Welcome to the latest edition of the Superhero Movie Franchise. I do mean franchise, because judging by the anticlimactic ending of X-Men, there will be many, many more episodes featuring this mutant bunch.
Not that that's anything to complain about. As long as it doesn't follow the fruitless flapping of the now defunct Batman series, X-Men could prove to be in for an entertaining haul.
What makes a superhero movie better than others? Well, first you must concede that like the comic books, they're all going to sport a hare-brained plot, with some too-serious supreme villain hatching a complicated plan to take over the world. The dialogue is tough and stilted, and if you're looking for any sort of characterization, I suggest the nearest art-house cinema.
Which leaves us to be thrilled by watching what superheroes do best: fighting evil using weirdo powers and even a few funny one-liners. There's plenty of mesmerizing weirdo powers here battling for your attention-Magneto (Ian McKellen) manipulates magnetic fields. Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) can invade and control minds from his wheelchair. Storm (Halle Berry) whips up fearsome weather patterns while Wolverine sports wicked sideburns and retractable claw-blades. And on and on!
It's special effects we want to see in superhero flicks, and X-Men delivers an extravaganza of noise and slick visuals. It's no battle of master thespians even with Shakespeariens Stewart and McKellan lending their brainy dramatic forces in what may have been a casting attempt at adding some theatrical levity.
Theatrical levity aside, we'll settle for levitation-and laserbeams, shape-shifters and attack toads. X-Men is fun, punchy and entertaining. Sometimes you just have to skip the Shakespeare and revel in a raucous barrage of mindlessness.
-By Angela Fernandes
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