I couldn't have expected better

Rating: Null/10 (14 July 2000)

I saw one of the first ads for X-Men about four months ago, and said to myself, "this is the movie I've been waiting for since I was nine years old." As I entered the theater for the screening (I have connections in management at the local multiplex) and took my seat, I prepared for a childhood dream, smiling but worried deep down that this would ruin my fancies.
Guess what. I was absolutely blown away... the first scene alone was enough to satisfy my live-action X-guys craving, the craving I'd felt since childhood. This movie was an almost perfect adaptation of the essence of the X-Men comic, with just enough artistic license taken to make the movie both (remotely) believeable and utterly entertaining. The production design was nearly flawless, taking what would translate horribly to the big screen (the garish yellow and blue spandex Wolverine wears in the comics was translated into black leather with gold accents, for instance) and turning it into something you want to see.
I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane or The Empire Strikes Back from this movie, but I got what I came to see: the X-Men whomping on Magneto and his lackeys and getting a whompin' right back... Wolverine in a berserker rage and Mystique being, well, Mystique. I cannot stress enough how thoroughly enjoyable this movie was, albeit lacking in the heavy plot department (though the race relations tone was handled very well). But that's not what one wants from the X-Men. One wants Wolverine kicking the living crud outta Sabertooth or the Professor tooling about in his wheelchair. And that's what we got, fortunately. And I couldn't have asked for more.