Plenty of bang for your buck

Rating: 8/10 (15 July 2000)

This movie is the perfect example of a summer blockbuster done right. All the elements were in place. There was a well-developed storyline 30 years in the making, and director/co-writer Bryan Singer (from "The Usual Suspects") spends enough time on character development and story that the movie does not adopt the feel many sci-fi/action films do of simply being a vehicle for destruction.
The action is good, but not overwhelming, and the better parts are based on the interpersonal relationships between the characters. The acting is very good. The movie has one actor from about every other extremely popular sci-fi movie series: The two leading mutants are Patrick Stewart (a.k.a Capt. Picard), who is perfect for this role. Ian McKellen (Gandalf in the upcoming Lord of the Rings trilogy) is also quite good as the evil genius Magneto. I really liked Ray Park's (also Darth Maul) character "Toad", the only bad guy other than Magneto with any personality.
Anna Paquin and Hugh Jackman are very good as Rogue and Wolverine, the central characters here, though if you're a familiar with the comics, Paquin will look a little strange until the end. Rogue is portrayed as too much of a kid here for my tastes, but it doesn't detract largely from the story. The other are fine as well. The relationship between Wolverine, Cyclops (James Marsden) and Jean Grey (Famke Jannsen, from the Bond series while I'm at it) provide the wittiest dialogue. Halle Berry's Storm is sort of removed on a personal level from the other X-Men, and her dialogue is the worst among them, but the makeup and appearance of her character more than make up for it.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable movie, well worth the two hours it ran, and has me looking forward to the sequel.