X-Men

Today, I watched X-Men. Now, I know that X-Men is not the confirmed classic that Goldfinger is. However, I enjoy X-Men much more than I have ever enjoyed a Bond movie.

I have seen X-Men before, just as I have already seen many of the 501 movies I must see.

The film begins with Marie, "Rogue", a girl who, when she touches people, drains them of their life force. She runs away and hitches a ride with Wolverine, mutant (a superhero) who has the power to heal rapidly. His body is fused with a metal called adamantium, giving him retractable metal claws.

Wolverine becomes Rogue's protector as they join forces with the X-Men, a group of superheroes that run a school for superhero children. The school is run by Charles Xavier, a telepathic. He and his group are waging a war against Magneto, an old friend of Xavier's. The basic conflict is this: the government wants to force mutants to expose themselves, Magneto decides to turn the world's leaders into mutants, and the X-Men are trying to stop them.

Hugh Jackman is simply badass (pardon my French) as Wolverine. His charisma shines through, and creates a memorable, unique character. Though not the best acting I've ever seen, he makes a great action hero.

The movie is a fast-paced superhero movie, without becoming too much about gadgets, super-powers, or a tragic past for Wolverine.

It's cool, all right. But what about the story? It's unique, I'll give it that. While outside the comfort zone of many, I find the story on a great par for superhero movies. The resulting theme is also fairly deep for a superhero movie: as Magneto, the villain, said, "mankind has always feared what it does not understand."

Ultimately, it is not my favorite superhero movie (that would be Batman Begins), but it is a great superhero movie.

My dirty pleasure movie today was Run Fatboy Run, starring Simon Pegg.