Generation X (film)

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Movie
German title Generation X
Original title Generation X
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1996
length 87 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jack Sholder
script Eric Blakeney
production David Roessell
music J. Peter Robinson
camera Bryan England
cut Michael Schweitzer
occupation

Generation X is a 1996 version of a comic book adaptation by Jack Sholder of the Fox Broadcasting Company , based on the Marvel comic series of the same name . The film was mainly shot in Vancouver , Canada .

The film turns the well-known Marvel heroes Sean Cassidy alias Banshee and Emma Frost alias White Queen into directors and teachers of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, in which young mutants learn to use their powers profitably. Students are known as Marvelfiguren M, Skin, Mondo and Jubilee, but also buff and REFRAX as new characters (which mutant Chamber and Husk were written out of the film because the film budget , the visualization of their super powers did not allow it).

The youngsters, who do not work very well together at first, encounter an old adversary of the White Queen, the mad scientist Russel Tresh. He developed a machine that allowed the development of psychic powers.

The film was intended as a pilot for a planned television series that was never produced. The extremely low budget of the film was ridiculed by fans and development of the series was discontinued.

action

Emma is working on the “ dream machine ” that can manipulate the mind and generate telepathic powers in the X-factor . This makes it possible to enter the so-called "dream zone" ( Dream Realm ). The scientist Russell Tresh is also interested in this technique and would like to extract the X-factor from the brain of a young mutant. Emma uncovered his goings-on see to it that he is released.

Five years later Emma and Sean Cassidy founded the Xavier School to teach young mutants how to use their powers. The young Jubilee also becomes one of her students when something unbelievable happens to her in an amusement arcade: lightning bolts shoot out of her fingers. She is immediately arrested by the police. Since she is an unregistered mutant, she is to be taken to an internment camp. In prison she receives a visit from Emma and Sean, who take her to the Xavier School, where she should learn to control her powers.

There she meets the five other students, Skin, Monet (M), Mondo, Buff and Refrax. She doesn't get along very well with most of them, however, because Monet, Refrax and Mondo in particular appear presumptuous and conceited. In addition to the hard training sessions, the six also have "normal" teenage problems. Buff z. B. is afraid of her strength and especially of what it will do to her body, so that she always hides behind wide sweaters and does not know how to deal with Refrax's advances.

During a trip to the city, Skin falls in love with Kalya, one of the city girls, which almost escalates when a confrontation breaks out between the city youth and the mutants. The students also learn to work together.

Skin discovers the dream machine in Emma's estate and uses it with Jubilee. During their excursions into the dream world, they meet Russell Tresh, who is still getting at the X-factor and wants to get revenge on Emma. Tresh influences Keyla's feelings about Skin in order to be in his favor. Meanwhile, in the real world, cops break into Tresh's lab and remove Tresh's dream machine from his head; Tresh's mind remains trapped in the dream world, his mindless body ends up in a psychiatric institution. He looks for Skin in the dream world and moves him to put the machine on his body. When he's back in his body, he captures Skin for his extraction project. He makes a mental connection to Jubilee, she should inform Emma about his situation.

It comes to a fight in the dream world, in which the mutants have to show how well they work together. Tresh's body is separated from his mind again and returns to the asylum.

actor

actor role Code name Powers
Finola Hughes Emma Frost White Queen strong telepath
Jeremy Ratchford Sean Cassidy banshee Creates a sonar wave with his vocal cords
Heather McComb Jubilation Lee Jubilee shoots energy bolts
Agustin Rodriguez Angelo Espinosa skin Extreme stretchability and elasticity of the skin
Amarilis Monet St. Croix M. Perfection, super strength, intelligence
Bumper Robinson Mondo Mondo can take on the consistency of any object it touches
Suzanne Davis Arlee Hicks Buff Super strong, strong muscle growth
Randall Slavin Kurt Pastorius Refrax X-ray vision, can fire rays from his eyes
Matt Frewer Russel Tresh

The characters of the film

The following information comes from both the film and the Marvel Comics, which is why there are sometimes different versions.

