X-Men

So finally, after watching First Class, I filled my gap and checked out the first installment of X-Men. I'm quite pleased with the film, even if it falls well short of the 5th installment in effects and script. Some of the characters are still not as detailed (Storm, Mystique). As sci-fi, of course, it is above average, hence the well-deserved 4 stars. (03/07/2011)

Surprisingly excellent comic science fiction, which works not only as a trick and action affair, but also on the level of the characters and the story. Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto's (Ian McKellen) gambit is truly electrifying and is certainly not a traditional battle between good and evil in pure form. The experiences from the concentration camp that have marked Magneto, who perceives the conflict between mutants and humans as a possible repetition of the events of the Second World War, adds tension to the otherwise slightly worn plot. Of course, it doesn't dig too deep and remains, as tends to be the case in Hollywood, only with hints of ethics, but even X-men couldn't handle anymore than that. Mainly thanks to excellent actors and decent tricks, this film is one of the best comic book adaptations ever. And I haven’t even mentioned the open potential for the future films... (11/09/2004)

As a pilot for a series (which this film has actually become in hindsight), it's great and flawless. A lot of iconic characters gradually appear on the scene, each of whom gets their due space, and Singer portrays the entire mutant community well by having the best comic book character in history being led by the hand by the other players constantly explaining everything to him. The script is smart and draws out not only the inevitable issue of mutants coexisting with ordinary humans, but above all a convincing and logically motivated villain, Magneto, whose potential far exceeds a single feature film. Maybe it's just a pity that the film goes by so insanely fast that it doesn't even manage to leave a hickey on our experiential threads, and instead of some stylish eye candy action we remember exclusively the awesome Wolverine claw-fucking his colleagues and the attractive Halle Berry, to whom the word mutant fits about as well as a sleeping pill to a corpse. Definitely a revolutionary achievement, which can be watched over and over again and whose success was the start of a great sensation. (04/03/2017)

The first time I saw this movie a long time ago, I didn't even finish it. That’s how bored I was. After many years, I thought I'd give X-Men another chance, and it turned out...more or less exactly the same. Although it didn’t seem so boring anymore, I still found it rather hilarious, even in places where it wasn’t intended to be. It all just seemed too weird, with the exception of Wolverine, excellently portrayed by Jackman. Before this movie, superheroes were considered to be some sort of freaks in costumes. After this movie, better and better superhero movies started coming, but I think of the first installment of X-Men as a kind of intermediary step which, if it hadn’t been for Jackman, would have been a total flop. (25/07/2013)

So to be clear, X-Men is a pretty normal Hollywood slop, kept afloat only by some interesting special effects (although the ratio of interesting to terrible is about 1:1) and some good fights. What's left is a bland and flavorless product that typically depicts the ideals of a "factory for dreams". But not mine. (29/06/2006)