X-Men

Rating: 4.5/5

An action and fun filled beginning to a franchise, X-Men is intriguing in both its' story and visuals.

In the not too distant future, the existence of mutants, human beings who's genetics have caused them to develop unusual powers, have become known to the world. Though the majority of them pose no threat to society, most of the public fear the mutants, causing them to go into hiding.

Tucked away from the public view, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), is a powerful mind reader, who runs a school for young mutants in order for them to learn how to control their powers, but also to be safe from those who do not understand them. Their semi-quiet existence gets shaken up, when a surly mutant named Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and a runaway mutant who goes by the name Rogue (Anna Paquin), arrive at the school. Though untrained, the two new additions to the school begin to work with Professor Xavier and the other trained mutants to help stop Magneto (Ian McKellen), a villainous mutant who is out to destroy humanity.

As far as movies based on comic books go, X-Men definitely appears to be catered more towards the fans of the comics rather than the general movie goers. This is by no means a criticism towards the film. The fight scenes in X-Men appear more choreographed to mimic those in a comic book, whereas the more recent Marvel films have more of an action movie feel to them instead. Both are great at what they do, but it's quite enjoyable to see the comic book roots take hold in X-Men.

What I really appreciated about X-Men, was that they didn't spend too much time developing the back stories for the characters. They practically drop you into the story, and hope that you can follow along. When movies spend too much time on exposition, it can easily lose its' viewers, and X-Men does a great job at finding the balance of introducing the concepts of the mutants to those unfamiliar with the plot, and appeasing those who are already familiar, by not overdoing the character development.

As far as the movies belonging to the X-Men world, I wouldn't say that the this one is my favorite, but it is by far not the worst in the series. Given that it is the first in the franchise, it hasn't been able to gain the momentum that some of its' sequels will have. This seems to be a fairly common theme for Marvel films, so its' not that shocking that the first installment of X-Men would fall into that pattern.

All in all, X-Men is a really entertaining film. It has moments of unexpected darkness, and whimsical jokes throughout. It is proof positive of Marvel's uncanny ability to tell a great story.