Very good comic adaptation, but not great

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2000)

I enjoyed X-Men more than I thought I would, especially after some of the leaked reviews that tore the rough cuts to shreds. My only prior knowledge of the X-Men came from the Fox cartoon, but I was very pleased to see most of the characters make it into the first installment of the movie franchise. Standout performances from Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen anchored the movie, along with very cool SFX.
Basically, there were a few key problems with the movie, but nothing that stopped me from enjoying it thoroughly. For one thing, the film is at least 20 minutes too short. We could have gone more in-depth with a lot of the background, or the focus of the story, or pretty much anything--the movie was very condensed. Also, the fight scenes, while interesting, were not very impressive on a Matrix/Episode I level. I have to give the film-makers credit, because it's hard to choreograph for somebody who has claws coming out of his hands, making it pretty difficult for an opponent to block realistically. The movie was also definitely PG-13; some of the humor could have been much more adult, but I guess it's nice that the mom sitting next to me with her 9-year old didn't have to worry. James Marsden, Famke Janssen, and Halle Berry all turned in fair performances.
Overall, a good movie worth the price of admission. I look forward to the sequel(s), in which we should get to see the Sentinels, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Colossus... Should be cool. 7/10