The movies are grounded in reality. Someone who calls himself Wolverine shouldnt be wearing blue and yellow spandex.
It works for Spiderman because of the tone of the material. Spiderman is more light hearted than Xmen.
Batmans costume is changed, why? Because the tone of the material demands it. It woudl be hard to take Batman seriously if he was running around in tights. The film is grounded in reality so it becomes armor. Fans need to realize that a movie is not a comic book and what works on a flat page wont always work on film.
The costumes have a working purpose. Should these guys ever need to sneak around, they should be wearing black. Leather is also a protectant, which is why bikers wear it. But having said that I wouldnt have minded a little more "Xman" in their costumes. Like Alex Ross movie concept drawings.
http://img19.exs.cx/img19/570/xmenross5us.jpg
I think the first is ok and love the second. The problem is with the studio who decided to just sweep the franchise under the rug - but this is a part of problem that goes further back.
Casting. I never liked Halle or Famke in these parts. They were too old and you run in to problems with "will they return"? Famke was almost 40 for X3. I always felt they should have started at the beginning and gotten a unknown teen cast. Stewart and McKellan could have been the names to carry the film, but IMHO the Xmen should have been unknowns. A group we could watch grow and mature over the years as the sequels continued to come out.(Since we know from background info given in the films that Beast was a Xman,Scott grew up with Xavier and Magneto was once involved in the school, we could be coming in literally decades after the beginning. I would have used the first couple years as a starting point)
And Ive never been completely sold on Jackmans Wolverine. The guys a bit too girlymanish.
Ill never understand why the first film was edited down so much. Your introducing about a dozen characters to be used in a continuing story. Rothman didnt have faith in Xmen from the beginning.
I would have used the original team plus Storm introducing Wolverine during the 1/2 way point- leaving anticipation high for the sequel. And its a crime the Hellfire Club werent used in a Xfilm.
Xmen could have been like James Bond - a new movie every 2 years for a over a decade, spanning lots of characters and stories.
They screwed it up.
BTW, I also would have attempted to go the multiple release route. This isnt a new concept. Speilberg used it back inthe 80s for the Back to the Future sequels. The onyl drawback is a longer shooting schedule, but the benefits are much larger. After the first film shoot the sequels back to back. The first films release will pay for post production of the next. Costs will go down becuase your using sets for multiple films. The writters should be writting the next 2 films while shooting is being done on the previous (like Harry Potter). Anticipation will remain high becuase you only have a year or so wait until the next, which the DVD release keeping the hype up. This is really the way to go and I wish more of this type genre film would use it.
Technology is at the point now where this can be done. Were going on our 5th Potter film in only 7 years time.
Pirates, LOTR and Harry Potter have shown how successful this method can be.
What people need to realize is X-men is a very serious comic book nothing light hearted like spider-man so of course it has to have a realisitc tone and feel for a live action film especially to make some of the powers to feel somehwhat believable. Same goes with the costumes spandex would NOT work. However, leather doesnt do good either. They are strike force they need protection, but also something that is flexible, easy to move in. Speaking of protection why no helmets? pads bullet proof vests? a mask to hide their identity? I think the uniforms can be take one step further
