A Very Good Superhero Film

Rating: 9/10 (27 June 2008)

X-Men is my favourite comic book series, I have been a fan of the comic books and the animated series in the 90s and I was excited when I found out that they were making an X-Men film. I was round 14/15 at the time it was released and the only bad thing about my experience seeing the film was the popcorn (American can't make sweets to save their lives).
X-Men is a wide ranging series which tackles a lot of plots and issues. It has been considered to be a metaplor for the civil rights movement in the 60s and the comics have tackled other issues like the role of the government, the AIDs virus and the Holocaust. There is also the issue that powers may be a curse rather then a blessing e.g. Rogue and Cyclops. There are also a number of characters and fractions which would have made the film difficult to make because there would have been no way to make the fans 100% happy.
The plot of the film is in the world they are mutants, people with powers that can range from being psychic to changing your apparent to healing to controlling the weather. They are met with fear from the general public and they are calls in the US Senate for the Mutant Regisration Act, to get details of every mutant in the USA. Within the mutant community there are two major factors, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. The X-Men, led by Charles Xavier, want to have harmonious relations with humanity whilst the Brotherhood, led by Erik Lehnsherr/Magento, believes that the human race would never accept Mutants and that a war is coming. In the middle of this are two mutants, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paqulin). Wolverine can not remember his past and lives a nomadic lifestyle and Rogue is a teenage runaway, who needly kills her boyfriend just by kissing him. Mangento wants Rogue so he can complete his scheme to turn the world's leaders in mutants.
This film was not particular action packed; this was because the budget was $75 Million which is nothing special for a summer blockbuster, and the director was Bryan Singer, who's most famous film before was the Usual Suspects, a psychology crime thriller. He chose to focus on character development which was a good move. He also tackled the project as an outsider, he was not a fan of the comics, but I thought that was good because he was able to cut of the flak. He made the film into a realistic sci-fi film which could appeal to the fans and normal movie goers. He made a few jokes about some of the issues of the comics, like the codenames and the costumers. The film does tackles ideas like Wolverine's tortured past and his rivalry with Cyclops, Xavier's friendship with his rival Magneto, the human factor, Wolverine's need to protect children, the list goes on. The film also has a good international cast, Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellon, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden and Anna Paquin. The film also made Hugh Jackman into an overnight star because before the film he was an Australian Stage actor and after it he became an A-lister and has a strong scene of loyalty to the franchise. To a lesser extent Rebecca Romjin has also become a major actress.
The film isn't perfect, I would have liked to have seen more characters like Gambit and Beast, and the film did ignore Wolverine's and Sabretooth's hatred for each other and the fact that they have a past together. X-Men was an introduce to the film franchise, especially to people who do not know the comics.
X-Men is a very good film, X-Men 2 is even better and X-Men 3 was one of my most biggest film disappointments. I would love to see Bryan Singer back in the director's chair and ignore the third film and do it the way he wants and the fans want.