Hey folks, Harry here and I'm here to re-introduce our man in Fox, Marlowe. We've heard from him in the past and he's got a damn good track record. I can say that this is close to what I read in the McQuarrie draft, but it's been evolved quite a bit. Marlowe is very excited about what he has read, getting the same goosebump feeling that he had while watching the original SUPERMAN movie. Let us keep our fingers crossed. Now a warning. Marlowe has gone into quite a bit of detail about the first 58 pages, so... SPOILER WARNING. The following is filled with them, but nothing about the conclusion or the overall plot twists. So if you want to remain 100% pure, go away. If ya want to be 60% pure... go away, but if you eat spoilers like Cheerios.... well then, enjoy... This'll be an eye-opener. BTW... To the people thinking of cutting the DANGER ROOM sequence.... DON'T! It's integral to show how the team works hard to accomplish seamless interaction in the battlefield. Besides... we never ever get to see our heroes train in Superhero movies. I mean... how does Batman stay in shape? Well, we saw in THE MATRIX and ya know what? The audience ate that stuff up. The Danger Room will kick those MATRIX scenes' ass if you go whole hog. So... Go whole hog!

I received the first 58 pages of the X-MEN script along with a note on where Joss Whedon wants to take the rest of the story. Yes, Whedon from ``Buffy`` is performing the rewrite. The 58 pages I received are pure Whedon, pop culture references and cool conversations all around. Whedon is working under the gun, he handed in the first 58 pages on July 28 and hopes to finish the rest before September. The shoot may be pushed to October.

The story opens the same way as other synopsis`s have detailed: Max Lensherr (Magneto) as a boy in Nazi Germany is seperated from his parents by the soldiers. The men are placed with the men, women with women and the children are dragged away kicking and screaming. But little Max gets heavier and heavier, as he`s pulled from his parents. Suddenly barbed-wire from the fences uncoil and the steel tentacles slowly inch toward the soldiers. The soldiers freak, one of them realizes what is happening and brains Max in the head with the butt of the rifle. Max falls unconscious and the barbed-wire coils back into original position.

Then we cut to a little African girl with white hair. She plays in a sandy field with other kids who suddenly begin taunting her because she`s different. The little girl`s eyes go white and suddenly it begins snowing copiously. Soon hail falls sending the other kids fleeing. Ororo (Storm) falls to her knees and we see that the hail falls around her but at a distance of 10 feet. The image of a circle of hail which pummels the ground while leaving her within a safe 10 foot radius is striking.

We cut to Scott Summers whose at his high school reunion (1978). Scott argues with his oriental girlfriend who runs into the bathroom. He tries to follow but is stopped by a teacher. Scott goes into the men`s room and everyone is smoking pot. Scott sits on the toilet and covers his eyes. Someone asks him if he`s ok. Scott says: my eyes are killing me. The other boy offers Scott visine but it`s too late. Scott raises his head revealing his eyes which glow like embers. A beam shoots out of his eyes and blasts through several walls, including the school gymnasium.

Cut to a congressional hearing, Jean Grey speaks at the podium saying that mutants are the next evolution of mankind and should not be feared. Senator Kelly stands and announces that mutants are dangerous and can`t be trusted. Kelly talks of a secretive school for mutants in Westchester New York. Kelly believes that the school is a cult which trains mutants how to use their abberant powers against mankind. Jean tries to calm Kelly when suddenly a bottle of water flies toward her from the press gallery. Jean freezes the bottle in mid-air and says that mutants aren`t the ones mankind should fear. The bottle then falls to the floor. The press and the senators go wild at the demonstration of mutant power.

Professor Charles Xavier, sitting in the audience shakes his head in dissapointment at Jean. She shouldn`t have used her powers. Xavier suddenly senses a ``disturbance in the room``. He turns and sees a man in shadow at the far end of the room in the doorway. The man abruptly turns and walks out. Xavier (in wheelchair) follows the man out. The man with his back to Xavier stops in his tracks.

