I was expecting less

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2003)

As a huge X-Men fan (read: dork) I was somewhat underwhelmed by the mediocre generica of the first X-Men movie (X1?). Not expecting much badassery from the fancy dude from Cabaret as Nightcrawler, I was glad to see a well developed, cool character with a great deal of substance. The acting, especially from the "ringers" (McKellen and Stewart) was really good and the story had plenty of "nerd" moments (Is that Hank McCoy?). Now, the one caveat of the film is Wolverine. Jackman did a good job of playing his character, he just isn't Wolverine. Wolverine is a badass by nature, and he should brawl and get torn up, but the guy in this movie is basically a monkey with knives glued to his hands. Wolverine is a damn samurai, he shouldn't lose ANY fight, let alone every single one (with a major character anyway). Wolverine is considered one of the most dangerous men in the world in the comic version, but in the films, he relies on his healing far, far too much. On powers alone, Wolverine is strictly B-grade, but its the intangibles, the "Batman factor" that makes him one of the elites. Maybe I'm just bitter, the movie was pretty awesome.