X-Men Discovered

Thanks to this post by Meljean Brook a few weeks ago, I was motivated to finally check out the X-Men movies. I'm a fan of the big-name superheroes - Superman, Spidey, Batman - but can't claim much excitement over what seems to me to be the secondary tier - Fantastic Four, X-Men, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Hellboy and their ilk. In other words, I'm not a true superhero geek. If you'll notice, the first three have had some pretty awesome, pretty successful movies made in their names, which for me helps tremendously. I can become a pretty devoted fan after just one good flick.

As a little aside here, if you click on any of the superhero links to Wikipedia, isn't it funny how much information you can find on comic superheroes? Does this prove the level of fanatical geekiness involved in the world of comic fandom? I'm just saying...*g*.

Anyway, because of Meljean's picture of Gambit, I decided maybe I could become a fan of the X-Men if I watched a really great movie about the crew. Sadly I noted that Gambit is not in any of the film adaptations, but since Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine, and I'd heard how hot he is in that role, I figured the trade-off was fair enough.

I did like the movie. I liked it well enough that I rented the second X-Men movie, X2. And as predicted by the critics, I actually liked the second film better than the first. I may even fork over the babysitter money to catch X-Men: The Last Stand when it hits theatres late May. I don't know that I'll hunt down all things X-Men, but they've really got something there, in a world created where everything and anything can be explained away by mutation. Talk about working within rubber walls.

But about the whole Hugh as Wolverine. I was hoping to love Wolverine. I did like the character - tortured, misunderstood, bad-boy with a heart of pure gold - because he's right up my alley as the perfect hero-type. I just could not get past his hair, though. Every time Hugh came on screen, I had flashbacks to Fonzie and the fifties, and I kept wondering if we were supposed to think that his hair just naturally grew that way or that he spent hours styling it every morning. Except he even woke up with that doo....Instead of finding Wolverine a terrifying force, I tended to giggle over his hair style. And after the flick, I had to go cruising the net to find images that reminded me that I do think Hugh is a very nice looking man, because I just wasn't seeing the hotness in Wolverine. Maybe it was the mutton-chop sideburns...

Too, the romance in the first two films comes in the form of a love triangle between Wolverine, Jean Grey, and Jean's husband, Scott aka Cyclops. The set-up is classic Romance Novel 101; Wolverine arrives in a near-death state, awakening to attack the first person he sees - Jean Grey, who has been taking care of him. He's all sorry and so forth for attacking her, she's all forgiving, and the attraction between the two is instantaneous. But Jean is already married and in love with Scott so what she feels for Wolverine and he for her must remain unconsummated. The tension between Wolverine and Scott as they vie for Jean's affections is thick, the two super-studs constantly bickering as they size each other up to see who has the biggest...ahem...superpowers.

Warning - SPOILERS ahead....

In movie two, Jean gives in to her urges and kisses Wolverine. But since she's a superheroine, she begs for mercy from him because she loves her husband and really, really doesn't want to stray, despite the overwhelming desire to do so. Wolverine, being that bad boy with the heart of pure gold that he is, gives poor Jean a break and backs off.

We viewers, however, get to enjoy the brief thrill of a possible Wolverine/Jean pairing when that tricky Mystique (aka, a very blue, very naked Rebecca Romjin) takes on Jean's form and tries to seduce Wolverine. He's a smart one, though, and figures it out before anyone gets naked.

But, since a happily ever after is always impossible for all parties involved in a love triangle and poor Jean will never be truly satisfied with either choice she could make, she decides to make the Big Sacrifice when it's needed for her to save the rest of her X-Men teammates. As you would expect, both Wolverine and Scott are devastated.

I'm a fan of a good love triangle, except for that aforementioned impossible to have a truly happy ending thing because someone is going to end up hurt or dead. I can't say that it worked for me so much in the X-Men movies, but I think this is more a function of lack of character development, thus lack of me really caring or seeing any true sparks and conflict in the situation. When you're making a movie about a bunch of mutant superheroes, including the Big Bad and backstory and action and governmental interference and the like, it's only a given that the romance will get short shrift.

I will say that Hugh and actor James Marsden, who played Scott, did a fine job in acting devastated after losing Jean. I didn't quite feel their pain, but I believed that they felt it.

So, I'm wishing big time that Gambit would show up in X-Men 3 and light up the screen with chemistry with Rogue, worthy of Meljean's shipper-ness. I'm in need of a good 'ship right now since I'm not getting anything anywhere else.

Gads, I'm turning into one of those comic superhero geeks. *G*