Yes! A "Summer Movie" with brains!

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2001)

The first thing I have to say about "X Men" is this. Alarm bells were going off in my head the very second I first heard about this movie. The reason is that the world of _X Men_ the comic book / animation series is, let's admit it right now, one of the most elaborate science fiction universes this side of "Star Wars". How can you possibly please the "newbies" and yet not alienate the long time fans?
And this isn't meant to stereotype, but you *know* how dead-serious sci/fi fans can get. I should know, sort of being one myself.
Well, it turns out that nobody needed to worry. Amazingly, this is not only one of the better movies of the year (a phenomenal year for high-profile bad movies), it's also one of the smartest. I like how they focused on character development, as that is the strength of the original comics as well. And I liked how several characters from the comics were given "cameos" of sorts.
Two little details I have to pick at here. I'm not sure that I liked how they killed off the most interesting antagonist (and in an unnecessarily gruesome scene at that). Also, make sure that you get to watch the bonus scenes at the end of the video. They clarify a lot of the various subplots, so I can't think of why they were cut out at all.
Otherwise, this movie was excellent and I highly recomend it even if you don't like "comic book movies". This one will win you over.