Would you like to know what lightning does to a toad?

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2000)

Like everyone else, I was a little worried about seeing this film, but I was truly surprised by the long line at the theater, I had no problem getting into "Phantom Menace" on its opening day, but I barely managed to make the second showing of "X-MEN"! Anyway, I gave this film an 8 out of 10 although it probably only deserves a 7. Here's why. The Direction: Pretty good, though Bryan Singer needs to improve his fight sequences a bit. The fight between Wolverine and Sabretooth on the statue of liberty cut to so many angles I lost track of which was up or down. But I give him credit for taking the charactors seriously. The Story: Pretty much like a marvel comic, not very original. But at least we were explained Magneto's motivations. I would have liked this film to have been a half hour longer. I keep reading "great charactorization" from other reviews, and that's true for Wolverine, Rogue, and Magneto, but what about the rest of the cast? And will non X-MEN fans understand what happens to professor X with Cerebro? Yep another half hour would have been great. The ACTING: HUGH JACKMAN now has a career in Hollywood. Everyone else did a satisfactory job except for Tyler Mane who growls like a lion more than he speaks (but that's the writers fault.) and of course Halle Berry who, except for the elevator scene, walked around with a blank look on her face. It didn't help that she was given the worst lines to read. Which brings me to... THE WORST LINE: STORM: "Would you like to know what lightning does to a toad?" TOAD:"AAAH!" (zapped by lightening.) STORM: "The same thing it does to anything else!" I have to say that despite the above flaws it was still a very entertaining movie that hopefully will create an even better sequal.