I saw X-Men in the cinema when it first came out; I was disappointed. A long time was spent introducing characters and concepts, there was very little actual action, and what there was seemed flat and uninspired compared to the other movies around at the time.

However, as with MI:2 which I saw on TV recently, I enjoyed X-Men more the second time around, and on the small screen.

In the not too distant future, mutants are becoming more and more common among the human population. They exhibit strange and dangerous powers, and the anti-mutant movement is gearing up. Two humans intend to ‘fight’ for their mutant causes in different ways, on the left we have Evil Mutant who wants to turn everyone into mutants, and on the right we have Good Mutant who wants to promote understanding among the normal populace.

Each of our ringleaders has a bunch of mutants working with them, and they duke it out to see who gets to live until the sequel.

There’s a reasonably lengthy setup at the start of the movie, introducing the major players, then we have a brief conflict, and move swiftly into the closing finale. There’s just not much here to get excited about. The dialog is dry, the characters aren’t all that loveable, there’s never a real feeling of risk or danger, and the mutant powers look like something out of a 70’s B-movie to be quite honest.

This could have been so much more, and perhaps the sequels will be, without the need for intro’s and scene-setting. We can always hope.