Mediocre

Rating: 5/10 (15 August 2000)

I'm not sure why only extremists ever post user comments. It seems that only people who REALLY, REALLY loved or REALLY, REALLY hated the movie ever post, when most movies fall in between.
For the record, I am a fan of the X-Men and use to collect the comics until Jim Lee left.
So what do I think about this movie? It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I think that I could've written and directed a much better one. I don't want to sound big headed, but I believe that if you're going to go through the trouble of adapting a comic book, you might as well take as much from it as you can. Otherwise, create your own heroes. Only somebody like Alfred Hitchcock could make an adaption that is not only strikingly different, but a masterpiece, and Singer ain't no Hitchcock. (Although I did like the Usual Suspects.)
This is a change of subject, but I think the world has yet to see a superhero comic book come to life. Superman (which was the closest of the superhero bunch), Batman and all the others tried to add too much realism and thus create an unbalance between comic book fantasy and reality. Why bother? They should just dive and take as much as they can from the comics. Take a look at Dark City, the Crow, and Dick Tracy. I would really like to see a movie that is as faithful as possible to the comic books.
Now as for the movie, I would've gotten rid of all those students, casted somebody else for Cyclops (he's too much of a twerp) got somebody for Colossus (who is one of the top 6 favourite X-Men among fans) and chosen brighter costumes. If you're not going to go with the original ones (which would be stupid) at least don't become a Matrix ripoff and have them all wear the same thing. As for the cast and crews saying things like, "the costumes wouldn't translate well into real life?" If you say things like that, you shouldn't be making movies.
I just hope the next one is better. (Or they hire me.)