Magneto in an expensive suit turns around and expresses that it is too late. The war has begun and he guarantees that the mutants will win. Magneto winces in pain and shakes it off. He says: Are you trying to sneak around in my head Charles. What are you trying to find?

Prof. X responds: Hope. Max exits. The dynamic between the two characters is awesome. The dialogue between Magneto and X crackles, even though they are briefly together onscreen.

We are introduced to Rogue (17), in her boyfriend's basement watching the news conference. The boyfriend kisses her and their lips lock in a death embrace, as she sucks his life energy. The boy dies in front of Rogue and the boys parents. As a result, Rogue runs away from home.

We cut to a log cabin bar in B. C. Alberta. Logan sits at a bar watching a different newscast of the mutant press conference. He asks the barkeep to change channel and settles on Designing Women. A young girl (Rogue) runs into the bar and stumbles upon Logan. She begs him for help, explaining that the trucker who gave her lift from Edmonton didn't want to let her out of the truck. The truckers walk in and Logan snickety-snicks their asses. Logan puts his fist against the trucker's leg and we hear a sound which is described as SHOOK in the script. Logan retracts the claw and the trucker has three deep holes in his leg. We cut to Logan's RV and he drives away. He pulls the cigar out of his mouth and sniffs the air. He smells someone in the cabin. He asks the girl to come out from the back. It's Rogue, she stowed away in Logan's RV. She puts on her seat belt and Logan doesn't.

A large tree suddenly falls in front of the camper. Logan hits the tree hard and is propelled through the front windshield. Rogue is startled when she sees Logan stand up quickly, a large gash on his cheek. Miraculously, the gash heals before her eyes. When suddenly a big furry hand slashes across Logan's head. A furious battle ensues between Sabretooth and Logan while Rogue whose legs are pinned beneath the dash watches on. Meanwhile the RV catches fire, Rogue whose trapped within, panics. Logan is knocked unconscious by Sabretooth. Sabretooth is about to deliver the death blow, when a man in a visor and a black woman with white hair (both wearing dark form fitting outfits- think Matrix) suddenly appear.

Cyclops delivers an optic blast on sabretooth's chest and Storm creates a gale force wind. Sabretooth retreats. The severely injured Logan and Rogue are rescued from the exploding camper and brought back to the X-mansion.

Jean scans Logan's body and sees a strange almost machine-like bone structure, especially around the forearms and knuckles. Logan awakens and nearly strangles Jean. He releases her and feelings begin to stir within him about her.

I've gone into a lot of detail but it's because the screenplay is filling me with such cool feelings. It is not for kids, ok maybe really smart ones. There are only two action sequences in the first 58 minutes: The bar room brawl and the Sabretooth forrest fight.

But there is a shit load of characterization a la SUPERMAN 1. That is what this script reminds me of so far. We are also introduced to TOAD whose building a top secret device. Toad has no lines thus re-enforcing the notion that the part will be played by Ray Park. Also, it is revealed that both Magneto and Xavier have been watching Logan for some time. It seems our furry friend (that;s how he's described in the script) is the key to the war between humans and mutants. He may have something to do with the device Toad is building.

There is a cool as hell explanation for the codenames: Cyclops, Storm, etc. There is an awesome danger room sequence in which the team, Storm, Cyclops,Jean, Logan are totally out of synch, which upsets Charles tremendously.

Mystique tranforms into Guyritch, Senator Kelly's assistant. Mystique kidnaps Kelly and brings him to Magneto. Magneto explains his war plan to Kelly while psychically moving pieces on a chess board (way cool). Magneto says: Humans invented God to explain away their fears. Now humans fear us, so we must be Gods (the dude is completely insane- Can you say God complex?).

In the memo Whedon begs the big wigs to not cut the danger room sequence bcs it's the X-men's batcave (the execs feel the scene might be too expensive). Whedon assures us that in the end the X-men will band together into the coolest kick ass fighting unit the world has ever seen.

MARLOWE