May 12, 2001 05:50 PM
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Most teenagers just get pimples. In the world of X-Men, mutant adolescents break out in superpowers. Yet given children who can walk through walls, move things with their brain waves or change the weather by just thinking about it, stage mothers do not immediately rush them to the nearest casting agent. Instead, a fearful society ostracizes the poor little devils as they were nerds, commies or maybe illegal immigrants.
While some bad mutants do desire to rule the world, good mutants work to stop them. And though the script circumscribes both parties with the same conflicting array of identifications with oppressed minorities, this adaptation of the venerable Marvel comic is still reasonably effective as yarn.
Reactionaries led by a McCarthy style US Senator want to register all mutants for safety purposes. What the normals don't know is that mutant mastermind Magneto plots worldwide mutant rule through his power to create magnetic fields.
His nemisis is former ally Charles Xavier, a wheelchair bound telepath who can tinker with people's minds. Half coach and half headmaster runs a boarding school for mutants and believes that his kind can exist with people with boring DNA.
With this kind of material, if you are not going to camp it up, a romantic approach usually works best. The focal points are Professor X's new recruits. One is Wolverine, a loner with healing powers, retractable metal claws and a giant chip on his shoulder, who smoothly segues from pummeling drunks in bars to battling supervillians. The other is Rogue, who absorbs the life force and powers of anyone she touches. She hooks up with Wolverine after running away from home.
In any case, mutants sure can fight picturesquely, including a climactic battle in and on the Statue of Liberty. The array of characters are an exotic group of mutants are an attractive bunch including Halle Berry as Storm! And as for the film's higher-minded concerns about prejudice and race relations-which at one point finds Magento quoting Malcom X-they're not badly handled, but ultimately subsumed by action scenes and verbal byplay.
