Water temperature correct - toe safe!

Rating: 9/10 (23 March 2011)

X-Men tested the water for big budget super-heroics, and met with huge success.
Bryan Singer's ensemble movie does so many things right:
1. It starts off as a mystery, to hook the audience in;
2. It uses its large ensemble cast extremely well;
3. It makes a star of Hugh Jackman;
4. It delivers the brilliant stroke of casting heavyweights Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as partners/adversaries Xavier and Lensherr, giving the 3-cornered conflict immense gravitas;
5. It doesn't betray the expectations of any but the fussiest fans of the source material;
6. And it does all this on a broad canvas which rolls out the race prejudice subtext of Lee/Kirby's original comic.
Oh, and it gets some highly varied special effects absolutely perfect, and has a pretty good script, too.
I wouldn't say that all the casting is spot on, but it's close enough that I have no major quibbles.
This very successful film is the biggest of Big Fun.