The X-Men
More than a few years ago I had the honor, the pleasure of meeting The Man: Stan Lee. It was at a comic bookstore on The Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, CO. (The comic outlet still exists, last I knew. But it had moved about five blocks south of the mall. Rising rent, y'know.)
It was not my intention to make an impression on Mr. Lee. I did, however.
A few years ago this was proven to me when, once more, I encountered the esteemed Mr. Lee. He looked at me, frowned, then smiled, and bellowed: Boulder! How the Hell are you?
(The person doing the introductions, thinking himself smug for 'knowing' Stan Lee, was not pleased by this revelation. Later, when Mr. Lee had been shuttled away to More Important Things, my friend growled, "Is there ANYONE you don't know?")
I am not egotistical enough to say I know Stan Lee. Why he remembered me after all that time is a certain mystery. But a mystery, I suspect, given the body of work Lee has produced, that will find its way into the work of Stan Lee in some form or manner.
That said, let me now say this: "The X-Men" are Stan Lee. Lock, stock, and barrel.
"The X-Men", the movie, however, is not.
"The X-Men", the movie, is a big-budget, star-studded effort. It has enough drawing power to assure a box office success.
But in the long term, will it be so?
Odds are: No.
"The X-Men", the comic book series (or 'graphic novels', as they some time merit being called) is for people who have attention spans greater than the length of the latest in Taco Bell commercials. "The X-Men", the movie, at 96 minutes (and change) does not have this luxury, so much is lost in the translation from the printed page to the silver screen.
The first of many problems that burden and plague this movie.
Another problem that will ultimately spell demise for "The X-Men", the movie, is the screenplay credited to first-timer David Hayter. (Along with uncredited Chris McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects") and Joss Whedon, creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".) Hayter sets his director up for certain failure by making the bad guy, Magneto (Ian McKellen), sympathetic and by presenting him as victim, intent on turning world leaders into mutants like the X-Men so the Joe McCarthy-like witch-hunt unfolding in Washington, D.C. will be called off: By making Them Us a normalization will supposedly take place.
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