Best super hero flick ever

Rating: 9/10 (3 August 2000)

It's a growing genre, super hero movies. And this one is by far the best I have seen. Complete with the graphic novel feeling and scenery and with a wonderfully relieving sense of humor, X-Men reaches far beyond the fans of the comic - I have never read one single panel of the X-Men comic.
Comedy is essential when making movies of this kind. Without it, there would only be a dumb plot with geeky super hero personalities ("Mystique" smells nerdy male fantasies a long way), but by taking itself not too seriously, this film is irrestistible. I was so amazed by the interaction between the good guys ("What do they call you? Wheels?"), the smart humor (giving the finger in an entirely new way) and the not-too-violent action makes up very well for the, to put it mildly, oddball science and the somewhat brainless plot.
Also, it's refreshing to see a sci-fi flick that has almost no "gadgets" in it. Apart from the aircraft (if that qualifies as "gadget") and Cyclops' weird glasses, it's all man versus man (or whatever).
Another clever touch is showing how Magneto once was sent to a concentration camp during WW2 - symbolizing the future fate that he and his mutant brothers and sisters are about to suffer: the mutants become modern day jews, and the ordinary humans become their Third Reich torturers. It also explains the strong hatred that he feels towards the human race - he is being reminded of his traumatic childhood.
Wow...I never thought I would be able to analyze a super hero movie in that way...
The bottom line is: go see it, even if you haven't read the comic and, like I did, had very low expectations. If you have any sense of humor and adventure, you might be surprised.