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X-MEN - dir. bryan singer
when i heard that x-men was finally coming to the screen, i was a bit afraid of the news. thinking back to big-screen adaptations of captain america and the punisher and looking at the odd cast of unknowns and pseudo-stars, i feared that the movie would be at best ,a flop, and at worst, an embarrassment. when i read comics, x-men was my favorite: the characters were well-developed and possessed a rare humanity, while the art was always eye-catching. i always thought it had great potential as a film but i feared how it would be presented.

this all explains why i waited a week to see the film. i waited for the reviews to come in: both fans and non-fans seemed to be saying that it was excellent. still, i went into the films with relatively low expectations. to say that i had those expectations exceeded may not be saying much; to say that it's the best comic adaptation i've ever seen may also be low praise; let me say, then, that it's giving gladiator major competition for the best film i've seen all year.

as i mentioned above, i had a number of concerns about the film. for one, i was afraid that the special effects would come off looking cheap. gladly, this was not the case: x-men has incredible visuals and the effects are often stunning. secondly, i thought that the studio may dumb-down the film and turn it into something for kids: this was not a problem. it's a very adult movie, far more so than i would've imagined. there's lots of violence (nothing terribly gory), some sexual tension, and more than a little foul language. beneath the high gloss, there's a very dark movie, and i imagine that the sequel will remove a lot of the polish. finally, i was worried that the movie and its characters may be antiquated: again, i had nothing to fear. the characters are all thoroughly modern -- no yellow spandex for wolverine, thankfully -- as is the story. it's a cool representation of superheroes at the turn of the millennium, even if it isn't exactly the matrix in terms of futurism. praise goes to director singer for his vision and to the actors who were fine, if sometimes underutilized, across the board, especially jackman who is wolverine: he nails both the attittude and the expressions.

it's a bit of a strange thing being a comics fan. there's a stigma attached to it, once which may have lessened as they went more mainstream in the 90s. you read the comics and you appreciate them and you want others to do the same, but there's always the fear that you'll be made fun of for it. x-men takes a comic that i once loved and treats it with the utmost respect: the characters are like real people, not generic stereotypes. the end result seems to have entertained many people as the box office numbers would indicate -- fans and non-fans, sci-fi buffs and people just out looking to see a good film. for this, once again i give thanks to all involved in the making of the movie. x-men is well-paced, smart, funny, brimming with action, and comes highly recommended. bring on the sequels!