REEL CRITICS
Comics turned film is quality summer diversion
A high-powered action thriller, “X-Men” delivers the goods with a
dynamic screenplay, top-notch special effects and well-cast actors who
bring life to impossible characters.
Sure to please the target audience of hip teenagers, this movie
actually offers enough complexity and sheer fun to entertain adults and
children. There is lots of good humor intertwined with the conflict and
competition that drives the story line.
But the violence on screen operates on a comic-book level that is
definitely exciting but not disturbing.
Producer Stan Lee supervises this PG-13 project and avoids bad
language while giving us plenty of action and suspense. Since Lee is the
original creator of the “X-Men” comics, this film remains faithful to his
concept of young adults striving to understand their own strange natures
and be accepted by normal society.
A sure draw for rebellious or alienated youth.
The tight screenplay and editing keep the plot moving at a fast pace
that takes barely 90 minutes. It holds the attention of the audience
throughout every twist and turn.
Each actor successfully imbues life and energy into his or her role.
The excellent screenplay avoids wasted words and lame plot
developments that could create low points. The plot also sets up the
certain possibility of many sequels in the future as several characters
have unfinished business at the movie’s end. This could easily become a
movie comic book franchise that will be with us for several years to
come.
It’s not profound but remains a quality summer diversion that fulfills
its promise to those who like futuristic action adventure.
As movie food, it may be empty calories, but it sure tastes good.
* JOHN DEPKO, 48, is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator
for the Orange County Public Defender’s Office.
‘X-Men’ is what’s bad about sci-fi
Many years ago my late husband and I became hooked on science fiction,
avidly reading such greats as Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury,
Robert Heinlein and others. These marvelously imaginative and creative
writers brought original and exciting concepts to a genre introduced by
Jules Verne in the 19th century.
“Batman,” “Superman,” “Green Lantern,” “Captain Marvel” and “X-Men”
comic books stimulated the imaginations of younger readers so that
several generations became -- and still are -- sci-fi fans.
Motion picture makers, reading the writing on the wall, have produced
a plethora of films with gratifying blockbuster box office payoff. Some
have been wonderful (“Star Wars,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” “Star
Trek,” “2001”).
But many have been derivative, prosaic and forgettable. Such is
“X-Men.”
Despite the No. 1 ranking for its opening weekend, the film has little
new to offer. Although it will hold the interest of even “old fuds” like
me for about two-thirds of the picture, an objective assessment of its
overall quality labels it as mundane. And the innocuous musical score as
it blasts in transition between sequences makes one understand why our
young people are going to be deaf before they are 40.
Some of the characters, including the leading man, have personality
and substance. And the film boasts two real stage and screen luminaries:
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Neither of these excellent actors are
required to stretch their skills in any way, however, nor are other cast
members.
“X-Men” starts with a burst of comets that coalesces into a planet.
Interesting, but it has nothing to do with the subsequent action.
The opening is followed by an episode immediately outside one of
Germany’s death camps. A teenage boy desperately tries to get to his
condemned mother but succeeds, from a distance, only in tearing down the
barbed-wire gate. Aha! He’s a mutant and, as the screen states, “some
years later” he become Magneto, the story’s villain.
Cut to the U.S. Senate, where a senator is pushing a bill that would
require mutants to be registered.
Truthfully, the plot is muddled and only exists so director Brian
Singer can flood the screen with bursts of white light or fiery
explosions or snarling mutants with deadly blades coming out of their
fingers or XCUs (extreme close-ups) of someone’s eyes or, lacking another
mind-boggling image, a long murky shot of the White House or Capitol
Hill.
Singer is the current sci-fi “golden boy” of Hollywood -- and “boy” he
is. With a canny eye to the future, he also offers something for every
moviegoer: mutant teenagers in a special school; beautiful, nubile women
to titillate the raging hormones of the targeted male audience; valiant
good guys. All balanced by the eminence of McKellen and Stewart.
The director has created a film with essentially stock characters,
such as the senator whose name and demeanor is supposed to remind one of
Ted Kennedy while he has a distinct resemblance to Bill Clinton. Solid
stuff!
The whole picture -- plot, characters, setting, politics (shallow, but
what would you expect?), pyrotechnics and earsplitting music -- screams
for a sequel.
Apparently, this is what the young people want.
It’s entertaining enough for the current generation who seemingly has
not experienced the genre by the brilliant, more masterful writers. I’m
still intrigued by science fiction and its potential in film, so I’ll try
again.
But razzle-dazzle doesn’t do it for me.
* ELEANORE HUMPHREY, “over 65,” lives in Costa Mesa and is a political
junkie involved with several city committees.
Plot falls flat in ‘The Kid’
“The Kid” is about a tense businessman named Russ who meets himself as
an 8-year-old named Rusty. Russ only cares about himself and doesn’t
respect anyone. He has to see a psychiatrist because he thinks he’s
delusional.
Bruce Willis and Spencer Breslin do a fantastic job in playing the
roles of Russ and Rusty. Willis takes on the challenge of being a snobby,
selfish, stuck-up businessman; while Spencer plays the loud kid who has
many faults. Both characters are funny and will make you laugh.
Lily Tomlin, who plays Russ’s secretary, Janet, was also very amusing.
She always complained about Russ’s orders and how he handled things.
On the whole, I didn’t think the story was that interesting. The
characters were intriguing, but there was not a lot of action and the
plot was plain. The movie itself was conflicting and had a heavy subject.
There were a lot of problems between Russ and most of the people in
the movie. He never seemed to get along with anyone.
“The Kid” is good for all age groups. It has adult subjects for the
older crowd and is comical for the younger people.
* SARA SALAM, 12, is a sixth-grader at Eastbluff Elementary School in
Newport Beach. She likes soccer, ballet and writing.
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