Excellent Mutant Superheroes

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2008)

I must state in advance that this film was my introduction to the X-Men so I had no preconceived ideas about what the characters should look like or how they should behave as fans of previous versions would understandably have.
Set in a world where mutants with super powers exist the story opens during the Second World War were a young Jewish boy is being separated from his parents in a concentration camp. As the guards try to pull him away from them the iron gates start to buckle and they are pulled towards them. After this introduction the action moves to the present day where we are introduced to Rogue, a young girl who sucks the life out of anybody she touches. When she runs away from home she heads to Canada where she meets Wolverine, a man who heals from any injury and has had metal parts attached to his skeleton including long claws that he can produce at will. As they drive along they are ambushed by a large man who we later learn is called Sabretooth, thankfully they are rescued by two other mutants who go by the names Storm and Cyclops.
The next time we see them they are at a strange school where mutant children are taught by Professor Xavier. He explains that there are two factions of mutants, one led by himself that wants to live peacefully with normal people and the other led by Magneto (The young boy from the opening scene) who believes that the only way for them to survive is to prepare for a war with humanity.
The rest of the film follows Xavier's X-Men as the try to foil Magneto's plans which seem to involve Wolverine for reasons the professor can't understand.
I really enjoyed this film, the characters were interesting and well acted and while the plot was the standard "save the world" type one expects in such movies it did have a few surprises and the actions scenes are fairly exciting. I'm sure everybody will have their own favourite mutants, mine are Rogue, played by Anna Paquin for the good guys and Mystique, who can change shape to look like anybody else for the bad guys.