A pleasant surprise!

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2001)

I did not look at the reviews before I watched this DVD. I came to the conclusion that it was f a r better than I anticipated it to be.
For a start, it was well-paced, and not crash-bang-wollop from the start, as some "super hero" movies tend to be. Neither was it tedious or dialogue-bound (like Mission to Mars). Overall, there was a quite serious feel to it, but it was well tempered by tongue-in-cheek moments and the unavoidable camp overlay.
Wolverine was by far the best character - a sort of old fashioned, no-nonesense, cowboy character. He echoed my view of Cyclops, who appeared glib and overconfident. Talking of Cyclops, we could have done with seeing more of his special ability. This was my favourite character in the 60s comic mags, but was more mature and aloof than the slick college-type we saw in this film. Storm's effects were more a sort of "storm in a teacup", and as for Rogue...pleeeeze! (a sort of wild-card, and handy for the plot).
The "baddies" had some interesting characters. So Magneto was a survivor of a WW2 concentration camp? An interesting, if not obvious analogy between Jews/undesirables, and modern day mutants. Didn't think much of the snarling dude, but Toad was brilliant!! I'm not sure how he could have a stereotyped London accent when brought up/hatched in North America, but what the hey. His demeanour (and accent) made him a sort of Dickensian villain - almost loveable. The part where he did a little jig during a piece of naughtiness, was excellent. The way he was dispatched was pathetic.
Yes - not a bad film. Get the popcorn in, some nice cold pop/beer, sit back, mutate and enjoy... 7/10