Shadow and Flame with Magik

Director Bryan Singer

Screenplay David Hayter

Story Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer

Premiere Date July 14, 2000

I own this as the original DVD and the 1.5 DVD.  I kept the original one for the fun Easter egg of Spider-Man ruining a shot.  Go to Special Features -> Trailers -> the hidden rose on the left.

Thanks to YouTuber BaTiK151, for hosting the video!

I really like James Marsden’s thought process of thinking it is funny and then getting back into character.

Remember interactive menus on DVDs?  I know it only lasts a few seconds, but seeing them every time, gets old fast.

I had graduated high school in May and was working in a summer program.  One of the rewards for the kids was that we were going to be able to watch this movie as one of the first matinees that were available.  I was so looking toward this since the beginning of the year, and once it was announced as an award at the beginning of the summer.

Thanks to Wizard magazine, I was keeping up with all of the news.  Blade had been the first real Marvel movie and I enjoyed it but I would never say I was a big Blade fan.  Now the X-Men, that, I am a gigantic fan.

I really like this film, great first attempt.  I just watched the film and here is my running commentary.  1.5 actually has Bryan Singer commentary.

I know it is a small detail, and easy to miss, but I like how the X in the 20th Century Fox logo sticks a little longer.

I also like how the opening title sequence is barely a minute long.

Film opens with boy Magneto and his family at a Nazi concentration camp, which will have a major pay off for the First Class film.

Meridan, Mississippi – Rogue is the first X-Man we see, but not officially on the team.  We learn her real name is Marie, which took the comics several more years before establishing a real name for her.  Claremont settled on Anna Marie in his X-Treme X-Men run.

Anna Paquin is so young here.  I knew she was an Oscar winner but I have still not seen The Piano.  This was my first exposure to her.  These films and True Blood are the only work of her’s that I have seen.  Also, She’s All That, Almost Famous, 25th Hour and Scream 4 – I guess I may be a bigger fan than I thought.

Poor Rogue, worst first kiss ever.

We get Famke Janseen as Jean Grey and Bruce Davison as Senator Kelly.  Famke looks nice here wearing red but later they put her in some unflattering clothes.  At this point, I have only seen her in GoldenEye.  Still the only non-X-Men film of her’s I have seen.

Bruce Davison, I know from Crazy / Beautiful.  From Wikipedia, I have been reminded that I have seen him in – Willard, Crucible, Apt Pupil, At First Sight, Summer Catch and Runaway Jury.

00:07:04, Senator Kelly states that there is a young girl from Illinois who can walk through walls.  What stops her from walking through banks, the White House or any of our homes?  I knew I was in for a good time with this early Kitty Pryde reference.

Watching is Professor Xavier, played perfectly by Patrick Stewart.  Who I know and love from Star Trek : The Next Generation as my captain, Captain Pricard.  I was so happy, like most people, as this was dream casting.  Also, he deserves to be in a good movie.  He seems to try to fight type casting so chooses some interesting film roles.  I’ve seen him in Conspiracy Theory, Robin Hood : Men in Tights, Masterminds, TMNT and Moby Dick.

Xavier sees his old friend, Magneto, also played to perfection by Ian McKellen.  I had not seen him prior to this but of course, he is Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films.  My wife and I have an ongoing joke about which role is the role that should defined him.  Then we saw him wear this :

I also really adore how much Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have become best friends over the years.  I feel like there is a new picture of them together every two weeks.  I’ve seen them both sitting on Santa’s lap.

I have also seen him in Apt Pupil.  That film and The Usual Suspects, are the only films of Bryan Singer’s I’ve seen, also Superman Returns.

Senator Kelly wants to pass a mutant registration act.

Northern Alaska, we see Rogue get out of a truck.  She is wearing a green cloak, which is awesome.  Better than that, the driver of that truck is the voice actor for Beast from the 90s X-Men cartoon, George Buza.

00:11:08, Hugh Jackman – a star is born!  I really like Jackman and watched several of his films before I had to start selecting them better.  I saw Swordfish but then The Fountain came out and I knew I couldn’t watch that.  I really liked him in The Prestige.  Kate and Leopold was nice.  He was also the voice of the Easter Bunny in Rise of the Guardians.

00:13:29, the claws.  You can tell throughout the film that they couldn’t settle on how to make them look.  That and his hair.

00:17:35, Logan tells Rogue that it hurts every time he pops his claws.  She tells him her name is Rogue, he doesn’t question it.

00:20:06, we get a glimpse of both Storm and Cyclops.  They showed up as Sabretooth tried to kill Wolverine and Rogue.

By now, they have done a great job of showing us all of Wolverine’s powers, as he has more than one, it makes sense to give him more establishing time.

Sabretooth is played by Tyler Mane.  I was a WWE guy, so I don’t know him from WCW.  I do know he was Michael Myers, in the Rob Zombie Halloween films.

