X-Men the First

[jain]

So, I finally watched X-Men--after being inspired to do so by Pablo's lovely new story, Acquiesce. For the most part, I thought the movie really quite good. It was much funnier than I'd been expecting, for one; that was a nice surprise.

My main point of contention was Rogue. I had such a crush on her when I used to read the comics and she was this gorgeous, brash Southern woman who hid her pain under layers of self-confidence and attitude. Seeing her characterized as a wilting violet (to mix my metaphors) was extremely off-putting. Also, her crush on Wolverine makes less than no sense to me. They bonded for maybe ten minutes before being rescued by Storm and Cyclops and taken to the school. Until the very end, I'd say he's less her rescuer than the X-Men are, and no more so than the various people with whom she'd been hitching rides. Her devotion seems...misplaced, to say the least.

The other characters were excellently done, though. I found Xavier slightly more sympathetic than in the comics--mostly due to the brilliance of Patrick Stewart, I think. Jean Grey was alternately really cool and really annoying. Bobby was adorable. Magneto was suitably chilling; Sabretooth was the right blend of prettypretty and ferocious; Mystique terrified me. Toad was very kind of hot. Wolverine was in many ways more nuanced than I'm used to seeing him; the stoicism of his character in the comics was often completely unnatural, and it was refreshing to see him actually acting human.

The most positive change, though, was Cyclops. I still thought he was an ass, but I didn't want to strangle him during every scene in which he appeared. Also, the antagonism between him and Wolverine was hilarious. (And slashy, as well, in the manner of Harry/Draco. By the end of the movie they were really enjoying their animosity, while in the comics they tolerated each other when they had to and avoided each other when they didn't.)

Finally, the plot's premise was highly reasonable, and the fight scenes weren't drawn out too long. Which about sums up all of my reactions to the film. Oh, and Logan was gorgeous. But everyone already knew that.

So...does anyone have slash recs to volunteer? I recently reread Coming Home by Saraid, a nice Xavier/Logan story, but it and the aforementioned Pablo story are the extent of my foray into the movieverse fandom. (Logan/Cyclops, Logan/Bobby, and Jean/Storm recs would be especially wonderful.)

Comments

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

I loved the ass-kicking brash Rogue of the comic book too, but I guess for the movie they decided to have her fill the Kitty/Jubilee role. Ah, well--can't cram thirty years of Marvel continutity into a couple of movies. *g*

[jain]

Ah, well--can't cram thirty years of Marvel continutity into a couple of movies.

This is a very good point, and for the most part I'm glad they didn't try to do so. The main reason I stopped following X-Men (and The X-Files, and Strangers in Paradise...) is that the history and the mythology just kept getting more and more unwieldy, and it felt as though nothing was ever resolved. Rogue's characterization still annoys me, though.

[brak666.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for fic, you might want to check out x_slash though if you haven't seen X2 yet, you'll probably be spoiled for it and maybe a little lost. There's a lot of Iceman/Pyro right now. Magneto/Pyro is really big too, and kinda hot (which I never thought I'd say) and there's one or two Bobby/Logan's. I know there's someone working on a Bobby/Logan, but he's not finished yet.

[jain]

Thank you very much! I'm hoping to see X2 sometime this week, and I'll definitely check out the community after I've done so.