X-Men

Inhuman

If X-Men wishes to establish that mutants are just like people, then it fails miserably. I realize that we are dealing with characters who have been around for a while in comic books and "X-Men", but they just look silly when they call each other by handles. I was particularly frustrated that Rogue, only barely aware of her power, immediately adopts a moniker even before she's really met another mutant.

Despite some of the ridiculous dialogue, most of the performances are reasonably good. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are somewhat underused, but they make great elder statesmen of mutanthood. Hugh Jackman definitely has a long career ahead of him based on his performance as Wolverine. On the other hand, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos probably needs to have a long talk with her agent about getting roles where she is more than just a pretty body in too much make-up.

Attractive

If I can say nothing else, I can at least say that X-Men looks good. The scenery and special effects are top shelf. The underground portion of Xavier's school is nifty, even if we don't see too much of it. Magneto's lair is similarly neat, though more for its simplicity. Some of the usual levitation tricks are employed, although Toad's wall-climbing ability is probably among the slickest. There are some scenes that feel unnecessarily dark, as though the filmmakers are afraid the effects won't work in the light of day.

Nitpicking Spoilers!

• Toad's tongue is used to grab an awful lot of things. Wouldn't he get sick of tasting them all?
• I doubt very much that Mystique's shapeshifting ability is so thorough that it would even capture the detail necessary for a retinal scan. I was more annoyed that when she posed as the senator at the end, her eyes didn't hold the illusion, even in front of hundreds of camera- toting journalists. Of course, we wouldn't have the seeds of the sequel otherwise.
• Magneto's bright idea centers on transferring his power to Rogue temporarily so she can run his machine. Since Rogue's ability to absorb mutant abilities from others is never clearly explained or given rigid rules of operation, I have trouble with this. Surely touching Magneto wouldn't be enough for her to apply his gift in a way that would drive the device. Does she just suddenly and involuntarily throw off a big magnetic field? And it just happens to be the exact one that the device needs to operate?
• At the end of the movie, Rogue's fashion sense immediately shifts into "slut" gear. Why does she want to differentiate herself so dramatically from her classmates, and in such an oversexed way? Of course, she was stupid enough to be misled by Mystique's Bobby, which was totally out of character, so maybe it fits in.