Impressive

Rating: 9/10 (13 December 2000)

I've never really been a fan of the X-Men comic books, and I'd only seen a few of the animated X-Men episodes. So I didn't really know what to expect from the X-Men movie. I came away impressed.
The acting was top-notch. I'm a big "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fan. When I heard that Patrick Stewart was to portray Professor Xavier, I had mixed feelings. I had no doubt that he would do an excellent job in the role, but I was concerned that he might end up being an otherwise excellent actor in a lame movie (a la Sean Connery in "The Avengers"). I was therefore very pleased to watch the movie and find that wasn't the case with X-Men. Stewart gave a stellar performance, opposite the equally excellent Sir Ian McKellen ("Magneto"). Other good performances were put in by Hugh Jackman ("Wolverine"), Anna Paquin ("Rogue"), and Bruce Davison (Senator Kelly).
Turning a comic book into a movie is a dangerous endeavor (again, look no further than "The Avengers"), but X-Men pulled it off just right. The movie takes itself seriously (but not too seriously), and--from what I've heard--it remains pretty faithful to the existing X-Men story, without alienating the uninitiated. It also makes the viewer think about important issues, such as racism, instead of just being a brainless, explosion-filled, ammo-laden action movie. Yet the action is there, and movie never gets too heavy or preachy on the issues.
Visually, X-Men is stunning, featuring some really slick computer animation, particularly Wolverine's claws and the scene where Xavier uses the mind-machine to find Rogue. The sound and music complimented the on-screen action. The plot and the explanations of the characters' backstories were interesting, and left things wide open for a sequel.
Overall, X-Men is worth your money.