Great film, Bub!

Rating: 9/10 (4 September 2000)

To be honest I've never read "X-Men" long enough that it would make me a true X-Men fan. However I was stunned how serious this film brought the comic to life. There also were many quotes and moments that become even better, if you know the comic. I don't think it is a good idea to make movies out of comic books but this time and with one or two Tim Burton movies, too, it worked very well. Anna Paquin, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are absolute convincing, justifying every modification made on the character. Even ruce Davison was great and let no doubt about the sincerity of his action occur. The only thing that bothered me a little was that - at least in the german dubbed version of the film - small touch of "arrogant right hand" put onto Cyclops but here, too, I think fans of the comic book now better. Although he always said to be no fan of the comic, Bryan Singer seemed to have made a film full of love for the material making that over the top characters like Magneto or Sabretooth appear serious and true. "X-Men" stands way above the usual superhero flicks in character and plot development but also doesn't try to look more real through cutting superpowers to a more realistic level. And for the visual expressiveness, seeing someone carrying a tray with glasses of champaign in Wolverine's dream or Professor Xavier graciously standing up from a chair inside Kelly's memories are just two little details of many, where the action movie grows to be art. I surely can't wait to see Beast or Gambit in action but for a sequel it would also be an idea to concentrate more on the characters that are standing on the side line in the first movie like Storm or Cyclops. After all "X-Men" is a great piece of film, fun to watch and almost flawless in portraying some of the greatest comic heroes of all times and lets recent superhero flicks like "Batman & Robin" look even more hollow than they already are. I hope, their will be more films like "X-Men" in the future but I also hope, that Marvel understands that there is a big difference between the movies and the comic books and don't repeat the mistake of letting a film change an already existing comic like they did with "Blade".