X-Men

December 12, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 93 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

DVD QuickTake

I actually enjoyed this movie more on DVD than I did at home. If nothing else it was certainly easier to hear the one-liners without a theater full of people laughing around you. I was also pleased with the extras included on the DVD, especially the production artwork for the characters and sets. If you’re a fan of the comic book, you’ll definitely want to check this disk out.

X-Men

Original Movies For Guys Theatrical Review

Yet another mega-popular comic book series comes to the big screen. And as the special effects get better, the more spectacular the manner in which our heroes leap off the pages and into live action. We’ve come a long ways from the campy 1960’s TV version of Batman and Robin.

In the not too distant future many humans have started to mutate and have special powers. These powers vary from person to person. Normal humans have started to become very untrusting and fearful of the mutants, and some mutants likewise feel superior to the humans. The X-Men are a collection of mutant heroes who try to keep the peace and balance by helping other mutants understand and cope with their powers and also by combating the mutants who would harm humans and start a war.

The storyline in this movie revolves around an ultra powerful mutant named Magneto who believes mutants should rule over the humans. He, along with some like-minded friends, are determined to make it happen at any cost. It’s up to the X-Men to stop him.

This movie seems to serve more as a setup for sequels though, and as such it moves kinda slow. We are introduced to alot of characters and their powers, and this takes alot of time. As such, the movie doesn’t really get going until it’s nearly over. We were mostly pleased with the characters and the actors who brought each one to life with the exception of Halle Berry as Storm. She looked nice and Storm’s effects were cool, but Halle’s acting was painful to watch.

But we do get a couple of really good battle scenes, and the effects are very good. The movie was not a huge disappointment, however the movie is slow enough that we only gave it 3 stars. But, it does leave us quite anxious to see this become a series of sequels. Now that movie audiences have been introduced to the characters, we’re hopeful that a would-be sequel would get right down to business and absolutely rock.

Posted by John | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, DVD, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, PG-13, Patrick Stewart, SciFi