Marvel Team-Up: Spider-Man and the X-Men
Filed under: ReWatching, Brett Ratner
I had comic book movies on the brain this past week, since I had just ordered the Batman Begins DVD from Amazon. I had already watched the first two, Michael Keaton-starring Batman flicks, so didn't want to duplicate that film festival. So as to not inflict any injury on myself, I decided to keep the mini-marathon to just Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, X-Men and X-Men 2. This was also prompted by a desire to remind myself how good the X-Men movies are, before Brett Ratner comes in and ruins the franchise. Really, though, I wanted to see how the best four films based on Marvel Comics characters fared in head-to-head competition.First, I watched the two Spider-Man flicks. The first filme is working less and less well for me as time goes on. The first half, basically everything up until the cage match, is still pretty strong – it's when Peter Parker actually becomes Spidey that the movie goes south. Bad special effects, an increasingly weak story and an ending that is totally overdone all conspire to suck the life out of the movie. The second film, though, continues to get better. A greater emphasis on character development, some better writing and the fact that the villian isn't wearing snow-boarding gear, make it the stronger of the two. It's also the only one that comes close to feeling like a Sam Raimi movie. His influence is especially felt during the operating room sequence.
As good as Spider-Man 2 is, though, it's not as good as the first X-Men flick. With the emphasis on character and story apparent from the very start this is an incredibly strong superhero movie. Wolverine, a character that would have been very easy to overplay, is portrayed very well by Hugh Jackman. The rest of the cast (with one exception) is just as good. They get even better in X-Men 2 which, despite the emphasis on Wolverine's journey, is really Jean Grey's movie. It's here that her latent powers are first hinted at and we see those magnificent eyes of Famke Janssen's turn all Phoenix-ey. The ending of X2 is one of the most powerful, with Grey sacrificing herself and then seeing the Phoenix-shape below the waters of Alkalai Lake. It's fantastic. Bryan Singer really showed you can do more with a comic book property than use it as a means to a paycheck.
So what are your favorites?
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