Excellent blend of action and subtlety, but comic fans may be disappointed

Rating: Null/10 (12 July 2000)

X-amining the X-factor Panthera, July 12th 2000
Wolverine fans are going to love this movie. Storm fans are going to get a real kick about halfway through, but if your favourite happens to be one of the other X-Men, you could well be in for disappointment.
Judged on its own merits the X-Men movie is well worth seeing; granted, the major plot twist is more than a little predictable, but the character interaction is nicely done and without any cheesiness or schmaltz. For example, the conflict between Xavier and Magneto is excellent (not least due to the talent of the actors); there is no posturing or rhetoric. These men have known, respected and opposed each other for many years, and that is exactly the effect that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan convey.
`Understated' isn't a word usually associated with a comic-book movie, but strangely enough it applies to this one; alongside the character interaction, the special effects that give the X-Men their powers on screen are elegantly done, depicting the various mutant abilities with a subtlety that makes them all the easier to imagine in the 'real world'.
Given that it would be impossible to cram 30 years of comic-book history into a two-hour movie, the creators of X-Men have aimed for a blend of 'old' and 'new', and also attempted to make the movie easier to understand for those who have never read the comic. Unfortunately, neither gambit (pun intended) is entirely successful.
Aside from the aforementioned Wolvie fans, comic diehards are going to need a good dose of charity toward this movie. Of the major characters only Wolverine and Xavier seem entirely themselves; Cyclops, in manner at least, is a posturing adolescent, and one wonders what the far more mature Dr Jean Grey (yes, Doctor Grey - shades of Hank McCoy, perhaps?) ever sees in him. Jean herself seems rather flat and bland, as does Storm, but this may be because their purpose in the movie is to provide background for Wolverine and Rogue.
Rogue is depicted at the time of her life immediately after her powers appear. She is lost, and alone, and it is easy to believe that the comic book Rogue was once this way. Along with Wolverine she finds herself inside Xavier's School for the Gifted. The School, too, is different from the comics; it actually has classes of students in attendance, and among these we find some familiar characters, such as Shadowcat and Iceman, whose presence the movie as 'in jokes' for the initiated is both entertaining and annoying at the same time.
Of the villains, Mystique is stunning, although the character is, once again, quite different from the comic book version. The Toad is closer to being himself, and proves to be the most interesting and entertaining of the baddies, while Sabretooth is not nearly as formidable or as engaging as he could be.
The movie has plucked the characters and the character traits from different times in the comic book's history - a young Cyke, an older Jean - and thrown them together, a combination which doesn't quite mesh; long-time fans can spot the discrepancies, and new initiates are left confused.
Also for 'first-time' viewers, there are some minor details left unexplained - Wolverine's heightened senses, for example, are never mentioned but suddenly he's sniffing and identifying people by scent. Likewise Storm's claustrophobia, while not essential to the action or the plot, is never mentioned, even though she is placed in a situation which would trigger it.
On the whole, the X-men movie manages to portray the action and adventure of the original without going overboard, either with the characters or the effects, but long-time X-fans will need to cut it some slack. Sit back, relax, and let it come at you.