they were low-level literature. DeSanto brought Singer in a meeting with producers Shuler Donner, Avi Arad, and Stan Lee. After watching all the episodes from the X-Men animated series on tape, as well as reading many comics, Singer took back his words and signed on. Joss Whedon was hired to rewrite the Statue of Liberty climax, but he ended up rewriting the entire script because he thought it was generally ridiculous. His changes were scrapped because his quick-witted pop culture-referencing tone didn't please Singer's serious vision for the film. Ed Solomon wrote another script which Singer, DeSanto and Christopher McQuarrie revised.^[3] David Hayter then rewrote the final shooting script, cutting out Beast, Pyro and the Danger Room to cut the budget by $5 million, and received final credit.
Ian McKellen was cast in May 1999 as Magneto, alongside Tyler Mane as Sabretooth. McKellen had previously worked with Singer on ''Apt Pupil''. Patrick Stewart was being negotiated for Xavier with filming set to start in July.^[4] Filming was delayed, but Fox decided to push the release date forward to July 2000.^[5]
Filming took place from September 22 1999 to March 3 2000 in Toronto.^[6] Dougray Scott was forced out of playing Wolverine before filming began, and Hugh Jackman was cast afterward in late October. Generating X Wolverine's claws required a full silicone cast of Hugh Jackman's arm, and 700 versions for Jackman and his stunt doubles.^[7]
Bryan Singer originally approached John Williams to compose the score, but Williams was too busy on his work for Saving Private Ryan.^[8]

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

References

1. Deadly Done Right
2. X-Men First Draft
3. February 1999 X-Men script
4. Reel World
5. Getting the 'Shaft'
6. Greg's Preview - X-Men Greg Dean Schmitz
7. Making Wolverine's Claws
8. Superman-on-Film

External links

★

★ TheXverse.com: X-Men Movie News

★

★ ''X-Men'' at Metacritic

★

★ X-Men on Marvel.com