Thoroughly Entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2000)

I enjoyed this movie even though my knowledge of the comic book version is very limited. Usually comic books don't translate well to movies (due to incompetent directing and scriptwriting) but I have to give this one a thumbs up. They did the right thing to introduce only a few mutants, because there are too many mutant characters in the X-Men comic. To put them all in the movie would be silly. With a few central characters, we can focus more on the storyline than mere mutant-plethora eye-candy. Filmmaking is different from comics, after all.
The cast delivered satisfying performances. Professor X is just spot on and looks like the actual comic character. Wolverine is very convincing, and Magneto has presence. The other characters are also played very well, like Jean Grey, and Rogue who is given a sensitive performance. My only minor quibble is Storm. Halle Berry is very good-looking, but somehow her acting is wooden and is made obvious that she is just play acting. It's no big deal though.
But the real goody comes at the end. I just LOVE how open-ended the ending was! It screams out that a sequel is in the making, which made me to look forward as how the story continues ... just like 'Back To The Future' trilogy. The possibilities of bringing more new mutants are exhilirating.
A very well done movie with great casts.