Champion Film!!

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2000)

After much anticipation X-Men has arrived... and it is one hell of a ride!!
There is little to criticise as the characters are established well and the fight scenes are evenly dispersed throughout. The special effects are flawless and the action is wild! However, this would have left me cold if the plot, dialogue and the characterisation had been ignored. However, the team behind X-men have succeeded in every area!
The few sore points in the film were as follows though: 1) Storm was grossly under developed. The few bits of dialogue she was given were truly lame and she was the only sore point in the cast. However this was not Halle Berry's fault but then again, she did not look to be enjoying herself in the role. 2) Despite Wolverine's one liners the film, for me, truly lacked a sense of humour. A few more laughs would have made the film a little less serious and was sorely needed. 3) Senator Kelly was not a powerful enough presence. However I say this only because he was the centre of the X-Men add campaign yet... where was he???
and that was it!! That is all that I didn't like! The rest was excellent!! The standouts were obviously Hugh Jackman's Wolvering who is being universally praised. Anna Pacquin exuded innocence and the sex appeal of the comic character while also giving a very moving performance. She was definetly the biggest surprise of the film. Mystique was AMAZING!! She was the perfect villain. She had one line but the way she moved, her eyes and her eventual fate was all spot on! Another surprise was Ray Park's Toad who provided some nifty moves and some much needed comic relief.
All in all one hell of a movie. The two ppl I saw it with were non-fans but they agreed it was one hell of a ride! I'm a big Batman fan and this almost knocked the original Batman from it's perch. They now sit side by side as the definitive comic to film translations... so far. However, X-Men 2 has plenty of potential! Grade - A