by Shaun Watson/break correspondent
by Shaun Watson/break correspondent
After waiting, wishing and hoping for more than seven years, I can now finally say it: The X-Men movie is here.There are some big names and some new faces in the movie. Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier is dead on, while Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is OK. The list goes on - and comes to a flash point on one important character: Storm.
Before we go on, I would like to say that I HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE. I understand that many of you are saying "What? He hasn't seen the movie and he's gonna rag on it?" and such, but I feel that I have a right to rant not on the character Storm's performance, but the choice of the actress for Storm.
On my actor's list, the list crafted after many years of movie-watching, Angela Bassett from How Stella Got Her Groove Back(1998) plays Ororo Monroe. I speculate that Bassett was either passed over for (or passed up) the part and it went to Halle Berry.
Halle Berry? The crackhead from Jungle Fever(1991)? The ghetto stereotype from B*A*P*S(1997)? The club dancer from Strictly Business(1991) and Bulworth(1998)? Was the casting director smoking crack when she was cast?
Now don't get me wrong, people. Berry is a beautiful woman and very driven. She put a lot of energy into Introducing Dorothy Dandridge(1999) as one of the executive producers, and she has the accolades to prove it. Despite the Golden Globes and Image Awards, does Berry have the right stuff to carry the baggage of Ororo Monroe? She does not.
Bassett can carry the character of Storm for three reasons:
1. She's got the acting experience and skill.
This is what a casting director looks for in an actress, right? Although Berry has played some excellent roles in addition to Introducing Dorothy Dandridge; in Queen(1993), Boomerang(1992) and Losing Isaiah(1995), none of them scream "strong black woman." Bassett has these roles, from Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X(1992) and Panther(1995) to Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It: The Tina Turner Story(1993) and her memorable role as Bernadette in Waiting to Exhale(1995). She played these to the bone.
2. She has stature.
To those uninitiated in the history of the X-Men comics, Storm was worshipped as a goddess back in Africa before she met Prof. X. She's got to have the stature and enunciation of a goddess. Bassett, who has played the "strong black woman" in some of her movies, can enunciate and command attention through body language that tells the enemy "You are a mere peon." Again, I haven't seen this movie, but I've seen enough commercials (that's the meat of the movie, anyway) to read Berry's body language, and she seems too flimsy and purposeless to control Storm's power.
3. She can represent Storm properly.
In my opinion, Bassett is Ororo Monroe. If anyone should represent the most prominent black woman in the Marvel Universe, it should be her, not some slip-of-a-woman waif such as Berry. What really drives this home is Bassett's role in Critters 4(1991)as the space Marine pilot, Fran. The leadership abilities needed to lead the Gold team of the X-Men shone through in that role. Chalk another one up for Bassett.
If anything, I think Berry needed another line on her resume. Numerous articles about the X-Men movie have disliked her performance. One reviewer said she only showed up on film to earn her paycheck [Epinions.com]. This is not Race the Sun(1996), Halle. This has been a dream - my dream - for so long now, and it has been compromised because of a casting director's decision. It's money to pay the bills, yes, but Berry should've rejected the offer.
The casting director must have been under the influence when he chose Berry. He's not a total idiot, because Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are not an idiot's choices. They're "star power." But "star power" isn't gonna get the casting director outta this. If it's about star power, why didn't the roles of Cyclops and Jean Grey/Phoenix go to Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, respectively?
I think I know the answer: Simply, the casting director made a mistake. I don't care much about Cyclops, Jean Grey or Mystique, but you gotta do it right for Wolverine and especially Storm. She's a goddess in more ways than one; she deserves better than this.