May 7, 2003

Superpowers

My life would be so much better if I had selective telepathy. If people could read my mind (when I want them to), and I could read their minds (when I want to), it would reduce conflict and let me stay sitting down instead of having to get up to help somebody, and so on. Really, a great thing to have. Sadly, I don't have telepathy, or any other cool superpowers. Our house is very near some big power lines, so I'm hoping that will be a side-effect, but until then, I'll have to manage as a mundane.

There are some folks who do have superpowers, like the X-Men. I saw the second X-Men movie last weekend, and I suppose it was good. Mystique is cool, Wolverine is cool (but the hair doesn't do it for me), but getting hit by so many anvils hurts. I'm talking about the anvils of unsubtlety that are very in vogue among TV and movie writers these days. Iceman's mom says, "Have you ever tried not being a mutant?" Please. Why would his family freak out because he can turn things cold in an instant anyway? As far as it goes, it's a fairly lame superpower. Oh, because it's a metaphor for other perfectly normal, well-adjusted people in society who have non-standard, um, tastes that came to them genetically.

The writers brought the continuity by keeping Cyclops a tool (I don't know if he's a tool in the comics, I've never read them), and Storm is kind of annoying with her not-liking-normals bit, although I'll give Halle Berry props for keeping her relatively minor role in this sequel now that she's an important Oscar winner and stuff. I liked Nightcrawler, who seems like one of the most "normal" mutants we've seen, even though he has no chance of ever blending in anywhere.

I don't know where they can go with this series. Will humans and mutants ever learn to live in peace and harmony? I doubt it. Will mutants be content to live apart from everyone else and keep to themselves? Yeah right. So, unless the mutant gene starts expressing itself in a larger percentage of the population I don't see how this can end favorably for both groups.

Published: May 7, 2003
Editor: stacy