X-Men (2000) is a good movie, and I say that never having read the comic books and not particularly liking super-hero movies. X-Men tells the story of humans who have become mutants and thus have special powers. One group of mutants is not hostile toward normal people and the other group is. They fight it out, all the while being shunned by society.
The movie works mainly because of the actors. The cast has great depth; for example, Halle Berry can play a secondary role as Storm (you can guess where her special powers lie). Individuals seem particularly well cast. Hugh Jackman makes his debut as “Wolverine,” an angry mutant who can sprout high-tensile metal claws and, also, feel compassion for the lost teenager he finds. That teenager is played by Anna Paquin. Already with one Academy Award under her belt, she immediately wins you over. Although Paquin does not seem to be particularly beautiful in the many celebrity pictures snapped of her, in X-Men her deep brown eyes are innocent and full of life, her skin soft, and her lips a seductive curl. Old hands Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen are perfect as the heads of the good and bad mutant factions respectively. A fine example of the great casting is Framke Janssen who plays a medical doctor at the school for children with special powers. The movie could have cast any young Hollywood starlet with good looks, a soft voice, and winning ways to attract Wolverine. But Framke Janssen is a believable doctor—older (born 1965), speaks with a professional tone of voice (English is not her first language), has an intellectual air (from The Netherlands, she speaks four languages), and has a slight remoteness (maybe from her runway career). All characters are superbly costumed—the dress seems perfectly suited to the character yet does not draw attention to itself.
Director Brian Singer and the script writer do a fine job of cramming years of comic book plot into two hours. Naturally, there is a sequel, and I’d gladly see it.