X Men Unleashed

Rating: 7/10 (2 May 2003)

I would say that when you create a reality with so many people with special powers, you have to live in it. In other words, you have to deal with the real possibilities each mutant has. If you were to make a movie depicting the consequences of said powers, it would have to be epic, with mutants making trouble all over the place. Or battling one power against anothers. In this case, Bryan Singer does exactly that. It reminds me of Superman 2, where the 3 villians discover that they can control the world.

The special effects are flawless, the action is furious, the characters are explored and are mostly convincing. The story feels like it benefited from some re-writes. There are disturbing correlations with registering mutants with the latest homeland security measures dealing with terrorism. Even the Special Ops forces storming the X Men's school grounds, looks eerily like footage from the Iraq conflict. This makes the film all the more resonant.

Only a few complaints. The movie tracks in at 2 hours and 15 minutes, and feels about 15 minutes too long. The third act gets a little discombobulated with the twisty turny endings that seem to be all the rage these days. Why do filmmakers feel the need to pile more and more plot points in the third act? Perhaps they are afraid that the 3rd act is weak, and they need to add more story elements to confuse you. Please please please trim down the convoluted endings! There have been many duds released lately (Basic, Identity, The Recruit), that have been condemned by critics for deteriorating into utter nonsense.
The other somewhat disturbing aspect of the movie is Wolverine's violent blade-wielding attacks on said Special Ops, and other normally good guys. Remember Terminator 2? Great care was taken to keep the film on a comic book level by only slightly injuring the innocents (police and bystanders), and not worrying about the negative reaction to a high body count. Wolverine is not a nice guy here.
I give this film a 7 out of 10. I will probably go see it again.