Hugh Jackman’s contract was for THREE movies. Haven’t been able to confirm any others yet.
I’d also like to add my call for Nightcrawler though I suspect they won’t want to confuse the non-comic fans with two blue people. sigh I’d rather Kurt…
and here’s hoping Kitty will have a bigger part, preferably alongside Peter.
Yeah, supposedly Piotr was in the movie somewhere…
Yeah, Kurt would be a much better blue person than Mystique.
Another thought: If they went through the trouble of sticking Bobby in the movie out of comic-context just so Rogue could have a guy-friend and Mystique could exploit him, why didn’t they just do it with Remy instead??? Either way, it doesn’t match up with story lines, so they should have gone ahead with it. Bobby was an empty character (so far), and a Cooky Coonass would have been great! Could’ve gotten one of the Cajun guys from “Waterboy” 
Non X-men savvy people don’t know this: In the “graphic novels,” Mystique raised Rogue…
-The Jew
…and may be Kurt’s mother.
I’m a tad disappointed in some of the differences (Bobby’s a good example) but accept they had to be made.
What about villians for the next one? Juggernaut? The brood would be cool but I can’t see it happening (too much like Aliens). Maybe the White Queen (yes I know she’s a good guy atm in the comics).
Yeah, I’d like to see the White Queen… Kim Bassinger? Michelle Pfeiffer?
Yes, and the Mystique thing is why i HOPE the kid playing basketball wasn’t Nightcrawler, because she IS Kurt’s Mother, he knows that for sure now.
I think the whole Kurt-being-rasied-by-circus-gypsies-and-almost-murdered-by-hateful-townfolk would be a great lead-in to a sequel ending in the creation of X-Calibur. (Again, to Non X-ers, think of X-Calibur as “Euro X-men”.)
Okay, this guy’s a geek, and a bad one at that.
Wolvie can control the width between his claws, much like we persons can control the width between our fingers. He can ‘flex’ his claws outward a ways. This is shown MANY times in the comics. His claws spread if he wants them to, or they are parallel if he wants them to. Sheesh! My main problem with the claws is that they were too stubby, and too thick. They should have been about 18 inches long, and only about 3/4 of an inch tall, and about 1/4 of an inch thick, tops.
–Tim, supergeek
Just got back from vacation. Kellibelli, am I too late to put my two bits worth in and offer a parental movie review?
I rewarded Bonzo (age 13) for putting away 90% of the stuff from our trip by taking him and a buddy to see this. I really liked it; I’m not a particular fan of Marvel Comics (Superman and Batman were my poison of choice, the Marvel Group had too much angst for my taste), but I would give this movie a solid three stars.
However–I was very glad that I didn’t take La Principessa, age 10 and very sensitive. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie yet, but there are two parts that Madame would have found very upsetting. First, where an associate bad guy melts down, it’s very graphic and scary, even though he’s a bad guy. Second, the part where Rogue gets injured. Madame would have strongly identified with Rogue by that point in the movie, and to have it happen the way it does (if you see the movie you’ll know what I’m talking about), would have been bad-dream material that night.
Bonzo and Cody, however, didn’t stop talking all the way home. “Who’d win, in a real fight–Sabretooth or Wolverine?” They agreed that Mr. Jackman didn’t have the pecs to make a convincing Wolverine, but I thought he was pretty foxy-looking, and a definite shoo-in for the Next Big Thing Poster Boy.
Be warned: this movie is 98% special effects, and if you enjoy this sort of movie, you should definitely see it at the theater, not wait till it comes out on video. On the small screen most of the effects will be totally wasted.
My personal call would be that the PG-13 rating for violence is well-deserved. Lots of martial arts kick-boxing and a few pretty scary special effects. The one where the guy melts even had me covering my eyes.
The Official Johnny Angel’s Review of X-Men
I saw the X-Men movie last night, and it was very good for what it tried to be, but unfortunately it didn’t try to be much. The film was at best a prolgue to a full movie that will hopefully be made in the near future.
