X-Men- 4/5 stars

It has been hard for the past few years to think of the time when the X-Men films were great. It is hard to think of them when they were well made. When Bryan Singer left X-Men to do Superman Returns, the producers and fans were upset to say the least. 20th Century Fox should have stopped making them until he was available to do it again, because frankly, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were not very good. They had very little emotion and story.


X-Men was a great start to the franchise. Bryan Singer brought many real world aspects to the sci-fi world of Marvel, he was one of the first to do so. Singer incorporated politics and the main theme of the comic books beautifully.

(SPOLIER ALERT) The main premise of the movie is that Magneto (Eric Lensherr) wants to change the world leaders at a summit into mutants, then the way people deal with mutants is the way they treat their leaders as well. Professor Xavier, an old friend of Eric’s, is the head of a school of mutants who is trying to protect Wolverine (Logan) from Eric, believing he is the key to this plot. In actual fact, it is Rogue, a mutant girl who Logan befriends, who Eric wants. How he intends to do it is by a machine that uses Magneto’s power that rapidly evolves normal humans. Rogue’s power, to take another mutants power, is perfect for this. She runs away after she is stabbed by Wolverine and takes his power to heal. Magneto takes her and brings her to the summit where he plans to fulfill his plan. (END OF SPOLIERS)

All of the actors were phenomenal in this movie. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine truly did show off his acting ability in this film. James Marsden did a great job as Cyclops, this being one of his first major films. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan (Professor X and Magneto) are good in almost everything they do. Where the acting bar fails to deliver is Halle Berry as Storm. All of the worst lines were delivered by her.

There were very few flaws in terms of the technical side of the movie. David Hayter, the screenplay writer, wrote a very good beginning to the X-Men universe. He introduced all of the characters perfectly. The length was also perfect, not too drawn out and not too rushed.

The flaw was the score. Not many people care about the score, but I do. I like hearing a theme throughout a comic book movie; not necessarily a suite like Superman, but something memorable. I felt very disappointed by the random mish-mash of sounds in it.

X-Men is very well made and a great action flick. Not very many flaws and a great foundation for X2: X-Men United, I strongly recommend the first movie. Next reviews: X2 and X3.