Can't... take it... must... stop... hype...

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2000)

This has been my first time in a few weeks to check out this page. Last time I was here, the ratings were at a ridiculously high level. To my dismay, they still are.
Yup, I'm one of the seemingly few who felt cheated on this movie (for those wanting a little backgrounder, I used to read comics, I was a follower of the X-Men post Inferno until Claremont took his long sabbatical from the series)
Okay, so what disappointed me: The characters. Apart from the fact that a few of these complex personalities are reduced to cardboard cut outs (like Cyclops, man. He is not a teacher's pet like they've portrayed him.), there's something REALLY ironic about it all: Notice how all the GOOD guys are young, sexy, pretty-boys and -girls, and the BAD guys are disfigured freaks of nature (ok, Mystique was darn sexy, but she's BLUE, yah?) And this is a film that's supposed to attack prejudice! Make a little switcheroo - make the good guys pug ugly and the bad guys DiCaprio look a likes, and see what difference that will make. Aside from one brief paragraph from Mystique, none of Magneto's lackeys uses prejudice as a motivation to join the other side. In effect, they just seem like horrible monsters bent on destruction. C'mon, people, give them some more human, realistic motivation.
I also didn't like the action. Not once did my adrenal gland have to start pumping. Ho Hum. In general, the artistic direction was sub-par. I absolutely loved Singer's "Fight Club" which had cinematic deviations galore. In "X-Men", it was all formula stuff, and very flat formula stuff.

And the script. Ok, you can't do much for two hours, but... but: "DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO A TOAD WHEN IT'S STRUCK BY LIGHTNING? JUST THE SAME THING AS EVERYTHING ELSE"???? It's prolly not verbatim, but I'm sure I've made an improvement on that line, which happens to be the WORST ONE LINER IN MOVIE HISTORY! Arnie's Mister Freeze quips in Batman and Robin had more poetry than this, and that is OMYGOSHMYGOLLY SAD!
One-sided story, bad character translations, hidden prejudices, bad action, shabby script. That's why I think people who've rated this movie above a 7 should make second thoughts. To tell you the truth, I'm glad they'll be making a sequel. Perhaps all the problems of the first will be remedied, and the X-men name will be given the justice it deserves. Praypraypray