The X-Men, Warner Village, The Oracle, Reading, 19^th August 2000

The first thing we noticed about X-Men which was different from any other film Genesis has visited this year was that it was actually popular. There was a queue to get in and the auditorium was perhaps three-quarters full. So, having turned out to a film that other people actually wanted to see, was it worth it?

The background and the plot were very true to the comics; in the case of the background this actually gave the film some depth, but the plot was too thin for a feature film, leading to a very slow start and end with a good bit sandwiched in between. I don’t think there’s any need for the viewer to be familiar with the comics, although some jokes and references rely on at least a passing knowledge. The casting was good, with the notable exception of Ray "Act? I’m only here for the stunts" Park. Patrick Stewart was perfectly (type-)cast as a bald man with a French name and an English accent.

Effects were of course excellent although it was sometimes a bit too obvious that the action was taking place on virtual sets. There was some worthwhile humour, and the ‘classic line’ count stands at two, one of which relies on some knowledge of the comic or cartoon series.

There is no doubt at all that this is the best film ever made of a Marvel comic, but at the moment it doesn’t really have much competition. We’ll see how it stands up after the new Spiderman is released.

All in all, worth seeing once, but standing quite low in my top films list for this year after the heights of Chicken Run and Galaxy Quest.

Ross McNaughton