Make a sequel please, I'm begging you!!!

Rating: 9/10 (1 October 2000)

Nowadays most of the summers movies leave nothing much to talk about, this one however is different, for it does leave plenty to think about. The reason for that is that most of the summers movies are made out of effects and nothing more. No script, no characters and so on. Others however do tend to have a good script but do not have the right length or pace to be truly great. We have had a share of both of these kinds of movies in this summer and the ones who obviously fit into the first category are: Mission Impossible 2, The Perfect Storm, The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps. Having neither seen The Perfect Storm not The Nutty Professor I can still give the reason all 3 became blockbusters. It is because of their explosiveness, their effects and their BIG stars. This does not mean they are not good. I mean M:I 2 is good due to it's explosiveness, The Perfect Storm is good when you watch it on the big screen, for the effects are overwhelming, yet when you'd see it at home it would suck. As for The Nutty Professor 2, that is just a piece of trash. Of the latter category I have only seen one film so far, being Gladiator. Now that was a film which could have been great, if the director had approached it differently, but due to too much politics and a few slow parts in the film it was only' good and only' one of the summers best. This film though is not the same as any of the film's mentioned above, for it accomplishes something I have not seen for quite a while. It combines good characters and emotions with great special effects. I think the last time I saw anything like it was in 1997. Wondering what movie, well yes (I'm sorry) Titanic. I bet now you are wondering what makes X  Men so great well here it comes:

First of all I really must credit the director, Bryan Singer, whom many of you know, I guess, from his BIG breakthrough movie The Usual Suspects. I must thank him, for he is the only director after Tim Burton to make a truly great motion picture out of a comic book character. This does not however mean that the two directors can be compared, for the theme of the movies and the nature of the characters are much too different. Still they can be compared to both having had a great vision on something already made and imagined. Bryan Singer did not only bring in great music, good camerawork and great special effects (something he had not done before), but he also brought to us a tight and fast paced story without loose ends in which not the effects had the upper hands, but the actors, who supplied the movie with emotions and jokes. This accomplishment is always due to the director and the writers (who let the actors play their vision), the people who cast the actors and last but very far from least the actors themselves, who I might add here are no BIG stars but still known, appreciated and capable actors.

First of all there is Magneto (Ian McKellen), who is a villain' unlike many others, for he is neither wicked like Darth Vader or The Emperor from Star Wars nor a psycho like Norman Bates from Psycho or something like that. Instead he is a mutant who acts out his knowledge that people who are different' will be stereotyped, loathed, maybe even feared and as a result of that will be oppressed or even killed. He is a villain' with a motive and can therefore be understood and is not likely to be hated or despised by the viewer.

Then there is Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who is the latest mutant to join the X  Men in the fight against Magneto. His addition to the group however is somehow overshadowed' by a rivalry between him and Cyclops in which Wolverine delivers some good laughs. Wolverine however also has a couple of nice moments with Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Rogue (Anna Paquin). Plus he is in some cool fighting scenes with Mystique (Rebecca Romijn Stamos) and Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) and therefore is my favourite in this movie.

The coolest fighting scene' however is the one in which Storm (Halle Berry) uses all her power to fight Toad (Ray Park), who I think has, in the last two years, played the coolest villains on screen (Darth Maul and The Headless Horseman). It really is a pity that we did not see more of his cool moves and fighting, but hey he was not the main villain in this film.

Someone I really must not leave out of this ode is of course Anna Paquin, for she performs her character, Rogue, with class. This however is not the only reason I must mention this character, it is also because her character is the one that has the most depth and the one I could identify most with.

Last but not least there are Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Dr. Jean Grey. Patrick Stewart delivers a good performance, playing a character he appears to have been born to play. Famke Janssen delivers a good performance too and is very likeable and believable as a doctor.

Wrapping this up, I must say, I can not wait to hear the people behind it are to making a sequel. I feel that way, because I truly believe that with X  Men, a comic series has been brought to the cinema, that does not only meet the expectations of the true fans, but that it also is a film which satisfies the normal' viewer. So please, go and see this if you can, I swear you will not regret it.

9 out of 10