Written by Anthony Watkins
What can be better than working by yourself? Working as a team. When you have a team, you know that someone has your back---that someone is working alongside you fighting, wrestling, and struggling for the same cause. You look out for each other. If you fall, someone is there to pick you up. Sure, there is more strategy and planning involved, but that's half the fun. As part of a unit, you get the feeling of having value and worth. When you succeed, there is no better feeling than going to your teammate and shaking hands, saying "Well done." It is an emotion that can only be achieved by being a part of a group.
In the comic book universe, one of the most famous teams is the X-Men--a group determined to maintain peace between mutants (higher evolved humans who possess superhuman abilities) and humans. Each member is needed, as one cannot undertake the fight on his or her own. At the turn of the millennium, director Bryan Singer successfully brought this beloved team to the big screen with X-Men (2000). The film was a box office hit upon its release, grossing over $55 million in its opening weekend and going on to gross over $157 million in 2000 (IMDB). But how did this superhero film give rise to one of the largest franchises in film history and what made it such a vital piece to Hollywood and Marvel?
After the disastrous Batman and Robin (Schumaker, 1997), faith in superhero films seemed to hit rock bottom. As a result, that faith had to be restored at some point through a well-crafted adaptation of a comic book series. Bryan Singer accomplished exactly that with X-Men. In his article for Empire, Chris Hewitt noted, "Without X-Men, it’s likely that Hollywood would have got around to Spider-Man and rebooting Batman eventually – just as someone else would have come up with the A-bomb had Robert Oppenheimer not cracked it – but in very different forms. Singer’s 2000 movie is the catalyst for everything that’s come since, good and bad. Without it, there’s no Marvel Studios" (Empire).
The film succeeded in featuring a strong cast in Academy Award winners Halle Berry and Anna Paquin, Academy Award nominee Ian McKellen, Golden Globe nominee Patrick Stewart, and actors Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, and James Marsden. It’s safe to say the characters in the film were perfectly cast, as a great chemistry emerges between the X-Men as they battle the villainous "Magneto" (Ian McKellen). Notably, the team aspect of the film helps separate it from other comic book adaptations such as Batman (Burton, 1989) or Superman (Donner, 1978). Within the group, special emphasis should be put on the casting of "Wolverine," which has arguably become Hugh Jackman’s defining role. Jackman not only possessed the physique for Wolverine, but also the emotion and intensity that comes with bearing the signature adamanitum claws and skeleton.
Besides the well-rounded cast, X-Men possessed a strong narrative and character development, especially with Jackman’s Wolverine. He goes from a hopelessly confused individual with no identity to someone who finds a place in the world and with the X-Men group, all the while maintaining the short-tempered manner that fans of the comics know and love. He ends up being a character audiences can easily identify with and feel sympathetic for as he develops relationships with the other X-Men.
In the comic book universe, one of the most famous teams is the X-Men--a group determined to maintain peace between mutants (higher evolved humans who possess superhuman abilities) and humans. Each member is needed, as one cannot undertake the fight on his or her own. At the turn of the millennium, director Bryan Singer successfully brought this beloved team to the big screen with X-Men (2000). The film was a box office hit upon its release, grossing over $55 million in its opening weekend and going on to gross over $157 million in 2000 (IMDB). But how did this superhero film give rise to one of the largest franchises in film history and what made it such a vital piece to Hollywood and Marvel?
After the disastrous Batman and Robin (Schumaker, 1997), faith in superhero films seemed to hit rock bottom. As a result, that faith had to be restored at some point through a well-crafted adaptation of a comic book series. Bryan Singer accomplished exactly that with X-Men. In his article for Empire, Chris Hewitt noted, "Without X-Men, it’s likely that Hollywood would have got around to Spider-Man and rebooting Batman eventually – just as someone else would have come up with the A-bomb had Robert Oppenheimer not cracked it – but in very different forms. Singer’s 2000 movie is the catalyst for everything that’s come since, good and bad. Without it, there’s no Marvel Studios" (Empire).