Halle Berry, I thought she was decent in this one.  I definitely don’t follow her career.  I’ve seen Monster Ball and Swordfish, as well as Die Another Day.  Pierce Brosnan is my Bond.  Turns out, I’ve seen several of her films prior to this film – Last Boy Scout, Executive Decision, Flintstones and Bulworth.

Now, James Marsden, I am a huge fan.  He is like a respectable Freddie Prince Jr.  I really like him in Interstate 60 and Gossip.  He’s in a slew of films that I’ve seen and enjoyed – Zoolander, The Notebook, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, 27 Dresses and Hop.

In the film, we already have an us versus them mentality.

We get our first Wolverine on an Infirmary bed with Jean standing over him.  She still looks good here.

0:24:54 – 25:15 Sumela Kay as Kitty Pryde

Wolverine walks into one of Xavier’s physics classes.  Kitty gets to leave the room, come back for her book and then phase through the wall.  So awesome!

Then Cyclops and Storm walk in and Xavier tells Wolverine about the sides of the upcoming war.  Xavier introduces and states the super hero and villain names.  Poor Wolverine doesn’t even recognize Sabretooth.  Wolverine makes the fun joke about how Xavier should be called, Wheels.

0:27:51, we see Rogue in a classroom.  She is sitting next to Jubilee and once again, Kitty!  She showed up in a couple places that I didn’t remember being.  I’ve a huge fan of X2, so I’ve seen that one the most.

Also in the classroom is Iceman played by Shawn Ashmore, who I only know from his appearances on Smallville as well as Pyro, played by a different actor.

0:28:30, the word X-Men is said for the first time.

0:29:06, Xavier tells Wolverine that he was 17 when he first met Magneto.  Which might hold up in First Class, if a little young.  I guess with telepathic powers, he could have earn a college degree much sooner.

0:31:28, we see Mystique, played by Rebecca Romijn.  I forgot she was in the Thomas Jane Punisher film.  She was in the movie, Godsend, that I’ve been thinking about latest as ABC is doing a show called Resurrection, which seems to be a television version of that movie.  How great would this movie have been if they went with the classic Mystique white dress, skull belt instead of the scales?  I get why they went with the scales, but I’m sure Romijn would have loved to not have to spend nine hours each day to get the makeup and costume on.

We also see Ray Park as Toad, who I only know as Darth Maul and the rumor of Iron Fist, which now that Netflix is about to make that show, maybe he can finally get the role.

0:32:48, Adamantium is mentioned for the first time.  So crazy to hear this clearly comic book words being said on film.

So right now, the X-Men only consist of Cyclops, Jean and Storm.  So I get the impression that they haven’t really had any battles up to this point.

0:34:13, we get it confirmed that Henry Gyrich is dead, and has been for quite some time.  That’s what Mystique has been up to prior to the film starting.  Which must be a shame for Avengers fans.  Also, if only he was wearing those glasses!

0:36:40, Jean tells Wolverine that she and Scott share a room.  Xavier must have been so pleased on that day when they told him they were moving in together.

0:37:08, Jean tells Logan that Xavier is teaching her and he is so quick to say, I’m sure he is.  The hell!?!

0:37:42, we see that Scott has been watching the scene, so he likes to watch.  Didn’t announce himself or give a little cough.

0:38:21, we see that Kitty is Rogue’s roommate, with one other person.  Most likely Jubilee.

0:39:32, Logan stabs Rogue, which really?  How close did they put a man in his 30s next to young ladies in their teenage years so that she can hear his screaming in his sleep?  Then she goes in the room, without gloves on and tries to wake him up?  She might as well try to put her fingers in his mouth while he is having a seizure.

0:40:08, we see that Kitty is in one frame of the hallway seeing Rogue absorb of some of Wolverine’s healing factor.  You can only see her once, then the other students block her.

We see that Senator Kelly now as water based powers.  Or that he is simply melting away.  Pretty fun seeing his face distort as he puts his head between the bars of his window.  Also fun moment with Sabretooth as he can’t pull him back into the cell and so Magneto locks him in there.

0:43:42, Stan lee is serving hot dogs!  He is also wearing an unfortunate red shirt and blue shorts combo.

We see that Mystique has taken Iceman’s shape and tells her, as Bobby, to leave the school.  She does it, showing that she hasn’t really become close to anyone else as you would think she would have gone and gotten a second opinion.

Scott and Xavier are having a meeting.  Xavier wants Scott to let Logan onto the team and Scott doubts he can take orders in a combat situation.  They also then mention how Magneto wants Wolverine for some reason.

0:45:58, we see Cerebro for the first time and right before that, a shot of all of the adults as the door opens.

We learn that Magneto helped Xavier build it.  I imagine he means this version of it as we know that Beast created the first Cerebro from First Class.

Cyclops’ visor looks so weird with civilian clothes.

We enter the train sequence.  Wolverine catches up with Rogue and has a nice chat.  Scott and Storm are in the train station, looking for Rogue when Toad and Sabretooth show up.

Meanwhile, Mystique is reversing Cebrebro.  Just like what happens with Mastermind in Uncanny X-Men 175.

