its dated now but its still a brilliant introduction for the series

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2006)

When x men came out in 2000 it was the first of the new batch of marvel comic book movies. The x men series of comic books is apparently the highest selling series in the world (according to creator Stan Lee) and as such a movie was inevitable. Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) has delivered a movie that pleases the fans while bringing newcomers a lot of joy.
When a US senator decides that all mutants in the USA should come forward and be registered Magneto (playesd impressively by Ian Mckellen) realises that it would spell doom for mutants everywhere and so he decides that now is the time to fight back. Kidnapping the Senator, he builds a machine that can give any human mutant powers. His plan is to use the machine on the upcoming world summit meeting and inflict mutancy on every world leader so that they can no longer distance themselves from the mutant population. Meanwhile Magneto's old friend Charles Xaviar (played wonderfully by Patrick Stewart) and his loyal band of mutants the X-men learn of the plan and set out to stop him. Joining them are young girl Rogue who can kill anyone she touches and angry Wolverine who has incredible regenerative powers and sharp claws that shoot out from his knuckles.
What is a mutant? Well, every few thousand years evolution comes on leaps and bounds and a select group of humans experience changes around puberty. Some of the afflictions seen in this movie are the ability to control the weather, laser beams emanating from a mans eyes and telepathy.
As an introduction to what would eventually become a trilogy, this is a perfect film. It has a lot of exposition because the makers obviously realised that it would be followed by more films in the series, and as such it lacks any grandstanding action scenes. The effects are top notch, and the acting by the impressive cast (Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen) is as it should be. Indeed, Hugh Jackman takes centre stage as the sceptical Wolverine and his brand of hard edged charisma is pivotal to the films success.
The action (a train station bust up, a fight on top of the Statue of Liberty) is entertaining and at the time was amazing eye candy, but since then the amazing action scenes of the last few years (city wide destruction in War of the Worlds, huge battles in the LOTR trilogy) have pushed these rather meagre conflicts back a bit. In essence, X men seems simply like a teaser for its sequel and the upcoming X men 3.
In short, this is a great film that has brilliant characters and a good dose of controlled humour (Wolverine tells Cyclops to 'keep his eye open') as well as solid foundations laid out by ever reliable pairing Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen. Bryan Singer delivered a film that entertained and amused us all, but looking back its clear that this was merely a film where Marvel tested their products and waited to see if their comic book characters could work on celluloid.
A great origin movie, and remember that if this film hadn't been a success we'd never have had Spiderman or any of the other Marvel films that have been produced.
7/10