Jim Geraghty e-mails:
I know there’s probably not a lot of conservatives in the field of movie
critics, but the lefty sneers at Rumsfeld & neoconservatism in reviews of
the X-Men sequel seem a little over the top.
From the Boston Globe:
“To do away with mutantkind, the administration has acquired the services of
William Stryker, a mutant-hunting, liberal-loathing military vet. He’s the
heavy here, and Brian Cox invests the part with enough hawkish brio to
convince you that he’s had more than a sip of Rumsfeld punch.”
From the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Representing the forces of human bigotry is a new villain – stocky,
pockmarked Brian Cox playing former US military scientist Commander Stryker,
the kind of extreme-right mutation you might get if you mated a neo-con with
the ghost of General Patton.”
Could anyone imagine a reviewer writing, “Stryker’s militant use of brute
force to eliminate the children who he percieves a threat are
eerily reminiscent of the heavily-armed troops raiding the Miami household
to grab Elian Gonzalez” or even, “Stryker’s wildly aggressive use of flashy,
heavily-caliber military-style force against a private residence, based on
vague, unspecified threats, makes him a clear reflection of a real world
danger – he’s the Marvel comic book universe’s Janet Reno” ?