X-Men

There was a time when superheroes were only meant to be in comic books, and the few movies that were made of them were good, but eventually fizzled out in 1997. In 2000, though, the genre was revived, and this movie played a big part in that revival. Even now, I'd say that this film still mostly holds up 22 years later.

The story introduces us to the mutants Rogue, played by Anna Paquin, and Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, who end up getting involved with Professor X, played by Patrick Stewart, and his team of superpowered mutants, known as the X-Men, who are fighting a war for mutant rights against the extremist Magneto, played by Ian McKellen. It's a lot to unpack storywise, but I feel that it ends up making that concept easy to digest all the same.

I particularly think the best performances in the film come from Patrick Stewart, who plays Professor X as a wise, yet kind and loving figure who just wants peace for both humans and mutants alike, Ian McKellen, who gives Magneto a good counterbalance to Professor X, where he has similar ideas in mind, except for the fact that humans have no place in his worldview, which causes his actions to be more vengeful and extreme as a result. Of course, I can't talk about an X-Men movie without mentioning Hugh Jackman's absolutely perfect performance as Wolverine, a rough man with a steely exterior, but who ultimately wants to do the right thing.

Overall, this definitely feels like the first of the modern superhero blockbuster genre of films, and to superhero enthusiasts, I would say this is an important film to watch. The film doesn't have too much to say on character development, which is one of its biggest weaknesses, as well as having a lot of plot devices sort of just...happen. Despite this, there is still a lot to love, just keep in mind that the genre was still rough around the edges at this point in time.

Coming up next is the other superhero movie which got the superhero revival going, and is still considered to be one of the greatest superhero films to this day. Look out, because we'll be checking out Spider-Man.

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