First of all, I must confess that I am not much of a comic book reader. When it was announced that X-Men would finally get the big screen treatment, many fans went nuts. X-Men, along with the soon to be in production Spiderman, is one of the most highly anticipated superhero films ever released. After going through a number of screenplays and many A-list directors, Twentieth Century Fox and Stan Lee (creator of the X-Men comics) decided on Bryan Singer, a film maker who's gone from absolutely brilliant (The Usual Suspects) to downright terrible (Apt Pupil). Thankfully, X-Men is a step up from that dreadful Stephen King adaptation.

The bulk of the story takes place in the near future following an interesting opening set in Germany circa 1944. As the film opened, I thought I was at a Schindler's List retrospective, but as it turns out, this is a rather intricate insight into one of the characters' psychological profiles. As the story progresses, we come to find that mutants live among us. They look like you and I, but have hidden talents that make them superior. Mutants are accepted by some and loathed by others such as the politician (played by terrific Bruce Davison) who seeks to create a law that would force mutants to release their identities. Little does mankind know that a war between mankind and their counterparts is brewing.

Space does not permit an inventory of the many characters that color this film. There's plenty of them. Singer and his writers have tried to jam years of comic book material into a one hour and forty minute action film. Thankfully, you don't need to be a reader of the comics to understand the movie. There's also plenty there for the hardcore fans.

As a film, X-Men has many things that work and many things that don't. Some of the characterizations are bit under developed and some of the action sequences don't flow as well as they should. On the other hand, the special effects are impressive and Singer injects a lot of humanity into a genre that is used to being one dimensional. The result is an unconventional superhero film that really allows the audience to feel for some of these characters.

The biggest problems with X-Men are its convoluted yet interesting screenplay, a lackluster performance from Berry, and its sometimes nonsensical imagery. On its plus side are spectacular production values, wonderful make-up, breathtaking special effects, and a stunning breakthrough performance from Jackman who shows glimpses of having the same charisma as Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson, with a little Jack Nicholson thrown in for good measure. He plays loner Wolverine with a ferocity that is a step above the rest of the cast.

In the end X-Men is pretty solid entertainment, and although it doesn't rank up there with my favorite superhero films (Superman 1 and 2, Batman, and Batman Returns), it still really makes me look forward to a sequel. Now that all the characters are set, the film makers can concentrate on a more consistent storyline. One that will hopefully see more scenes featuring dialogue between seasoned pros Stewart and McKellan. Also, a little more background into some of these characters would be nice. As it stands, X-Men is a fun summer film with a batch of characters I hope to see again.