The X-Men 2000, Rated PG-13 20th Century Fox

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Starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, et al. Released to DVD on November 21, 2000.

The sad truth is that people genuinely want to embrace a solid and well-crafted superhero movie. At the start of each summer, hopes are high that there will be an original, ingenious and entertaining movie to fit this billing. Last summer was the first summer in ages when this call was answered, there in the form of Stephen Sommers' The Mummy. This year, the familiar feeling of having my hopes dashed returned after screening director Bryan Singer's The X-Men. This adaptation of the popular Marvel Comics series was big, expensive and filled with cutting edge special effects; the only trouble was that the movie was completely lacking of heart or a unique flavor. Set in the near future, humans have begun to mutate, now gaining certain really cool traits like telepathy, telekinesis and the ability to shoot lasers out of ones eyes for no apparent reason. Of course, the mutants are rejected by society and soon begin to fall into good and bad mutant groups that are battling (cue ominous music) for control of the world. With more than 10 major characters in the mix, this material was convoluted and the idea of character development as foreign as China. This was slick, but devoid of substance.