Pleasant surprise

Rating: 7/10 (24 July 2000)

I haven't read a comic book in 10 years, but I did see a few eps of the X-Men cartoon TV show that was so popular 4-5 years ago. I was surprised then at how serious that cartoon was, and that it was in serial form with each episode building on past episodes. Pretty adult stuff for a TV cartoon.
That is the same way I felt after seeing the X-Men movie. It was dark, serious (there were maybe two laughs, including one big one), and -- best of all -- interesting. I expected the movie to end up somehow "kiddie-fied," with lots of things that made little sense and many cheap laughs and stupid one-liners. Boy, was I surprised.
X-Men looks like a terrific start to a movie franchise. The characters were all believeable (well, they are mutants, so you have to buy into the premise). The technology was interesting and not too futuristic. The actors ranged from excellent (Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen, and the guy who played Wolverine did a great job, too) to passable (Halle Barry, Sabertooth). Some characters didn't say much (Toad, Mystique). The plot made sense, mostly. We only nitpicked a few things afterward.
The core of the movie, which sets up the "good" and "bad" sides, is believable and thought-provoking. How *would* our society react if we found that certain individuals were genetically different and had exceptional powers? Would we embrace them or lock them up?
I hope the X-Men movies keep up what this first one started. I would love to have seen the additional 45 minutes that were supposedly cut from the movie. The information was interesting enough to support showing it. If I have one criticism, it is that the movie was a bit slow in the first 45 minutes, because the characters had to be set up and brought in. But that was a price I was willing to pay.
Check out X-Men. It is better than you think it will be.