X-Men
An ideal comic adaptation, for those who know everything about the X-Men... or for those who know nothing at all.

"This better not be that special steel chess set you ordered from Franklin Mint, Magneto." "Uh... no, of course it's not."

As a comic book, The Uncanny X-Men peaked in the early nineties, transforming from a cult favorite into the world's best-selling example of the medium virtually overnight, due primarily to an influx of terrific artists like Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio. The book, which had been around since the sixties, had only gotten interesting a decade later, once fledgling scribe Chris Claremont came onboard to give it some depth. Claremont had toiled for years with little to no fanfare, and it was only some particularly flashy artwork that brought his book into the fore. He eventually left the book due to creative differences with the honchos at Marvel, who then promptly allowed the artists to take over the writing reigns as well. Soon enough, X-Men had a dozen or so spin-offs, all of which were raking in the bucks for Marvel, and Claremont privately declared that Marvel had taken all his hard work and gutted it like a fish.

After seeing Bryan Singer's film adaptation of X-Men, I have a feeling that Claremont is having the last laugh.

X-Men is definitely Claremont's movie, as it takes all its primary story elements, all its honest characterizations, hell, even snippets of dialogue, directly from Claremont's work on the book. From the tortured opening, in which we see a young Magneto's mutant powers awakening at the moment his parents are consigned to death during the Holocaust, we know we're in for a serious, sober superhero flick -- in other words, the polar opposite of the campy blasphemy that has riddled the Batman franchise of late. Claremont's vision of a society in which genetic mutations are everyday occurrences and those who are afflicted are both cursed and blessed (a not so subtle metaphor for racism) is quite intact.

"I know what Victoria's real secret is -- you're scary!"

The plot is simple and pared down. In the near future, genetic mutations have caused many folks to exhibit almost superhuman powers, and the public, led by the vehement Senator Kelly, is rather afraid. Kelly, in fact, is attempting to push forth legislation that will require all mutants to register with state and local governments, thus effectively turning America into a police state. Meanwhile, there's this group of evil mutants, called the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto (a fabulous Ian McKellen), who are out to prove Kelly's fears rights by using a sort of Mutatron device that will turn all of humanity into mutants as well. A minor side effect of this process is death, but Magneto's not overly concerned with such trivialities.

Leading the fight to stop the dastardly plan is Charles Xavier (a part that Patrick Stewart was born to play), who has assembled a group of gifted mutant children into a formidable fighting team called... duh, the X-Men. We're introduced to this group through the two newest recruits; Rogue and Wolverine. Now, the comic presented Rogue as an ex-member of the Brotherhood who joined the group and existed as an outcast while she struggled to prove her worth. She'd been around for a while and knew how to handle herself in a fight. The film version, nicely played by Anna Paquin, is slightly reworked, and it's even mixed with another of Claremont's characters, Kitty Pryde. Rogue in the film is a troubled kid who just happens to have the ability of draining a person's psyche (and any attendant mutant power) at the slightest touch. Wolverine is, well, Wolverine. Born with enhanced senses and the ability to heal at a regenerative level, he was also mysteriously abducted and physically enhanced with adamantium-laced bones and his famous claws. Aussie actor Hugh Jackman brings exactly the right amount of growling attitude to the character, and our introduction to him, in which he fights in cage matches in seedy bars before being pestered once to often by a patron, is one of the most breathtaking scenes in the movie. It is the comic book come to life.

"No, I do not play Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer! That's Marsters, goddammit!"

The two characters serve as a nice counterpoint to the already established group of X-Men, which include Storm (Halle Berry), a mutant who controls the weather, Cyclops (James Marsden), who fires force beams from his eyes, and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), a powerful telepath. Through Wolverine and Rogue, we get an objective view of the absurdity of X-Men's world, as well as the sense that these two have finally found a home. Sure, the film at times threatens to become the Wolverine Show, but it reels back long enough to give us glimpses of all its players, and if it seems like its only an introduction, we know there'll be at least a couple of sequels to expand of the concepts.

The most urgent aspect of adapting a comic book to film lays not in reproducing costumes, origins, or situations; rather, it's all about maintaining the spirit of the comic, the heart of the book that has captured so many readers for so long. In that alone, X-Men is quite possibly the finest comic book film to ever hit the screens. Sure, there are some surface changes, such as origin stories and a uniformity of costumes, but these all serve the story and imbue it with a realism that helps you suspend disbelief when Storm is flying up elevator shafts and Toad is bouncing off walls. It works because it respects its source material. Hollywood executives who are planning other superhero adaptations would do well to pay attention to this film.

DROOL FACTOR: Comic fans will finally be drooling over a proper film treatment of a classic book.

GROSS-OUT FACTOR: The way the Mutatron eventually offs you is probably the nastiest thing in the flick. Wanna see what happens when your body turns to liquid? Here's your chance.

STRONG CHICK FACTOR: Lots. The comic is famous for introducing deep, thoughtful woman characters, and they're all in evidence here. Hell, even Halle Berry comes off cool.

-- David Rosiak

X-Men is now playing nationwide.

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