The History

The X-Men are, like so many things in the comic world, the brainchild of Stan Lee. This is the man who gave us Spiderman, Daredevil, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man — superheroes who stand out in the pantheon of pop culture.

The X-Men, in comic industry terms, were as revolutionary as refrigeration. The greatest hindrance to the creation of new characters was the backstory. You could create any number of super-powered heroes and villains, but at some point, there needed to be a reason why. Superman does what he does because he comes from Krypton. Batman stalks Gotham by night because he witnessed the tragic death of his parents. Spiderman, on the other hand, was bitten by a radioactive spider. See the problem? Eventually, it strains believability to the breaking point to come up with increasingly more ludicrous reasons for special abilities.

So in 1963, Stan Lee came up with The X-Men, children of the atom, mutants, human beings who were merely the next step in human evolution. No more wild stories to explain their existence, now superheroes and villains could just be born that way.

The series has been in constant production since it began and has spawned countless spin-offs, cartoons and now a major motion picture. While The X-Men have not had the same widespread popular appeal as Superman or Batman, they have had an impact on the industry and almost single-handedly brought comics out of the shallow end of the pool and into the realm of complex story lines and socially relevant commentary.

At the heart of the series is a tale of human intolerance toward those who are different, seeking acceptance in a world that hates them. At a time when most comic book superheroes were busy fighting comic book supervillains with little rhyme or reason, The X-Men were a virtual allegory on contemporary American history. Not to oversell the point, The X-Men did their fair share of fighting.

But as the years passed, character development became central, and super powers were not just really cool abilities to have and use on the bad guys, they were curses that kept individuals isolated from their fellow man.

Rogue is a character who absorbs the life energy of anyone she touches. As a result, she cannot touch or be touched without dire consequences. Wolverine is a man with extraordinary healing abilities, the victim of secret government experiments with no memory of where he comes from. In a world divided between normal humans and mutants, he is compelled to side against mankind while doing his best to defend them. Cyclops emits powerful destructive rays from his eyes, but he cannot look at anyone.

At its deepest foundation, the series explores the nature of what it means to be unique, outside the norm and bearing a cross in a world that seeks to exploit, control and destroy those who are different.

The Movie

“X-Men” does what no superhero flick has done before: It covers many characters without doing a disservice to the plot. “Batman” and “Superman” dealt with single characters masterfully, but any director would have to be mad to take on The X-Men. Luckily, director Bryan Singer is that.

Singer’s talent is in capturing the essence of The X-Men, their history and complexity, while giving viewers a well-made comic book adventure.

The film’s prologue is set in 1944 Germany. A young boy is taken from his parents by Nazis. He screams for his parents as his mutant ability to control metal manifests itself and the iron gate to the deathcamp is mangled. The scene was as poignant and powerful as similar scenes from mainstream Holocaust films.

The young boy grows up to be Magneto (Ian McKellen), one of the most powerful mutants ever. He is a Holocaust survivor who has little faith in mankind to accept those it considers genetically defective.

The rest of the story is set in the not-so-far future where we see Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) addressing Congress on mutants. Sen. Kelly (Bruce Davison) is proposing mutants, a dangerous unknown, be registered for the safety of mankind.

Dr. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), founder of a school for mutants, and Magneto observe. The scene draws parallels between the concentration camp and the mutant crisis of the future.

During the first half hour, we are introduced to Rogue (Anna Paquin), a young girl whose first kiss resulted in putting her boyfriend in a coma. She runs away to Canada where she runs across Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in a bar fighting for money.

After Wolverine exposes his adamantium claws and thus himself as a mutant, he hits the road with Rogue stashed away in his trailer.

The two soon run into trouble with Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants, a band of mutants who believe a war is brewing between mankind and themselves, a war they intend to win.

The Brotherhood is stopped by The X-Men. Wolverine and Rogue are taken into the fold. Our introduction to Cyclops (James Marsden), Storm (Halle Berry) and the school are brief. The history lesson is quick, but efficiently and artfully captures the comic book feel of frame by frame action.

Dr. Xavier and The X-Men are defending mankind from the Brotherhood while providing a place for mutants to harness their abilities in an environment free from prejudice.

It is discovered that Magneto is working on a plan to trigger the mutant gene in the leaders of the world. Once affected, mankind will take up the mutant cause as its own. That is, unless The X-Men can stop them in time.

The choices in this film were sometimes curious in some cases but very smart in others. The casting was the most ingenious since unknown Christopher Reeves played the Man of Steel. Singer didn’t use complete unknowns, but he chose actors whose faces and former roles didn’t get in the way of their characters.

There is a seriousness in the performances that aids the story well. Nothing brings a fantasy movie to its knees like a director and cast who do everything tongue-in-cheek because they aren’t doing Shakespeare.

Hugh Jackman is the perfect Wolverine. In spite of a couple of moments when his Australian accent slips through the roughened Canadian-backwoods drawl, Jackman brought the complex character to the big screen with just the right balance of animal brutality and subdued chivalry.

Oscar-winner Anna Paquin is a very talented young actor and a great choice for Rogue if a bit on the young side. Her face does not carry so much fame with it that she makes the character a parody.

Halle Berry, James Marsden and Famke Janssen are almost under-utilized. Berry’s role could actually have been cut except that she made for great window dressing.

Ian McKellen brings dimension to Magneto that took years to establish in the comics. He is a truly talented performer whether he is playing Richard III or the leader of a mutant terrorist group from the near future.

Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier was very middle-of-the-road. He certainly looks the part, but that wasn’t quite enough. He was acceptable.

The look of the film was exceptional. “The X-Men” is not a title with a unified backdrop like Gotham City or Metropolis. It incorporates average city settings and outdoor shots into its stories, and Singer made all the shots contribute to the ambiance whether they were fantastic or realistic. The mutants never looked out of place.

The costumes were sophisticated and cool, but a bit too conformist with their unified theme of mostly black leather body suits.

The special effects aided in the storytelling well, and series fans should be pleased with the rendering of Wolverine’s and Cyclops’ abilities.

This movie is definitely worth seeing in the theater, even more than once.

**** out of five

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is opinion editor of the Daily.