Throwback Thursday: Does the original X-Men movie hold up?

The bad

Well, there is a lot wrong with this movie as well. It would be easy to jump on Halle Berry, but that point has been mentioned more than a few times. Sure, the accent was bad and the “Toad when it’s struck by lightning” line wasn’t delivered very well. That said, people act like she was the worst part of X-Men. Not even close. That honor goes to the presentation of Anna Paquin’s Rogue character.

Anna Paquin wasn’t terrible. She played the insecure role well enough, capturing how Rogue was scared of her powers. Unfortunately, the writing didn’t highlight that Rogue is so much more than that.

She’s tough, and regardless of the fact that she felt as if she couldn’t get close to people, she would have stood up for herself and her teammates more – even if she didn’t have super strength. Rogue didn’t have a standalone moment to make the audience say, “Wow! That was amazing!”. And for someone that was supposed to be a main character, she was left out.

When you hear someone say Halle Berry was the worst part of X-Men, remind them that Rogue never even threw a punch. We can accept her not flying or being able to lift a car, but we won’t be okay with an X-Man not having a fight scene. And that’s a shining example of how the character really deserved more from the writers.