X-Men @ Odeon, Ipswich

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry, Anna Parquin.

Verdict: A move in the right direction for the Hollywood Comic Book movie.

After the dire 'Batman and Robin', the comic book film was an unwanted customer in the exclusive bar that is blockbuster filmmaking, but in a summer where the 'Saturday Night at the movies' films, hinge on big storms and stealing cars, anything goes. So we have X-Men, perhaps the coolest and most popular of Marvel Comic's stable, swinging into town, in the face of budget cuts, story changes and bad pre-showing publicity, bringing comic book capers back to the silver screen. It's do or die time, this could be the final nail in the coffin or it could be a re-birth of Lazarus proportions.

Which is it? Well neither really, as X-Men is great but also fundamentally flawed. It does boast a list of good points, which many of the recent franchise movies have failed upon, mainly that although it differs from the comic, its impossible on film not to, it's still within the spirit of it. Concentrating on the persecution of mutant human beings, on Earth in the not too distant future, makes it darkly edged, just like the comic. Secondly the characters are spot on, particularly the guy everyone wants to be, Wolverine, like the comic book, the Canadian with the metal claws and the regenerative powers, is a perfect recreation by newcomer Jackman. What perfects him is the myth, surrounding him, is finely preserved as well as his unpredictable psychotic tendencies making a perfect tragic anti-hero. I WANT TO BE WOLVERINE, HE WAS JUST SOOOOOOOO COOL. Parquin plays the stunning Rogue, a teen coming to terms with her mutant ability, with such fragile venerability it becomes encapsulating and very moving. The sets are lavish, the costumes are great, none of the spandex and codpiece nonsense of B & R ,and the supporting characters are effortlessly cool.

Well picky as I am, and as you may come to notice, I like films that make you think, this doesn't mean I don't like Blockbusters, but they have to that roar across the screen and have an edge to them. X-Men has these elements, so why is this not one of the best films of the year? Firstly there's not enough of the X-Men, the others Storm, Toad, Sabretooth, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Mystique look the part, but are criminally under used, and for a true spectacle characters like Archangel, Gambit and Banshee were needed. Also although the beginning explanation was much needed, for those who didn't know the comic, and gave a great build up to the film ,what came after was good, while it lasted, but did not last long enough. The final action scene was great but MUCH MORE WAS NEEDED and the plot, Magneto turning all of New York City into mutants, was functional but not amazing.

The main problem was that it seemed to be a foundation for a sequel/trilogy/franchise, which left too many questions unanswered and was, at the end of the day damn frustrating. I JUST WANTED TOO SEE MORE, MORE ACTION, MORE CHARACTERS MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE. Hopefully we will, and director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) will stay on board,  he has proved he's a great visionary, BUT PLEASE FOX GIVE HIM MORE MONEY, THEN THE COMIC BOOK MOVIE WILL BE THE BIG CONTENDER IT ONCE WAS.

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by ChrisM