A difficult task well done.

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2004)

The X-Men have one of the richer history in comic books. When someone took the decision of made an X-Men saga they were playing with fire. Anyway this first installment in the X-Men series turned out great. We have a rooster formed by some of the founding members (in Marvel universe continuity) along with more modern characters (this "modern" characters have appeared in the comics for more than 25 years!).
The decision of have superheroes without their individual uniforms could be controversial but the need of simplify the costumes is logical: 10 superheroes and villains fighting each other all wearing different uniforms it would turn out been a big confusion for standard movie goers. The uniforms of the cinematic version are adequate and eye-catchy. Of course there were more things changed. Magneto is not a Charles Atlas 60 years old-man because it is almost impossible to find someone that could fit that 'psyché du rol' Ian McKellen as Magneto wipe out the doubts using all his talent as actor. Patrick Stewart IS Charles Xavier. The Brotherhood (Magneto's team) even seem to be fugitives from the panels of X-Men comics, examples? Tyler Mane as Sabretooth, Rebecca Romjin Stamos as Mystique and everyone else. It is unfair don't speak about the rest of the cast, because everyone has something interesting to offer.
This heroes and villains are deeply motivated even bad guys have serious motivations that lead them to act on the edge. One of the reasons that make the mutants so charismatic is that they are not adventurers, they fight for their ideals, for what they think could change the world for the better besides the moral side they choose. The team behind the adaptation respected that aspect, a quintessential aspect that made the X-Men succeed all these years. The drama is unavoidable because we need to understand what make each X-Man stood for fight. This time the center stage of the story is focused on Wolverine and Rogue two mutants that are not sure about which side choose.
Visually this is not a mix of cinema and video-clip like many others blockbusters, it has many moments of drama and suspense. In all the transcendental good films the star is the director. Bryan Singer made a superb work presenting clearly difficult scenes (an example would be how Charles Xavier uses his power against Magneto and the Brotherhood). Singer can be satisfied because he achieved the hard work of create something that stands strong in both the commercial and artistic fields.