Paradoxically a big leap forward for comic-to-film adaptations and, one of the biggest let-downs ever

Rating: Null/10 (27 September 2002)

First off, Patrick Stuart acquits himself well and(though his costume design lacks the menace of his comic book counterpart)Ian McAllen is a good villain. The rest of the actors are suitable. The story begins well, untill you realize the exposition will go on for quite awhile and, your feet start doing the double cross shuffle. The first scene is a prime example of how a backstory should be handled: concise; dynamic- it sets up Magneto's internal conflict skillfully (sadly given the conflicting writing styles of the script's MANY collaborators, the opening is in a much better class than the remainder of the feature. Whoever wrote it should have been allowed to do all of it), but the rest is leaden stuff they wouldn't play on Lifetime. It's a waste of one of comicdom's richest mines. This problem could have been solved by going back to very beginning of the comic, when the only members were Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Ice-Man (portrayed as an apprentice here!), and Marvel Girl(Jean Grey). This not only eliminates the amount of origin stories, but also allows for better character development(a wasted Halle Berry as Storm for instance, serves no purpose other than as convenient vehicle for cool lightning effects). This in addition to allowing for a greater number of sequels to play out over the next decade! Only Professor X, Wolverine, and Magneto are done any justice (Rouge, who's strength and infectious sense of humor are absent, is portrayed even more poorly than Storm). The movie also lets you down in the critical action department. The trailers promised an adrenaline rush on par with the Matrix; a kick in the pants; the most fun you could have legally. Well, it turned out to be no more than a cock tease , to borrow a crude, but apt expression. The film boasts only one (ONE!) truly kick ass fight between Wolverine and Mystique. If the story was well written, this would have been excusable, but it AIN'T. I hate to keep hammering a movie I wanted to like so much, but the costume designers made a grave misstep as well, in sapping the flare out of the X-Mens's famous costumes. Since most of the characters were written as mentioned, only their ethnicities (and gimmick of course) distinguish them by the end in which they all don identical leather uniforms. Not that such a monotonous color scheme would have worked anyway, but this just made everything worse. On the plus side the film also has one genuinely funny exchange between rivals Cyclops and Wolverine(C:How do I know you're the real Wolverine? W:You're a dick. C: Okay!), and treats the material with a degree of seriousness not seen since the Tim Burton's Batman movies. For all of its manifold failings, the movie remains a hopeful sign of better things to come.