Adequate I suppose, but really, I was expecting a LOT more!

Rating: Null/10 (12 April 2003)

I'm not an 'X-Men' buff by any means, but I do read comics (though I prefer Vertigo to Marvel), and I love Bryan Singer's 'The Usual Suspects', so I was expecting a lot from this movie. I really hoped that this would finally be THE movie that takes comics seriously and takes them to the next level. Sadly it isn't. As comic adaptations go it's one of the better ones, but that's not high praise as most of them stink. Not being a fan I didn't mind that some details were played around with, but I did think that the script left a bit to be desired. The Bruce Davidson character and the McCarthy witchhunt aspects of the plot were heavy-handed and obvious, and basically all the potentially interesting ideas raised throughout the movie were never explored. Maybe if Singer had asked his talented former collaborator Christopher McQuarrie to write the script things would have been meatier and less predictable, I don't know. I did like the way the movie didn't get bogged down in origin stories or flashbacks, something that usually drags these kinds of movies down, but 'X-Men' really runs out of steam in the last third with an anti-climatic finale that fails to satisfy. Plus the movie is blatantly left open for the inevitable sequels, and this comes across as a very cynical move. The best thing about the film is the casting of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Professor X and Magento respectively, both are much better than the weak material they have to work with. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Famke Janssen as Dr.Jean Grey were both good, but the rest of the cast were pretty dull, especially Halle Berry as Storm who might as well not have been in it. So, a missed opportunity all round that is adequate but not much more. I hope the sequel is a big improvement but I'm not holding my breath.