X-Men pilot was good in places but needed more story

Rating: 5/10 (26 January 2001)

X-Men felt more like the pilot episode of a TV series than a feature-length movie. This may because the movie basically introduces the characters and doesn't do much beyond that. There's very little story here what story there is ends so quickly that you can't help but wonder where the rest of it is. In truth, this story, with its ensemble cast, would probably be better suited for TV where, over a number of episodes, they could get into all the characters. This movie focuses mostly on Wolverine and Rogue and avoids the other X-Men. Cyclops and the rest seemed more like extras than stars.
As for the translation of the characters to the big screen, Hugh Jackman is excellent as Wolverine. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan do pretty well as Professor X and Magneto but some of the other characters don't translate so well. Toad and Sabretooth (Chewbacca?) didn't look too threatening as villains. As for the other X-Men, they looked okay but I'll have to wait until the next movie when they actually do something.