Storm tells the ticket agent that Rogue is her height, which I’m pretty sure is misleading.  They are never going to find her.

Thanks to Toad taking off his visor, Cyclops gives the train station a new sun roof.

Storm lightning blasts Sabretooth after he cracks a window with her head.

0:53:49, we get the awesome sequence of Magneto on the train.  We find out why Magneto and Wolverine don’t have a long history with each other as Magneto can fling him away so easily.  We get Magneto laughing at Wolverine as why would he want him at all.  Turns out, he has been after Rogue this entire time.

The Magneto versus the police scene, is so well done.  Also shows how much of a threat Magneto is.  Xavier tries to get Magneto to stop his goal, and then Magneto fires a gun and stops the bullet from going into the lead officer’s head.

0:58:40, great delivering of the line “Fight with you.  Join the team.  Be an X-Man.” by Hugh Jackman to Halle Berry.  He says it so fast and sternly, he is finally caught up with everything and now can start making his own decisions.

Senator Kelly shows up at the mansion, and Xavier reads his mind.  We get Patrick Stewart being able to walk around, unnecessarily.

We get a team meeting of what their next steps should be.

Kelly dies while holding Storm’s hand.

Xavier tries Cerebro and it backfires on me.

Scott watches over Xavier, and promises to take care of the team and the school.

Jean uses Cerebro for the first time.  We see that Cerebro and the Infirmary are on opposite sides of the hallway.

At the Statue of Liberty, Toad is straight up killing guards by stomp landing on them.  That has to be a truly horrible way to die.  The sound it makes, of the bones, horrible.

Magneto tells Rogue his philosophy.

The X-Men have a fancy 3D map.  How does that work?

1:09:10, the uniforms!  I completely get why they went the direction they did, but I would have liked if the uniforms had some individuality.

1:09:51, the yellow spandex joke.

The Blackbird is kept under the basketball court.

Wolverine doesn’t show any fear of flying.

Wolverine sets off the metal detector, breaks it and flips Cyclops off with his middle claw.  Once they enter the lobby, Hugh Jackman really starts stealing the show.

Wolverine tells Cyclops to keep his eye open.  Then we get Wolverine versus Mystique.

Toad takes Cyclops and the ladies down.  Toad gets frozen in place by Jean and gets spit goo in her face for her troubles.

Ray Park gets to do a Darth Maul staff move once he throws Storm down an elevator shaft.

Cyclops blasts Jean in the face.

Storm shows she can fly, which is awesome.

1:16:30, worst joke in the film.  Storm’s “what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning.  The same thing that happens to everything else.”  So terrible.  So many possibilities for a better punchline.

Wolverine meets up with Cyclops, who asks him to prove he really is Wolverine.  Wolverine tells him he is a dick, and Cyclops says okay.  These two could be best friends.

Inside the head of the statue, Magneto has the X-Men pin to the walls.  Magneto has this great retort to Cyclops’ order to Storm to fry him.  “Oh yes, a bolt of lightning inside a copper conductor.  I thought you lived in a school.”

Wolverine versus Sabretooth

Magneto forces Rogue to take his powers.

1:23:53, we get Wolverine saying ‘bub.’

Poor Statue of Liberty took a bunch of damage.

Good teamwork and use of powers with how the X-Men stop Magneto and his machine.  The stress of the situation causes a white streak of hair for Rogue.

Once Wolverine frees Rogue, the score by Michael Kamen kicks in.  I liked this score so much that I bought the CD of the soundtrack.  This is one of five scores I own.

The X-Men take off in the Blackbitd, leaving Magneto unconscious at the torch.  That is a lot of trust that the responding police can handle Magneto.

Back at the mansion, Xavier wakes up.  Patrick Stewart has a chest of white hair.  As a guy who also has a hairy chest, it is always nice to see that others do as well.

Wolverine is on his third and final Infirmary bed.  Jean tells him that his giving Rogue is healing factor worked.  Rogue ran around with some of his more charming traits for a while.

Jean tells him that Rogue may be smitten with him.  He tells Jean, that his heart belongs to another.

Xavier tells Logan about Alkaline Lake and that there should be answers for him there.

The X-Men are watching Senator Kelly on the news.  They freeze frame as Mystique’s eyes can be seen instead of Kelly’s.  Why would she do that?

Rogue tells Logan that she is keeping the new hair style.  He tells her he will return.

As he rides off on Cyclops’ motorcycle, he drives out if the gate.  By the gate is the address marker – Xavier’s School for the Gifted.  Westchester, New York.  1407 Graymalkin Lake, Salem Center.

1:37:14, Magneto is in a plastic cell.  Xavier and he are playing chess.  Magneto asks what would Xavier do if someone tried take to take his students.  Xavier states he pities the poor soul who tries.

The film bookends with prisons and Magneto.  From Nazi concentration camp to plastic government prison cell.

For the credits, Sumela Kay is the fourth to last credited.  Before her is Stu’s friend, her, Shawn Ashmore, Jubilee and finally, Pyro credited as John.