White Queen

Emma Grace Frost is a very well known character from the Marvel universe. She is known for her mostly white, very open-hearted clothes and sexually offensive attitude. She often switches back and forth between cooperation and hostility with the X-Men . Apparently she is very rich and loves to pass on her knowledge to others and to teach children and teenagers. In the film she is assigned a scientific education. In the comics, she is initially a member of the Hellfire Club and heads the Hellions . After the death of one of her students, she goes to Charles Xavier's school and becomes a mentor to Generation X. She is a very powerful telepath who can change the thoughts and perceptions of others.

banshee

Sean Cassidy is an Irishman who can create a sonar scream that can upset the balance of others or create physical vibrations . He left Ireland after his wife was killed by an IRA bomb. Before joining Generation X, he was with Interpol and the New York Police Department . There he meets both the X-Men and Emma Frost. She makes him Vice President of the Xavier Institute. The banshee is a figure from Irish mythology who utters a lethal scream.

Jubilee

Jubilation Lee has the ability to generate positively charged flashes of energy. The X-Men call her “mall rat” ( shopping center rat) and was initially the youngest member of the group. Originally she has Chinese roots, but was born in Beverly Hills , California . Her parents seem to be of a higher social class. When she discovered her powers, she ran away from home and hung around in shopping malls from then on. After she is discovered by the police as a mutant , she runs into Emma Frost and Banshee and becomes a member of Generation X. In the comic, she is first with the X-Men before she comes to Emma. After leaving Generation X, she takes Skin to Los Angeles to become an actress. Jubilee means jubilee , but also to cheer .

skin

Angelo Espinosa was a member of a youth gang in Los Angeles before joining Generation X, where he hoped for a better life. He can stretch his skin to create about 6 feet (about 2 square meters) of extra skin. So the Hispanic skin can stretch and deform a lot. Sometimes he feels severe pain when he uses his strength. In the comics he is shown in gray and strives to lead a normal life, in the film his powers are more reminiscent of Mister Fantastic from Fantastic Four . Skin means skin in English.

M.

Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix was born in Sarajevo , Bosnia , and is the daughter of a rich Moroccan father and his Algerian wife. She is a character of the X-Men in the Marvel world , as well as Generation X and X-Factor . Her powers are described differently in the comic than in the film. There she can fly, has a superhuman physique and has telepathic abilities. In the film she is simply referred to as "perfect" in terms of her intelligence, as well as her physique and reflexes , her vitality and fitness . In addition, it can lift over 50 tons, has a high resistance to diseases and toxins and can regenerate very quickly . She is fully aware of this fact, which is why she is often viewed as arrogant and arrogant. As a result, she often gets into contact with others, e.g. B. their classmates, to each other.

Mondo

Mondo (no other name is known) has the ability to absorb organic and inorganic materials into its cellular structure, so that it takes on the nature of everything it touches. In some cases, it can also transport through organic materials. Little is known of his biography, except that he was from Samoa , where he met Cordelia Frost, Emma's younger sister. Through her he also came to the Hellfire Club and finally to Generation X.

Buff

Arlene Hicks is an insecure southerner . She developed super physical strength and enormous muscle mass at the same time . She is so embarrassed that she hides her figure in wide sweaters. Only at the end of the film does she become more self-confident and even try the skin-tight X-costume as the first. Buff is colloquial for " strip down to the skin ".

Refrax

Kurt Pastorius' powers include X-ray vision and the ability to fire rays from his eyes. He likes to use his energies for his own fun, although sometimes they "jump in" without being asked. That's why he wears sunglasses (similar to Cyclops ). Since the character was developed only for the film, nothing is known about his other biography. The name "Refrax" is reminiscent of the English word refract , which refers to the refraction of light .

Trivia

  • Fans of the comics were disappointed that the film turned the Chinese jubilation Lee into a young American. The reasons for this decision are not known.
  • The property shown as the Xavier Institute is the same one used in all three X-Men films . It's also Lex Luthor's estate in the Smallville series . However, this does not mean that the film and the X-Men films share a universe , as there are some differences in the plot.
  • Some scenes in the film were only shown in Europe and not in the US, such as B. a scene in which Jubilee takes off her top.
  • Many of the storylines that the film started (e.g. the relationships between Buff and Refrax and Skin and Kalya) should be expanded and continued in the following series.
  • Jeremy Ratchford dubbed Banshee in the X-Men animated series, which was released from 1992 to 1997, and therefore got the role.

Movie review

"Trivial science fiction thriller based on a comic series."

- Lexicon of international film

"The theme [of the film] is less the exciting specialties of the protagonists than the lack of understanding that the outsiders encounter in their environment."

- cinema.de

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Generation X. In: Lexicon of international film . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ cinema.de