Good Live Action Comic Book

Rating: Null/10 (18 June 2003)

As I said in my Spiderman review, making a film based on a comic book is like shooting yourself in the foot. Do you cater to the guys who not only know all the X-men's storylines, they also know the issue, the artist, the writer, and all the personal stats with given staff. Or do you cater to the guys who've never heard of the X-men?
Usually the best bet is to shoot somewhere in the middle . . . give just enough for newcomers to grasp the plot and characters and lace the rest of the film with subtleties and references that the hardcore fans will pick up on. This is where the X-men film falls, and Bryan Singer has found a pretty good blend of the two.
The other major issue is changing things while crossing over from one media to another. Films don't have the luxury, liberty, and scope a comic book universe has. Liberties have been taken with the X-Men world, some a little disappointing (Rogue's inability to fly and strength, Sabretooth's role) while others are appropriate (we don't have yellow and blue spandex outfits). Typically, things have been left alone wherever the filmmakers can get away with it on this medium.
The casting was very well done. Though people I didn't like ironically are for characters I never liked (Cyclops for example). Ray Park surprisingly makes Toad an interesting character, even though I've never really cared much for his character enough to read too deep into his character. Jackman, Mckellen, Stewart, Jensen, fill their roles well. I personally loved seeing the live action standoffs between old friends/rivals Magneto and Xavier; i've always been fascinated with that conflict for some reason, and it is very accurately reportrayed for the film.
Bryan Singer's direction and visual style, while definitely comic-book oriented, it's not "campy" or "cheesy". It's surreal, but it's as though the real world is only tinted to a slightly different perspective unlike Batman and Robin where the spectrum is screwed over and the word "CAMP" is practically written across the screen the full 2 hours.

Special Effects are pretty decent, mutant powers pretty well accounted for (though, not to the extent as they are in the books . . . but again, different medium). The plot I think all people can pick up on, and I think hardcore fans can see these characters playing it out.

And music provided by veteran composer Michael Kamen, whose themes surrounding Magneto, Rogue, Wolverine, Cerebro, are haunting with a romantic flair that few composers can tap into. Kamen really taps into the heart of the conflicts, and doesn't go overboard with a cheesy X-men theme. It's heroic, but not over the top.
Overall, this production does really good with what it has. Definitely worth looking into. The only real flaw I have with the film is the kiddie nature of it--"I have claws that come out of my hands, but I never really kill anyone with 'em and you never really see any blood." Kinda like the old A-Team shows where there'd be lots of gunfights but no one ever gets shot. Make the movie for adults, and it'd be as perfect as a comic book film can get.