I had been thinking of this movie recently and wanted to watch it again (the first time in years) but as recently as a month or so ago it was not on streaming but this weekend I noticed it arrived on Disney Plus so I watched it with my wife (who barely cares about superhero movies). Until the original Avengers, this was by far my favorite Superhero movie. And you know what?
It’s still great.
It has some of the best sequences in a superhero movie: the infiltration of the Whitehouse (that scene randomly popping into my head was what encouraged me to seek out the movie on streaming in the first place), the raid on the school, the scene when the police arrive at Bobby’s house. All so great.
It also has a great story with a nearly perfect cast. It even engaged my wife enough that we later also watched Days of Future Past which she also liked. “The mutant question” subtext is such a great story hook that unfortunately has been and is relevant to real life since the X-Men were created. It’s handled great here (although I worry a little that the upcoming MCU reboot will be overly heavy handed which is something this movie avoided).
I even saw something new that never occurred to me after repeated viewings: Lady Deathstrike kind of gets done dirty in this movie. She dies in a pretty brutal way but is as much of a victim as anyone else since Stryker is using his serum to control her mind (also presumably he is the one who gave her her adamantium claws so he violated her twice). I never realized that and actually felt bad for her this time.
If it’s been a while since you have seen it, check it out. It’s as good as you remember.
It’s a good movie and still my favorite X-Man movie. It did suffer from having too many characters for the audience to get to know. Sabertooth and Lady Deathstrike were barely characters which is unfortuante given their rich history in the comics. But you don’t notice it so much because we had a strong villain in Stryker and most of the X-Men were interesting characters played by actors who were on their game.
It does suffer a bit because I never really felt as though they went into why mutants were so hated. I mean, sure, they say it, “You’re for gun control but some of these mutants have powers that are far more damaging,” but they don’t really show it. But you’re right, X2 still holds up. And somehow Wolverine’s claws look better than they did in subsequent solo movies.
The one thing I didn’t like about it was Holocaust survivor Magento decides, on a whim, to genocide non-mutant humanity. He’s bad, but it didn’t fit the character that he was that bad.
Totally. It’s disturbing because they deliberately show her coming out from under Stryker’s control moments befre she dies is an incredibly brutal way.
IIRC, Wolverine does look slightly sympathetic right after–like he noticed it as well.
Days of Future Past has a special place in my heart as a comic book. I have a very vivid memory of seeing the cover and knowing it was something special. It really came out of left field and no one knew it was coming before it showed up in our monthly order. I read a lot of comics in the 80s and that one stuck with me. Unfortunately they changed too much for the movie.
Kitty Pryde kind of got shafted with the adaptation. I didn’t read a lot of X-Men comics as a youth, but I read several of the Days of Future Past storyline. The cover art featuring an older Wolverine and Kitty Pryde in a spotlight in front of a brick wall lined with posters of various X-Men with “Slain” or “Apprehended” written across them was certainly evocative. I remember playing the Marvel Super Hero’s role playing game from TSR and the Nightmare of Futures Past setting for the game. I like to think I was a cool kid, but I’m starting to think I might have been a nerd.
The Days of Future Past storyline was from 1981. More time has passed between then and now than passed between the creation of the X-Men and that storyline. I’m feeling old.
