#21

Hello to all of you!
So this weekend was kinda nice. As usual I watched a lot of football (soccer for all of you Americans). On Friday Mainz 05 won 4:2 and they now are first in the 2. Bundesliga, the best second league worldwide! Then on Sunday Bayern Munich won 4:1 against Hertha BSC Berlin. Their first victory in the Bundesliga since Jürgen Klinsmann is head coach. It was a very good and entertaining match with two totally different teams. Bayern on the one side were totally dominant and had chances to win even higher and Hertha on the other side were completely harmless. Only Marco Pantelic was able to score after the only mistake that happened in Bayern's game. I start to look forward to the season even though there still aren't enough players in Klinsmann's squad.
But to come to today's review:

X-Men






Director: Bryan Singer

Cast: Hugh Jackman ("Logan/Wolverine"), Patrick Stewart ("Prof. Charles Xavier"), Sir Ian McKellen ("Eric Lensherr/Magneto"), Famke Janssen ("Dr. Jean Grey"), Anna Paquin ("Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue"), Halle Berry ("Ororo Munroe/Storm")

Review: Before I write a lot about the movie I have to confess that until today I had only watched X-Men 2 and X-Men 3. I started watching X-1 once but I didn't really feel what all the fuss was all about. But when I bought X-2 and X-3 I had to buy X-1 as well because i wanted to have them all. But I only came to watch it today.

The movie starts with a conference in which Jean Grey talks about mutants. there has been a discussion about whether or not mutants should be considered dangerous. One of the most aggressive leaders against mutants is Senator Kelly. He wants mutants to be imprisoned. Present at the conference are also Prof. Charles Xavier, headmaster of a school for mutants, which is kept from the outside world, and Eric Lensherr aka Magneto. They both want mutants to leave without fear but where Xavier wants to achieve this with diplomacy, Magneto's way is war.
We change the scene to Canada where teenage girl Rogue meets Wolverine, a mutant who can heal himself and has been implanted with adamantium, an unbreakable metal. Rogue has run away from home because she is a mutant herself. She literally sucks the life out off people when they touch her skin. After Rogue hides in Wolverine's car they decide to travel together, but they are attacked by Sabretooth, one of Magneto's associates. Wolverine gets knocked out during the fight and Rogue is stuck in the crashed car. When Sabretooth is approaching the car Rogue and Wolverine are saved by Storm and Cyclops who work for Xavier. The take them to Xavier's school where the professor tries to find out what magneto wanted with them.
At the same time Magneto's right hand Mystique, a chameleon mutant, kidnaps Senator Kelly and takes him Magneto. Magneto has build a machine which mutates the genes of normal people with the help of radiation. When Senator Kelly, already a mutant, escapes Magneto he runs to see Jean Grey at Xavier's. He is getting weaker and weaker and dies by turning into a puddle of water. At the meantime, Magneto kidnaps Rogue. With her help he wants to mutate all politicians of the UN who are on Ellis Island at a conference. Magneto has put his machine into the torch of the Statue of Liberty and wants to use Rogue to activate the machine, because she can absorb his powers and multiply them.
Of course the X-Men, that's what the kids at Xavier's school call Storm, Cyclops, Jean and Wolverine, try to safe Rogue and stop Magneto....

When I first tried to watch X-1 I thought it was boring and it didn't really get to me. But now that I've seen x-2 and X-3 I liked X-1. It's a nice and yet action-packed first part of a trilogy. As an introduction it is very well done even though the other two movies are better than X-1.
The plot is nice and entertaining, but it misses a little bit of dramaturgy. This was done better in films like Iron Man or Batman Begins which also started a new series of movies.
What I like most about the X-Men films are a): the special effects and b): the actors.
There's not much to say about the special effects, I simply think they are nice even though they increase in quality from movie to movie.
The actors on the other hand stay on the same level in each film. But this level is rather good for a comic book adaptation. But it's not only the acting, but the actors themselves whom I like.
Hugh Jackman is on son-of-a-bitch and that is meant as a compliment. He's just extremely cool. Ian McKellen has been one of the greatest actors for me since I've first seen him. I can't remember which film it was but just has the charm of a fatherly person.
But my favourite in X-Men is, of course, a woman. Famke Janssen is one hot foxy lady. She may be already in her forties, but damn this woman is hot. Maybe it's the fact that, as a native Dutch, she speaks German, but I really like the looks of her.
The rest of the cast, including Halle Berry whom I normally dislike, is good as well. They all deserve to take credit for a nicely done movie which is definitely worth watching, although the trilogy gets better with each film.

7,8 out of 10 blade grinding mutants