I have a feeling this blog will be a two parter, because I'm about to go the fuck off.
I've been a big fan of the X-men since I was a kid. I watched the show, I read the comics, I've researched a lot of back story of things I couldn't get a hold of to read. I always wanted a live action movie growing up and I finally got it in 2000. I left the theater that day so angry. I've never felt so disappointed leaving a movie since Masters of the Universe in 1987. Everything was wrong. Characters were wrong. Timeline was wrong. Powers were wrong. My inner fan boy was crushed that day and then was crushed with two more sequels and a Wolverine Origins movie. However, after every movie came out. I waited awhile (6 months or more) to watch the movie again. Only then was I able to get over my fan boy-ness and see the movies as stand alone, non-cannon versions of the characters I loved. I like all of these movies now. In fact I think they're very good movies.
I heard a couple of years ago, they were going to do a X-men origin story movie and got excited. I thought, "Reboot! Awesome, I can get what I always wanted!" Then movie stills started and trailers started to emerge. Alright. I'm on board. This sounds awesome. This trailer is starting to look awesome... and wtf is Mystique doing there? Banshee? Is that supposed to be Havok?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
While the movie looked awesome, I knew this wasn't going to end well and I thought if I went into the movie knowing this was going to be another inaccurate X-men movie I'd be ok. I was wrong.
Premise: A young Charles Xavier meets a young Erik Lensherr they become friends. Xavier creates a school for mutants. They're involved with the Cuban missile crisis in the 60's.
Before I go off, let me say that the movie was good.
Here we go. The original X-men line up was made up of Cyclops, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Iceman, Beast and Angel. Beast was the only one who made the cut apparently. The rest of the new line up doesn't make any sense. They were all X-men at some point but no way were they the first class.
First is Banshee. He's from Ireland. No accent wtf?
Havok is Cyclops' younger brother. Time traveler maybe?
Mystique was originally a villain in Ms. Marvel. She then turned into a prominant X-men villain later. Rogue's and Nightcrawler's mom? Wtf you ask? Yeah the other movies are screwed up. Xavier's adopted sister? Really?
Darwin made his comic debut in 2006 while Angel (bug chick) made her comic debut in 2001. How did they choose these characters?! Penny Arcade summed it up really well.
The bad guys. The Hellfire Club didn't make it's debut until 1980. Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost were the only two characters in the movie who were even apart of this group. Riptide and Azazel had nothing to do with the Hellfire Club.
While we're on the subject of fucking up characters, let's talk about Moira MacTaggert. In the movie she's portrayed as a CIA Agent. She's a very important character in the comics as a SCOTTISH GENETICIST and good friend/lover to Xavier. She's an important character and I'm so pissed they messed this up. This was one of the most unforgiving fuck ups for me.
I'm just getting started folks. Tomorrow I'll get into the reall messed up parts: Xavier and Magento. You would think the two main characters would be done some origin justice. Wrong.
So what you wanted was a film version closer to the story of X-Men 1-25 from 1963-1965 ???
ReplyDeleteYou feel like a film adaptation should more closely follow a story that comes from the books?
What about the cartoon that you started off saying that you liked? That wasn't cannon. It was it's own story with it's own take on established characters. Jubilee didn't make her first appearance until 1989, and yet they chose to use her as the main protagonist to introduce us to the (budding) X-Men just like they used Rogue in the first film. Both the films and 90's cartoon chose (and rightly so for their new medium) to tell a new origin story. You didn't complain about the cartoon in 1990, because it was (at least possibly, as it was for me) your entry point into the X-Men.
I think you HAVE to think of the films just like you would a new comic series, or a new writer taking over an old book. It's a new start with it's own rules.
Whether its good or not has to stand on it's own merit. X-Men was Ok. X2 was FANTASTIC, and X3 (which I don't remember very well) was not so great.
Batman Begins was an AMAZING movie! Was it the same origin story as the comics? No. It was new. It was Christopher Nolan's new take on an old established character. It worked.
I'm losing my train of thought here. I could probably form some better arguments here, but that would require thinking, re-reading, and editing... It's hard for me to flush out coherent arguments in writing... please fell free to ignore this whole comment. =)
Ok we'll start with the cartoon question. It sure wasn't cannon was it? Jubilee was a vehicle to introduce the established characters and team. I'm watching them all again thanks to netflix and Jubliee basically is non-exsistant after season 2 (so far). The cartoon did a great job later in season one to give pretty accurate origin stories of both Rogue and Gambit. The team was already established by the time Jubilee got into trouble in the mall. If the cartoon was an origin story and Jubilee was a part of it, I'd have a problem there too.
ReplyDeleteI understand that these other mediums need to take some liberties with established works. However when it becomes an origin story where they're making BIG changes, is where I get irked.
I guess it's more of how much they change that'll get to me. Batman was an amazing movie. The origin story was changed, but wasn't entirely different. There still exsisted some of stuff that as been there before in the comics. The X-Men origin story in the movie has virtually nothing in line with the comics. They changed up Thor and Cap too, but not so much that it makes that much of an impact to me.
Jane Foster (in Thor) a weather geek and not a nurse? Not a big deal. Moira MacTaggert a CIA agent and not a genetisist? Big deal. At least in my fan boy brain.
I just finished First Class, and I've gotta say, I loved it. I was an X-men fan as a kid too, but I'd gladly admit that I don't know nearly as much of the backstory as you do. Like, before reading your post, I didn't even know how Charles and Erik met. There may have been a time in my life when I knew it, but if so, I'd certainly forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI did, however, notice a lot of the anachronistic character use, but, really--it didn't bother me. Havok, for example. I just thought it was cool to see Havok in a movie, since he hadn't appeared in one previously (unless there's a cameo I'm forgetting about). So I was 100% okay with him bein' on the team.
I liked seeing new characters (both ones I knew and ones I hadn't heard of before), and I can't help but think that might be part of why they chose this cast. Sure, we could have had Angel (Worthington) and Jean Grey and Iceman and whatnot, but you know what? I've seen all those people in movies before. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy it if they were there, but I think I was actually *more* excited to see NEW people.
In any series that lasts long enough, be it books or TV or movies or whatever, characters will be shifted in and out. It just keeps things fresh.
As far as Moira goes, yeah--that lady wasn't Moira. But it didn't bother me because I just took it to be a nod to her character. That CIA agent wasn't Moira MacTaggert . . . she was a new, original character that was given Moira's name as a sort of homage. That's the way I see it, anyway.
So, yeah. I loved the film, but I don't have the level of X-men knowledge that you do. It's easy for me to sit here and say, "It's okay that they changed stuff," but I know that if they ever made an Amber movie and someone's hair color was off, I'd be ragin' all over the place.
In summary: ignorance is bliss!