A cracker of a film

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2000)

Director Brian Singer has a good track record, as the writer/director of the utterly superb Usual Suspects. This is his first foray into blockbuster summer action movies.
For a newbie, he's not done too badly at all: X-Men is one of the best action films of the year. It's well-written and generally well-acted. Standouts are the previously unknown Hugh Jackman, who is awesomely charismatic - expect to see more of this man! - and Anna Paquin is highly sympathetic as a young mutant whose mere touch is potentially lethal. Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart are as reliable as ever as the two conflicting mutant leaders. The rest of the cast don't get much of a look-in, although Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is memorable (admittedly not so much for her acting as for the fact that she spends the whole film naked save for some strategically-placed blue paint).
X-Men is surprisingly short for a summer blockbuster - only 104 minutes - and in some respects is perhaps *too* short. The plot can be summed up on the back of an envelope: Act 1 - what is Magneto up to? , Act 2 - so that's what Magneto's up to, we'd better stop him. Not exactly War and Peace! In some respects it's actually quite refreshing to have such a crisply plotted film, but on the other hand it's very obvious that there's a sequel on the way; important plot arcs are left unfinished at the close of the film.
This film will no doubt be the start of a profitable franchise. It's an enjoyable film with rather more gravitas than most summer popcorn movies and it well deserves its success.