Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'X-Men'

​Written by Scotty

As I slowly start to get excited for the only successful Marvel Property that is not owned by Marvel, I need to catch up on my X-Men viewing.  I admit it, I was hesitant about Days of Future Past and skipped it in theaters and deeply regret it, and I will not let that happen again. Although it appears that Apocalypse will have many of our favorite characters dying off in one way or another, I think that it is better to remember the good times when nobody died, they only got locked up in mutant prison so they could escape at a later date. So let’s just dive into the movie that started it all, X-Men.

A new plague is starting to show itself around the world, but it is created by something that is inside of everybody. The Mutant Gene has been passed down to every generation and while it should be embraced, there are many people that feel like it should be controlled. Senator Kelly is one of these people that believes that the mutant problem should be addressed and taken care of in a timely manner and with all of the publicity he is receiving, along with standing ovations when he leaves the podium, he may have started a war against his fellow man that he had no idea was coming. 

Eric Lensherr is preparing for the war he was born to fight.  Since his powers came to him at a young age, Eric has embraced what has been given to him and will use it to his complete ability to make sure that the world knows that mutation is its future. Creating a weapon that will unlock the mutant gene in everyone, Eric is waiting for the perfect time to unleash it upon the human race. With a world summit coming to New York City, there is no better time to show its power to all the world, as well as making a statement by taking out most of the city. But the cost could be deadly to him to start up the machine on such a high level and Magneto needs to find a way to control it without causing himself any harm since he will have several more followers when all is said and done.  Being able to find a young mutant named Rogue who can borrow the life force from anything living, he has his target, but it will be more of a fight to bring the girl into greatness as since she has been taken in by his old friend Charles Xavier.

Living his life one day at a time, Logan wants nothing to do with anybody. Losing his memory after having his skeleton coated with Adamantium, he is looking for a way to get by, but gets drawn into a fight that he was not expecting. When seeing that Rogue needs someone to help and look after her, Logan knows he is up to the job and after almost being blown up and waking up in the Professor’s school, he sees that there is much more going on in the world than he ever knew. Staying at the school for two days, Logan has another reason for not wanting to leave as Jean Grey catches his eye. Seeing that she likes him as well, Logan will do anything to get her to notice him, but the X-Men are called into action before anything is able to formulate. After Rogue is kidnapped by Magneto, the Wolverine is ready for action and will do anything to protect the girl that is not afraid of his powers.

Professor Charles Xavier has been able to fly under the radar and run his school without any problems from the government, which is quite a feat seeing as to how he caters to young mutants. With Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe helping him keep it together, they also serve another purpose, maintaining the safety of the world as a group called the X-Men.  Trying to keep Magneto and his gang away from the public, the group needs all the help they can get and even though Xavier is able to control people’s minds, he cannot get into his old friend's head anymore. When the X-Men figure out what Magneto is planning to do, they have to suit up and try to stop him before all of New York becomes another failed experiment.  Being led by Cyclops; Storm, Jean and Wolverine are ready to stop Magneto from completing his plan, along with saving Rogue from the certain death that Magneto has promised her.

With the huge success from the cartoon, Fox took a shot and was able to stumble upon gold when it came to brining the X-Men to life. This was the first box office smash of a live action superhero movie from the Marvel Universe and although I would like to credit Blade or Howard the Duck with doing that, sadly the numbers do not comply. The one thing that I always loved about the X-Men cartoon is that the characters seemed so relatable and now being on the big screen, you can see it much clearer.  Everyone seems to like to gravitate towards Wolverine the most and I can see why, he is just an everyday guy that happens to have the power to regenerate. But there are so many more good characters in the series, and I only hope that you are willing to give them all a chance, especially Bobby since he has caught the eye of Rogue and you know there will be some frostbite there.  Well on to X-2.

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