Extremely disappointing movie

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2000)

X-men is the first attempt to bring Marvel comics best selling title to the big screen. Directing the movie is Bryan Singer who made "The usual suspects". Unfortunately there are several problems with trying to make a movie like this. First of all the budget was very limited and due to the target audience the movie had to be toned down both in sfx and in aspects of violence.
When 2 characters that are supposed to be the "personification of violence" according to the comic squares off without really inflicting any damage on each other you could say something was lost in the translation.
Trying to make a movie based on the x-mens 30 year old history would be impossible instead we have a plot that is designed to guide newcomers into the world of the x-men. Unfortunately the plot that finally made it into the movie is quite stupid and somewhat silly.
There is nothing spectacular here at all: The villain and his followers are all simply evil and most characters don't ever develop any kind of depth.
There was also a shortage of time in making this movie and it shows. The special effects are quite patchy and a lot of times it is painfully obvious that the action scenes are made using wires.
The casting is also imho wrong in most cases.
Instead of having Wolverine as the scary "pint sized psycho" he is the Hollywood version: Tall dark and handsome with a bit of attitude. Hardly distinguishable from hundreds of similar movie characters so he is a bit of a cliché.
Any chance of taking the characters or the plot seriously is effectively destroyed by having everyone dress in tight leather outfits.
All in all considering who was making it and the potential a very disappointing movie. Avoid it if you can or at least wait until it comes on cable.