X-Men (2000)

Remember when superhero movies were embarrassed by their own costumes? X-Men puts everyone in matching black leather and treats the comics like they might be contagious. It’s stiff in places, and Cyclops is mostly there to get bossed around by a guy with claws. The final fight on top of a famous landmark feels small for what it’s supposed to be. But the casting is untouchable. Hugh Jackman walks in as Wolverine and you can feel a whole franchise click into place. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen play old friends on opposite sides like two chess masters who still respect each other, and those scenes are the real movie. Anna Paquin’s Rogue gives it a lonely, scared kid at the center. The opening, set in a Nazi concentration camp, is handled with real seriousness, as it should be. At 104 minutes, it’s lean. A 6.8 because it opened the door for everything after it but plays like a first draft now. $387 says you try to style your hair like Wolverine once and give up in front of the mirror.

What works: Hugh Jackman is instantly Wolverine, and Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen make the Xavier and Magneto friendship the real story.

What doesn’t: The action is small and stiff by today’s standards, Cyclops and Storm get almost nothing to do, and the finale feels cheap.

Who it’s for: Superhero fans curious where the modern comic book movie wave started, and anyone who wants Stewart and McKellen in the same room.