The Screen Scribe

Afters years of laughable Marvel adaptations, with one successful anomaly in Blade, 20^th Century Fox showed the world (and the upper echelons of Hollywood) that Blade was no fluke, and it was indeed possible to create a mature, grounded and thought-provoking superhero film. Directed by Bryan Singer of The Usual Suspects fame, X-Men was released in the summer of 2000 on a modest budget (for a superhero film, even by todays standards) of $75 million and pulled a respectable box office return, but more importantly, the favour of the critics. A tightly shot film that explored themes such as prejudice, racism and the struggle for acceptance, the bread-and-butter subject matter of the X-Men remains relevant even in todays society of extremist opinions.

The audience is introduced early on to the gruff and no-nonsense Wolverine, a wandering loner making money as a cage fighter. He befriends young runaway mutant Rogue and, after being attacked by a monstrous bestial mutant called Sabretooth, are taken in by the X-Men at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. This is a special school, a sanctuary for young mutants from the prejudice and violence of regular people. Here, Rogue finds a sense of home and safety, while Wolverine is promised aid in peeling back the layers of his hidden, tragic past while the X-Men attempt to figure out why Magneto wants the clawed mutant. The story culminates on Liberty Island as the X-Men battle Magneto’s Brotherhood to rescue the kidnapped Rogue. The plot is lean and simple: find out what Magneto’s plan is and stop him. It’s not overly complicated and leans heavily on the various character interactions and relationships. There may have been more fat on the adamantium bones of this film but much of it was likely left on the cutting room floor in favour of a shorter, tighter and more efficient film.

Aside from the short runtime, the only glaring issue with the first instalment of X-Men is the bloated cast, which as an X-Men film was always going to be an issue as it is much of the time in the comics. Outside of Jackman, McKellen, Paquin and Stewart, the rest of the cast is given little material to sink their teeth into besides Janssen, who plays Jean, who is obviously being set up to play a major role in later films. For those who are fans of the comics, you can likely guess the trajectory of her character arc. And if not, well enjoy.

Grounded by thespian greats Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman delivers a memorable performance as fan favourite Wolverine in his first major role. Wearing a permanent scowl and deeply unimpressed with the codenames and uniforms of this world of the X-Men, Jackman owns the screen in any scene he’s in. Logan’s introduction to the team is the perfect guide for audiences into the X-Men universe and is executed very well, allowing viewers without any foreknowledge of the X-Men to seamlessly integrate themselves into this hyper surreal environment of superpowers and prejudice. The special effects were superb and ahead of their time when first released, and to be quite honest still hold up relatively well even today in comparison to the regressive slop of modern CGI.

An excellent and enjoyable first entry into the X-Men universe, this early 2000s film paved the way for the superhero genre to become the cinematic juggernaut of the late 2000s and 2010s. Building off the success of Blade, X-Men proved that superhero films could be grounded, explore mature thematic material and adapt even the most outlandish characters in a believable fashion. If you are tired of the increasingly wacky, colourful and shallow slate of MCU films and want to see something more mature, then I can wholeheartedly recommend the first X-Men film.

X-Men is available on Disney +

(Images courtesy of and owned by Disney +)