X-Men...seriously underrated?
 

the last year or so it seems like whenever the subject of comicbook movies comes up, and X-men is mentioned, its usually as an also ran, or offered as an example of one of the weaker adaptations.

i guess contrary to the general concensus here, my opinion of it has actually gone up since the first time i saw it in the theater.
at that time the only thing that i found disappointing, was the almost tv-movie feel.
it wasn't as epic in scope, or as bombastic, as so much other big summer material.
but after re-watching it half a dozen times now, i very much appreciate the tamer pace, and the more intimate conflict.
for one thing its offers a better opportunity to embelish the characters without the distraction of a lot of bombast, and it also offers plenty of room in the future sequels to provide more action and incident ( and from the looks of the trailers, thats just whats going to happen).

so for people that didn't like this movie, but liked others in this genre...what's your beef with it?

I liked it the first time I saw it. It's been forever since I've read the books, so I probably missed any extreme liberties they took with the material, but I was like "who cares?" because I think they definitely captured the feel of the book. Good movie. :up:

p.s., did you get my email man?

Re: X-Men...seriously underrated?
 

Hmmm, I have to disagree. I thought the production value of this movie was outstanding. Which is the first thing that impressed me about the movie. To me, it's the most stylish, mature and classiest of all the comic book movies (that I've seen).

I felt that XMEN was the most over-rated comic movie. It just seemed so plain, blah! X2 looks alittle more juiced up! You have to remember this is a comic movie....Comics need story AND high, tense ACTION! Which XMEN came short of.

I enjoyed the movie but watching the 1.5 dvd, i can see how there can be different opinions on it. It wasn't especially great in any instance... the fight scenes were a little bland, some of the dialouge was poor, and the movie felt way too short to me.

I really enjoyed this movie, but I have to agree that i felt this movie was a bit short. I wouldn't say it was rushed, but I just felt that they could have developed some of the characters a bit more. I already knew most of the characters and their backgrounds, but this might have turned off viewers who didn't know, because XMEN(not just the movie, but the books too) have a lot more characters than say Spiderman or DareDevil. Maybe it's just me, but I wish XMEN flicks were 2 1/2 or 3 hours long(kinda like LOTR).

XMEN could have an epic like story. They have enough characters!

After going through the 1.5 DVD, with budget, time, et al constraints, I think Singer & co. did a great job. That said, I think X2 will be even better.

I really loved X-Men 1, and think it's in my top 5 comic book movies ever (the rest are Spider-Man, the first two Superman, Ghost World). However, I do think the final act of the first movie was pretty weak - a lame 'plan' by Magneto and some cheesy special effects just kind of left me unfulfilled. I think the rest of the movie was wonderful, with lots of great little character moments for fanboys like me -- just the climax needed work. I'm totally psyched about X2, though, the trailers have been amazing.

If FOX hadn't moved up the release date for the first X-Men it would've been at least 2 hours long and alot better developing its characters.

I thought it was a dumbed down version of the story, same as X-men. It did nothing for the genre or even the story it was based on. Take Superman and Batman for example, both took liberties with the stories they are based on, both stayed mostly true to the spirits of the comics and both where very. very great movies. Now look at X-Men, Spider-man and Dare Devil. They take liberties of the stories, but are unsuccesful. Instead of trying to stay true to the spirit, they butcher it. I don't know, I just can't enjoy the movies Marvel has been puttin' out.

Felt that the movie and the new animated series kind of throws it in a new light from when I read the story. they have done a lot of tweaking to it since my days of reading the X-titles and that was one of the comics I picked up the most so of course all the tweaking would come accross badly with me.

The movie was just to much of a introduction to the characters and as expected, that could be a little odd if you have seen the characters in a different light before. Not to mention that for the veterns of the comics, it is just a bit boring to see a lot of introductions again and again.

I expect the second film to be more entertaining and I loved the choice of who they picked to play the characters. Now lets see if Gambit shows up sometime soon. ;)

I was very underwhelmed by the X-Men film. Like somoene mentioned earlier, it had a made-for-cable vibe.

Like someone else said, when you consider the amount of constraints Singer had against him, it is a miracle the movie wound up the way it did. In the commentary for Superman Richard Donner made a comment that doing a superhero flick typically requires two films. One for a background/origin story with some action, and the second actually being a film of that kind.
That said, I enjoyed X-Men and was amazed at how well they nailed the conflict between Xavier and Magneto, and Wolverine was very much faithful as well. They might have tweaked some of the story, but the characters were still true to their comic counterparts. Give me a good character driven story over high-octane action any day of the week! I look forward to X2 and anticipate it being more action oriented than the first one.

I enjoyed it for what it was: a fine popcorn movie -smile-

I was never a huge X-fan growing up, but I knew the basics about them. When I saw the movie in the theaters I thought it was great. I got the first DVD for Christmas a few years ago, and I think it's one of my better movies. It doesn't get bogged down in extraneous explanations, and while I can't comment on the "true spirit" since I didn't read the comics, what little I know seems to be on the screen.

I would like to see Singer's longer cut, but I'd keep my theatrical version as it's a pretty good flowing movie as it is.