X-Men 1  Review: 11th June 2003

Rating: Null/10 (16 May 2004)

Having never seen a comic book adaptation at the cinema, I settled into my seat and expected a few hours of pretty soul less antics. Many had tried to put one over the greatest comic book movie of all time, Superman The Movie, but where that film had heart, verisimilitude and great effects. Most of the others only seemed to succeed at the 'great effects' part. How this presumption was shattered. Right from the get go it calmly faded in to a World War 2 camp and we see Eric (Magneto) as a child, using his powers. The look of horror on the faces of the army men is subtle, yet brilliant. Then we go to the present day and the film just gets better and better. With Wolverine, we have one of the best movie characters of all time. Hugh Jackman is absolutely superb. Anna Paquin is wonderful too, playing a teenager who's tormented by her changing bodily functionssomething everyone can relate to when growing up. Overall, this movie simply kicks ass. I came out of the cinema and it was the first time I had ever left the auditorium and wanted to walk straight back in for the next showing. It was that good! Since the release, many have complained that the action scenes don't really deliverbut the beauty of this film is that first and foremost, it makes you care for the characters. When these are put in the tiniest bit of peril, you want them to succeed. So although the set pieces may not be as hard core as some people had liked. It didn't really need them to be and when you take into consideration that the budget wasn't exactly large, it shows that the director had his priorities right. 5 Stars out of Five!