X-Men

(1999, Dir.: Bryan Singer, with Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman)

Easily the best comic book adaptation ever done ... until X2. (Why people like Superman with that horrible, illogical ending is beyond me; and Batman is technically good but emotionally flat.) Considering the scope of doing a story with about a dozen super-human characters, Bryan Singer has pulled off a remarkable feat here. He captures the essence of the comic books perfectly; not once do the characters or circumstances seem ludicrous or overblown. Patrick Stewart was born to play Xavier, and Ian McKellan is an inspired Magneto (watch for his dry putdown of the X-Men in the Statue of Liberty scene--delicious). There are flaws--many characters (especially the villains aside from Magneto) remain underdeveloped, and some small plot points were a bit dubious (Mystique gets into the X-Men compound way too easily). Of course, if this does become a series, character issues may well resolve themselves, and the plot issues are small enough to be overlooked.

29 December 2004