I blame going to see Thor for the reason I recently watched this movie. There was a time when I was going to see pretty much every “blockbuster” movie I could, just because going to the movies was fun. This film, other than the Star Wars movies, was one of the first where I did everything in my power to see as soon as I possibly could. I went to the first showing on the day it opened, and then went to see it again later that night. And then the next day. The first week it was open, I managed to see this movie five times in theaters, and it continues to hold the record for movie I’ve seen the most amount of times in theaters. It really rejuvenated my love for comic books and the idea of a fun “summer” movie, and I have lots of fond memories of it. I’m sure I even still have the toys from this movie in some box somewhere, even though they were kind of lame. It was one of my geek discoveries that I had made on my own that wasn’t passed onto me by anyone else, and I took a lot of pride in it. The reason this ties into Thor is not only because they are both superhero movies, but because Thor is the first movie since the X-Men franchise that has caused me to go on opening day, first showing, to the movies. That doesn’t count midnight showings, of course, because I’ve been to a few of those. One of my favorite parts about summer are the summer movies, and just how exciting it is to have nice weather and the experience of going to see a movie when other people are probably stuck at their jobs. Take THAT, employed people!

Remember how silly it was when Wolverine only snikt-ed out his middle claw like he was giving the finger?! LOL what a prankster!

The first scene involves seeing a boy being ripped from his parents at a concentration camp in World War II, and in his emotional pain, somehow causes metal fences to bend to his will, until he is knocked unconscious. We then see a girl kiss her first boy, only to send that boy into some sort of shock. After running away from home, this girl encounters a cage fighter making money by beating up everyone who challenges him, and does this without a scratch. All of these people are mutants, possibly the next step in human evolution, and most humans don’t like them. The girl is Marie, mutant name of Rogue, and the cage fighter is named Logan, mutant name of Wolverine, encounter some bad mutants and then some presumably good mutants. They end up at a “school for the gifted”, run by a mutant named Charles Xavier, referred to as Professor X. Xavier informs the pair that they are in a safe place where they won’t be judged, and he, along with mutants Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey, teach all the children at the school how to utilize their incredible abilities, as well as provide them comfort in being joined by people who understand their “gifts”. Once settled into this school, Xavier then proceeds to inform the newest mutants of who the bad guys are, and what they’re after.

Toad is PISSED! Which is probably a side effect from having jaundice, or whatever else might make his skin yellow.

The child we saw in WWII grows up to be Erik Lensherr, mutant name of Magneto, who believes that he is part of the new species Homo superior, and thinks Homo sapiens need to be eradicated. After creating a device that can mutate a human into a Homo superior, Magneto sets his sights on Wolverine and Rogue. With the help of his own mutant bad guys Sabertooth, Toad, and Mystique, Magneto manages to capture Rogue, which comes as a surprise, seeing as everyone thought he was after the very powerful Wolverine. Rogue’s abilities allow her to absorb the power of whoever she touches, whether that just be the life force of a human, or the abilities of a mutant. The device is powered by Magneto’s ability, and he causes Rogue to absorb his powers greatly enough that she can power the device on her own, in hopes of turning a large collection of the most important people in the world into mutants. When the “X-Men”, consisting of Storm, Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine, learn of this, they step into action. Using their powers, the X-Men are able to defeat Magneto and imprison him in a facility made completely of plastic, thus rendering his power of magnetism useless. Rogue appears to have found a good place to live at the school for the gifted, and Wolverine goes off on his own to seek answers about his own past.

This movie made me have such a big crush on Famke Janssen. Not sure why I said that like it was past tense though.

This movie is admittedly not the greatest superhero movie out there, but it is definitely a “blockbuster” and is overall one of the most fun comic book movies. It’s only 90 minutes long, and start to finish, you are thoroughly entertained. Granted, some of the acting and some of the dialogue is terrible, mostly blaming Halle Berry and her portrayal of Storm, but the action scenes and visual effects are quite fun. Just look back on all of the characters I mentioned, about ten, and I didn’t even scratch the surface of their relevant powers and history. However, in the film, you get a great sense of all of the characters, or at least get enough of a sense to understand the way the characters interact with one another. Admittedly, Toad and Sabertooth are barely more than thugs in this movie, who don’t appear in the rest of the trilogy, but every other character, good or bad, gets a pretty decent representation. Considering this film introduces that amount of characters, is able to convey their powers, personalities, and relationships to one another, and does so in only 90 minutes, it is certainly a credit to director Bryan Singer and the rest of the filmmakers involved. And if you thought this movie was good, just wait for the sequel. And if you didn’t think this movie was good, then brush the sand out of your vagina you fun hater.

Wolfman Moon Scale