Startlingly Fun Movie To Watch

Rating: 7/10 (14 September 2010)

X-Men surprised me with its intelligence, marvelous direction, and wonderful characters.
A startlingly fun movie to watch, X-Men is one of the better comic book adaptations out there. In fact, I'd say it was the best one made until Spider-Man came out. Even then, it's a close call. X-Men does really well with balancing the terrific number of characters it features on screen. I think this is the movie's best aspect. It gives us a lot of depth to every character on screen. Including Wolverine, who I was not pleased with when I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It's a little ironic that there was more depth given to Wolverine in a film that was not strictly about Wolverine than the "character study" film did that was supposed to be solely about Wolverine. I started to feel an interesting connection to this character. This is incredibly important because this is the first time I had ever thought much of anything for Wolverine, including in other films, TV shows, and comic books. Excellent development.
I was even more impressed with some of the side characters, like Rogue. Rogue was portrayed beautifully by Anna Paquin. I was unprepared for the level of intensity that this young actress was able to bring to the table with her character. She seemed frail, but independent. Strong and weak at the same time. And there was so much emotional strength given to her that by the time we got to the climactic battle, I was genuinely concerned for her. I also really loved the friendship that was played out between her and Wolverine. It was done extremely well and the two shared some really impressive scenes.
Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey were a little underplayed, but I was still satisfied with the level of character development that we still got from them. I was able to take all these characters seriously and I was able to follow each of their own inner struggles in a way that, again, I had not anticipated.
Ian McKellen was yet another surprise for me as Magneto. I had never held much stock in the villain, believing him to be nothing particularly special. And when I saw the old man who was to play him, I couldn't hold back my scoff. But the surprises kept coming through and I couldn't help but love this guy's performance. He plays the villain Magneto very well, giving a powerful and poignant performance. That's nothing to scoff at.
And while I am talking about the actors and characters, I cannot forget Patrick Stewart who played Professor Xavier. I think this was the best performance in the film. Patrick Stewart really brought this character to life, giving the audience an incredibly powerful performance. There was a scene when he was talking to Wolverine and Cyclops and I suddenly realized I was leaning forward in my chair to hang onto every word this guy had to say. A brilliant and underrated performance.
Then there were the incredible visuals in this story. Whether they were all CGI or not I did not know and neither did I care. This film was still made before everything had gone to such gargantuan lengths in the computers and I could tell the effort that was put into the visuals. And they looked really darn good.
But what impressed me still more than anything else about X-Men was the direction. This film was directed by Bryan Singer, and he gives the audience some really intense direction. I was blown away by the cinematography among everything else. Singer is a wonderful director. I haven't seen any of his other films, but I want to now.
X-Men is an entertaining and--above everything else--fun ride that is sure to grasp comic book fans and non-comic book fans alike.
9/10