Good, but not great

Rating: Null/10 (18 February 2002)

There's little I can really say about "X-Men". Everything is done well enough, and yet nothing stands out. Patrick Stewart is perfect as Professor X, opposed by Ian "Gandalf" McKellen. Everyone else is adequate but there's no outstanding performances.
What of the script? Again *shrug*. Essentially terrorists trying to sabotage a political conference - not exactly innovative thinking. There's little in the way of surprises.
How does it look? Director Bryan Singer decides not to make this movie into a tongue-in-cheek affair, which is perhaps wise considering how the Batman series fared from that approach. The movie is fairly dark, a fact struck home by the bleak visuals in the opening. There's an almost sombre feel to the picture, with the humorous moments delivered dryly. And yet Singer never got me caught up in the movie - the visuals, the sound, the characters - nothing dragged me and made me think "X-Men" was really good. As these action block-busters go it was certainly better made than most, and looked nice, et cetera. And yet it was missing that .. X.. factor that makes a movie great. Perhaps the sequel will do better but I can only give it a 6/10. Somewhat disappointing.