X-Men is, in my opinion, the best serious superhero or comic-based movie ever made. This film doesn't miss a beat. Who would have thought that Hugh Jackman would have made the perfect Wolverine? (Especially if you've seen follow-ups Swordfish and Kate & Leopold - both movies I enjoyed but with Jackman playing very different characters.) Or that Professor X would have been played by Patrick Stewart - who was on every X-Men film fantasy cast list since Star Trek: The Next Generation began? Directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects), this film succeeds in just about every way I can think of - overcoming nearly every obstacle that tends to run a comic book movie aground. No extended origin stories, not a lot of corny dialogue; in fact, there are lines stolen straight from the comic book that sound right when spoken out loud, Bub.

In this movie, the X-Men (mainly Professor X, Cyclops (James Marsden), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and Storm (Halle Berry), though there are many, many cameos) are first introduced to Rogue (Anna Paquin) and Wolverine and go up against Magneto (Ian McKellan) and his Brotherhood of Mutants (primarily Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Sabretooth (Tyler Mane), and Toad (Ray Park - Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I)) in a scheme that is much more interesting if I don't spoil it for you here. The scheme works (as part of the film, that is), the action sequences work, the characters work, all leaving you screaming for a sequel.

So, how do I give this a 9/10 after singing it's praises? I guess because after rating about 30 or so comic book films, I realize my ratings are of a film's quality overall, not ratings "for a comic book film". So, while for a superhero movie, X-Men is the cream of the crop and would garner a "10" in comic book world, it's still a "9" (IMO) as an overall movie. Worth seeing if you've never even heard of the X-Men.