Still One of the Best Superhero Movies

Rating: 10/10 (30 May 2011)

X-Men may have come out fairly early in the recent superhero renaissance, but it still holds up as one of the genre's best. Blade was the first serious modern superhero film, but X-Men was the one that made them popular. For the first time since they stopped making Superman films, audiences got to see heroes using superpowers fighting others with superpowers.
The film was also one of the first to deal with some deep themes. It is in no way a simple good guy versus bad guy story that usually populates the genre. Magneto is every bit as developed, interesting, and sympathetic as the heroes. Possibly, more so. And Singer is able to use his own experiences being a homosexual to enhance the mutant problems so that it becomes an excellent allegory for current events that still remains true to the vast comic book history.
The story is presented as an origin story, but it's not like the numerous other origin stories. Like Blade and Tim Burton's Batman, they're already heroes and can start with the action right away. The Wolverine-Rogue relationship works wonderfully. I don't quite know why they didn't just use Jubilee as it is in the comics, but Rogue works just fine. The Logan-Jean-Scott love triangle starts off great, though I wish they went further with it in the sequels. Though the really terrific relationship is the Xavier-Magneto friendship-turned-rivalry which out shines everyone else. It really added a whole other dimension to the movie that, quite honestly, no other superhero movie has been able to match.
The movie does have a bit too much exposition. Sure there is a lot needed to be explained, but there are a few too many sections of the movie where it's just long speeches by Jean, Xavier, etc. There is plenty of action, more than many other origin movies, and they all work well that you can forgive the long exposition.
The movie is nearly perfectly cast. Wolverine, Xavier, Magneto, Jean, Rogue, and Senator Kelly are exactly like they are in the comics. Now, I can hardly read the comics without thinking of their voices to match the dialogue. Mystique is good, but she is better in the sequel. I liked Cyclops, though he has progressively less to do in the sequels which is disappointing since he is such an interesting character. Storm is fine here, but Berry's subsequent rise to fame and insistence on more screen time drags down later movies. I loved Mane as Sabretooth, but the character is given so little to do and honestly he was portrayed more interestingly and faithfully in the Wolverine movie.
The movie isn't just a terrific superhero movie, but a great movie in general. Singer really goes above in beyond in his two X-Men movie, that it's a real shame the next two had to be so overstuffed with characters that everyone became uninteresting. There's a faithfulness and intelligence that's missing from too many other superheroes. X2: X-Men United may do everything this movie did better, but it's still a wonderful movie that I'll happily watch any time.