Evolution, we are told, ocassionally takes a leap forward. Well, thats what Professor X said at the beginning of X-Men, when it was released in the late 1990s.

In it the movie world was introduced to a new incarnation of the popular comic book characters, the X-Men. Hugh Jackman became Wolverine, a mutant with "uncharted regenerative abilities", a skeleton of adamantium and retractable metal claws. He also had no memories of his life before these claws. This is his story.

It seems that the mutant phenomenon is way better established than the world would like to believe. The young Logan was born long before the war of independence and, along with his brother who would later become known as Sabretooth, faught in all of America's big wars.

It is not until he is hired to take a sacred meteorite sample from a group of villagers by force, that he finally grows tired of all the violence and attempts to settle down in Canada. Unfortunately the reappearance of his brother and his old commander spoil his retirement.

I really liked this film, despite other people giving it mixed reviews. There was plenty of action, enough comedy to keep it light-hearted and a good few plot twists that I managed to miss.

Fans of the comic book will, once again, likely be disappointed. Comic book favourites like deadpool and Gambit make an appearance but there isn't any real depth to them. That and they are not exactly as they were in the comics, I'm told.

But the fact is that films often differ from their litary name-sames, and more importantly from our own memories and imaginations. So, don't go in there expecting it to be the X-men you remember. Wolverine himself is done well, despite some quite poor CGI on his blades at times.

In contrast to X-Men: The Last Stand which really did go over the top, this one seems to have got the proportions about right. Time will tell whether this, like 2 and 3, seems worse over time.

I'd recommend seeing this in the cinema, since these kinds of films are never quite the same on DVD.

see also:
Inception, The Dark Knight, Casino Royale, Mission Impossible III

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photo © 20th Century Fox.