As a long-time comic book reader, I was impressed that they managed to bring some of the characters I have followed since childhood so vividly, and I should add accurately, to life. The casting was essentially immaculate, and in my opinion the casting director should get an Oscar. But I don’t suppose the people who hand out nominations are big comic book fans.
They get no points for Patrick Stewart, whose commanding presence and bald head made him obvious for the role of Professor X. Surely they couldn’t have imagined making this movie without him. And of course, Halle Berry as Storm, Famke Janssen (the crazy Russian woman from Goldeneye) as Jean Grey, and prettyboy James Marsden as Cyclops – all were fine choices that convincingly delivered the goods.
But the choice of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was inspired, unexpected and ultimately triumphant. I can’t imagine there’s a single X-Men fan out in the wide world who was disappointed with Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine.
Character development was shallow, and while I realize that allowances had to be made for the brevity of the medium, a lot more could have been done. We get a goodly dose of Wolverine, Rogue and the professor, and I was glad to get it, but other characters, particularly Storm, were little more than plot elements. More could have been done, if the dialogue had been written to reveal character rather than merely to move the plot along.
And most of the time, our heros were inneffectual. Cyclops keeps getting his visor knocked off. Storm stands around and lets herself get beat on for a while before deciding to do something about it. Wolverine does most of the fighting, but Mistique’s kung fu is superior to his.
As for the bad guys, Ian McKellan was a swell choice for Magneto. As he proved in Richard III, he can do evil and make you love it. The opening sequence, in which he first reveals his powers in a German concentration camp, contradicts the official back story, but is actually, I think, a lot more interesting. A terrific scene.
Mistique was portrayed by Rebecca Romjin-Stamos, and while she was adorable in her indigo birthday suit, I would have prefered that they had just left her in the white dress that she wears in the comics instead of making her nude, with what appeared to be some plastic crust all over her.
Sabretooth had no character development at all. He doesn’t say much. Sure, even in the comics what he says doesn’t amount to much – he smells this, he’s gonna rip the shit out of that – but in the movie we don’t get any reparte between him and Wolverine, for which the pair are famous among True Believers.
Toad, played by Ray Park (of Darth Maul fame), has a moment to shine in this film like I don’t think he’s ever done in the comics, with slick ninja flips and unsettling tongue action, basically hwomping every ass in sight while the X-Men are waiting for their initiative to come up.
It was a fun movie to watch, for an introduction to the characters and premise, but the whole thing left me feeling that nothing much had happened. Mostly what X-Men delivers is the promise of a marvelous (as it were) sequel, hopefully featuring a fully developed plot, and more ambitious combat sequences. Now that they’ve proven the franchise is marketable, they shouldn’t have any trouble delivering the goods.
4 Cute chicks
1 Femme Fatalle
1 Sensitive guy
1 Redneck bar fight
See it. If you’re a True Believer, see it twice.
It is very definately Pyro. The credits list “St. John Allerdyce”–Pyro’s real name. moreover, he uses a lighter to start the fire–that was always a crucial part of Pyro’s power–he can only control flame, not make it (that’s why he wears the silly gas tanks). Rusty can just conjure it up outta nowhere and blast you. But, as I said, moot point given the credits.
Just saw the movie for the second time. It kicked so much ass. The best part is that the dialogue was good, but still comic-book like, and just like any good comic book, it provided a good story while setting you up for the sequel.
Michelle Pfeiffer would make a great White Queen. And I agree the Kurt intro would make a great start to a movie (tho I stand by my wish for a Bond-like start) but I still doubt Kurt will make an appearance in the second. sigh
And I deny the basketball kid was Kurt.And if I believe it hard enough it will be true. 
And although we can’t do the Dark Phoenix (Jean’s ineffectualness means we’re a long way from her being Phoenix) thing I’d like to see Milla Jovavich as Rachel.
damn - faced with a moral dilemma …
stay on straight dope for the afternoon
or go upstairs and read X-Men?