The film succeeded in featuring a strong cast in Academy Award winners Halle Berry and Anna Paquin, Academy Award nominee Ian McKellen, Golden Globe nominee Patrick Stewart, and actors Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, and James Marsden. It’s safe to say the characters in the film were perfectly cast, as a great chemistry emerges between the X-Men as they battle the villainous "Magneto" (Ian McKellen). Notably, the team aspect of the film helps separate it from other comic book adaptations such as Batman (Burton, 1989) or Superman (Donner, 1978). Within the group, special emphasis should be put on the casting of "Wolverine," which has arguably become Hugh Jackman’s defining role. Jackman not only possessed the physique for Wolverine, but also the emotion and intensity that comes with bearing the signature adamanitum claws and skeleton.
Besides the well-rounded cast, X-Men possessed a strong narrative and character development, especially with Jackman’s Wolverine. He goes from a hopelessly confused individual with no identity to someone who finds a place in the world and with the X-Men group, all the while maintaining the short-tempered manner that fans of the comics know and love. He ends up being a character audiences can easily identify with and feel sympathetic for as he develops relationships with the other X-Men.
Possessing the physique and temperament necessary for the character, Hugh Jackman made the Wolverine his own in Singer's X-Men.
Singer’s film also has strong themes and social commentary that was (and still is) relevant for society. Rogue (Anna Paquin) is a character who is isolated from the X-Men due to her unique ability to harness another mutant's power--at the fatal expense of the mutant. This causes her to feel alone and extremely detached, as well as unable to find love. This is partly remedied when Bobby/Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) takes a liking to her, and when Wolverine becomes a father figure to her. Rogue and her power are symbolic of our own isolation that we feel at times, especially in the presence of new or extraordinary people. The main conflict in the film, the clash between humans and mutants, can be applied to the conflicts that appear in our world today, such as between governments, religions, race, etc. Of course these differences aren’t as drastic as in X-Men, but nevertheless the film emphasizes the fact that even though we as humans may look like one species, we have clear differences that lie inside each of us, and the resulting conflicts can sometimes blow out of proportion or end disastrously.
With X-Men, Bryan Singer successfully renewed interest and credibility to the superhero genre. From the project stems one of the largest and highest grossing franchises in film history; two sequels sprung from Singer’s original film, X2: X-Men United (Singer, 2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (Ratner, 2006). Two films focused on Wolverine, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Hood, 2009) and The Wolverine (Mangold, 2013), and two films focused on the X-Men characters' backstories, X-Men: First Class (Vaughn, 2011) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (Singer, 2014). With Singer returning to direct for X-Men: Apocalypse, the franchise has expanded to eight films, with the vast majority enjoying tremendous critical and commercial success. Singer can be proud his well-casted, well-written, and allegorical original film spawned such an illustrious franchise.
WORKS CITED
“Bryan Singer On The Complete Story Of The X-Men.” Empire. 2014. 22 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1892>.
IMDB. 2014. 22 Nov. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com>.
With X-Men, Bryan Singer successfully renewed interest and credibility to the superhero genre. From the project stems one of the largest and highest grossing franchises in film history; two sequels sprung from Singer’s original film, X2: X-Men United (Singer, 2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (Ratner, 2006). Two films focused on Wolverine, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Hood, 2009) and The Wolverine (Mangold, 2013), and two films focused on the X-Men characters' backstories, X-Men: First Class (Vaughn, 2011) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (Singer, 2014). With Singer returning to direct for X-Men: Apocalypse, the franchise has expanded to eight films, with the vast majority enjoying tremendous critical and commercial success. Singer can be proud his well-casted, well-written, and allegorical original film spawned such an illustrious franchise.
WORKS CITED
“Bryan Singer On The Complete Story Of The X-Men.” Empire. 2014. 22 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1892>.
IMDB. 2014. 22 Nov. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com>.
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