Cast: B+
Plot: A
Special Effects/Stunts: B
Similarity to Comic: C+
Director: Bryan Singer
Comic Company: Marvel
Stars: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman
Rating: PG-13
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page
The thing about the X-Men is that there are so many characters it's almost impossible to make a movie that is accurate to the comic books and has a good cast of recognizable faces with enough money left over for good special effects. This movie however delivers it all and is probably the best way to represent this famous superhero team in film.
The Good: As always I'll start with the cast. Ian McKellen did well as Magneto, he truly came across as sinister but doing so for the good of his kind. Hugh Jackman really brought the edge that the character of Wolverine needs, I'm glad they didn't just get some pretty boy with a girl voice like they do for some other superhero movies. Patrick Stewart was probably the only person in the entire world they could have cast for the role of Professor Xavier, nobody else would have made sense at all. Famke Janssen, James Marsden, and Halle Berry turned in some pretty good performances too. The supporting cast, mainly the students at Xavier's school did well too. The only acting I didn't really like was that of Toad and Sabretooth, and that still wasn't too bad.
I absolutely love the overall theme of mutants vs. humans that they got started in this movie, it can be a metaphor for so much and at the same time still be entertaining over and over again. I also really like the fact that they didn't destroy the relationship between Xavier and Magneto. I like the fact that they're old friends and can actually be in the same room with each other even though they represent polar opposites. I respect the fact that there didn't seem to be too much CGI in this movie and they used real materials for most of the special effects, it made things much less distracting and believable. Of the CGI that was in the film I found it pretty good, at least for the year, I've seen worse since the year 2000.
The Bad: So Cyclopes wears oakleys now? I'm a fan of the sunglasses, but I seemed to have missed that part in the comic book. I must have also missed that they wear blueish leather suits and that Wolverine doesn't have a mask. It makes sense, I mean he's hundreds of years old, can't really die, and lives in a mansion with other mutants so why hide his face, but I'm not a fan of making changes like that to a superheroes costume just for a movie.
Here's a plot hole for you, Professor Xavier said he couldn't use cerebro to find Magneto, which is because of Magneto's helmet which blocks telepathy. So why couldn't he use cerebro to find Toad, Sabretooth, or Mystique? I guess that would be just too easy. AND what about the times that Magneto isn't wearing his helmet? He isn't wearing it in every shot (why, by the way, wouldn't he if he knows a telepathic dude is looking for him?) so that means that Professor Xavier could very well use cerebro to locate him. That's the only real plot hole I could think of though.
The Interesting: So I recently saw the new X-Men: First Class movie, and in it there is a romance between Mystique and Magneto. Then here we are, set years later, and no romance at all? I feel like if they'd broken up or something she wouldn't be doing his bidding, but at the same time there was no reference at all to them being anything other than business partners really, it just doesn't make too much sense to me.
Also, Wolverines claws seem to change sharpness throughout the movie. When he's fighting Mystique, he can slice clean through a metal chain link fence, but when she wraps his claws in the chain they don't break through it. And when they're fighting on the statue of liberty in one shot his claws completely take off a chunk of her hat but seconds later they're stuck in the side and holing all of his body weight.
Conclusion: This is a pretty good movie. They made some pretty big changes from the comic book but overall it's probably better this way, although slightly disappointing, they make up for it with a good cast, good themes, and a great plot line.
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