Hey, all. "Moriarty" here.

You know that new movie... X-MEN? Saw it. It's pretty cool. It'd make a great comic book.

Let me back up a bit, though. By now, you're all gearing up for opening weekend, and you've had a chance to see the special, and you've been innundated with ads, and you've seen all the reviews showing up here and on every other site around the web, and you've got a pretty good idea of whether or not you're going to go see X-MEN. I had two opportunities to see the film on Thursday night, once on the Fox lot, and again a few hours later when I paid to see it at the Hollywood Galaxy for a midnight screening. I went with two friends to the first showing, and they ended up coming to the second one with me as well. We also brought two new friends with us to the second screening.

As you can probably guess, I didn't just like this film... I loved it. I sat there on the Fox lot as the lights went down, totally baffled as to what I might be seeing. I'd heard the rave from Harry, but other friends of mine had called me, venomous in their hatred of the film. In both cases, good cases were made, and I finally just gave in and decided to go see the film without any expectations or ideas, and I'm so glad I did. From the opening scene to the closing image, Bryan Singer did his job with real panache and style. This guy is first and foremost a smart filmmaker, and that's what distinguishes X-MEN from so many pedestrian films that have come before it. Like John Milius with CONAN or Richard Donner with SUPERMAN or Tim Burton with BATMAN RETURNS, Singer has an overall plan. He's not just telling one story. He's painting in an entire tapestry behind that one story, creating a world that we are going to want to return to again and again if he does the job right. Singer does something that I've been waiting literally my whole life to see. He made a film that makes me believe that superheroes could exist in our world, the one outside my window right now. There are images in this film I've always wanted to see, things that give me endless delight now that they've been realized properly.

You want the short version of the review? Bail out now. You get the gist. You want specifics? I'll give you specifics.

First, let's talk about the most important thing there is when deciding what X-Men story to tell to introduce the team to the world of film... the story itself. It's told confidently, in broad strokes, and there's just enough fine detail to suggest life past the edge of the frame. In every scene, Singer seems to have that one extra detail, the thing that sells it. It's a line of dialogue here ("When they come out, does it hurt?" "Every time.") or a visual flourish (Magneto's executive desk toy without wires) or an action beat (Toad's wicked little move after dropping Storm down the elevator shaft), and it works, time and time again. The movie's rich with things to love. Credit for at least some of that, and maybe much more than just some, has to go to X-producer Tom De Santo. I had an opportunity to talk with him on Oscar night this year, and one of the things I walked away from after that conversation was a sense that he's a fan before he's anything else on this film. He was given that rarest of chances... to actually make the film version of something he loved dearly... and he ran with it. If we believe this world, then that's due in large part to the fact that HE believes in this world, and he was able to help steer Singer's vision. After all the writers who contributed (and who got screwed on their credit, thanks to the valiant efforts of my beloved WGA), I think it's entirely accurate to credit De Santo and Singer with story. They've been focused and smart about how they chose to tell this first chapter in what will, hopefully, be a much larger story. Dropping hints about Wolverine's past without solving the issue in this film will only inspire new fans, people who are just meeting the X-Men for the first time, to seek out some of the comics in order to learn more. If they fall in love, they're going to be impatient for a sequel, and they're going to have to turn to that whole world of material that's already available. A movie steering someone TOWARDS a comic?!? Heresy. Can't happen.

I think the thing people will respond to the most is the way the film draws us into the world. I think they introduce characters in the perfect order, in the perfect manner. Seeing that wrenching opening scene from Poland 1944 sets up the importance of the debate we'll be seeing at the heart of this film. If you don't see that, then it's possible to dismiss all this talk of mutants as silly. But Singer embraces the film's central metaphor, sets it front and center. He doesn't shy away from the possible weight of the material. Indeed, one suspects it's the only reason he agreed to this kind of film in the first place. The film's soul really exists in the scenes involving Magneto. There's the scene from his childhood, then his opening debate with Xavier, a great, subtle, simple exchange from which everything else unfolds. A few times in the film, people make points that really seem to affect Magneto. I love that he calls his group the Brotherhood of Mutants. Not "Evil Mutants," mind you. In his mind, he's not evil. He doesn't mean to kill the Senator. He doesn't know his machine doesn't work. He's just looking to force a lesson of tolerance on the world on a scale they can't ignore. The best little hesitation of his comes when Wolverine growls at him, "You're so full of shit. If you were really righteous, it would be you in there," referring to the machine which is going to kill Rogue when she powers it. Watch Magneto. Watch him try and absorb this and shake it off. He's not a murderer, but he is a revolutionary, and that's just as dangerous. His final scene with Xavier is a beautiful echo to the film's early scenes, and the way these two spar with each other verbally is great fun. I love that he vows to fight the upcoming war "by any means necessary." It's right coming out of his mouth, and it's real. I believe that these men will face off again, and I believe that they both do it for the right reason. That's drama. That's engrossing.

I could talk about casting all day long. Boy, they got it right. Hugh Jackman is absolutely amazing. At the second showing tonight, a friend of mine actually gasped when Jackman made his first post-pit fighting appearance at the bar. I know what he meant, too. It's flabbergasting to watch him move through this film. He is everything Wolverine is supposed to be. He has charisma to burn, and he is a sympathetic, interesting center to the film. If Dougray Scott had played this role, I can't promise this review would read anything like the way it does now. I have hated his work in everything I've seen so far, and after M:I2, I wouldn't trust Scott to act like he was falling if I pushed him off a building. With Jackman, he will always be Wolverine first to me. There may come a time when he regrets that, but anyone who can give a performance this commanding doesn't need to worry about being typecast. For now, he simply IS Logan, Weapon X, Wolverine. He's the baddest motherfucker I've seen in a film this year, and I'd love to see him make quick work of Neo from THE MATRIX or Ethan Hunt from M:I2. They'd be doing some ballet-type kung fu moves and SNIKT! It's over. Giving him an opponent like Sabertooth or Mystique allows him to really use the claws as weapons. He certainly doesn't hold back, stabbing people on a number of occasions. The film has a hard edge, and they aren't afraid to show you the effect of violence. At the same time, it's not interested in offending or isolating the younger audiences. Singer walks a fine line, and I think the tone he strikes with the action is just right. It's thrilling, it's fast, and I think anyone who complains about that hallucinatory Mystique/Wolverine fight or that wicked opening sequence with Sabertooth should be smacked. The rest of the central figures in the film are equally well-cast, with James Marsden as Cyclops and Famke "I Must Marry Moriarty Immediately" Janssen as Jean Grey standing out for me in particular. It was their chemistry, the way Wolverine affected their chemistry, and the particular business with each of them that really made them work for me. In particular, I think Janssen does great work here. What should be a dry role that does nothing but offer up exposition is instead given nuance and edge and heart through the most subtle of gestures and looks and delivery. She feels like a person, not just a place marker. Each of the cast members do, even Halle Berry, who probably has the slightest role of any of the main heroes. She's saddled with the single worst line of dialogue in the movie during her fight with Toad, but that's just the luck of the draw. Still, she's suitably stunning and there is one image (you know the one... in the elevator shaft) that is truly iconic.

You know you're in love with a movie when you can sit back, hours after it's over, just playing moments in your head and smiling about them. This film is loaded. Both times I saw the film tonight, the audience was with it, laughing in the right places, applauding in the right places, cheering at the end. I will probably have to see it again just to replay the things I love... Wolverine going through the windshield, Cyclops and Storm just appearing out of focus behind Sabertooth, Toad's eyes through his goggles, the entire scene at the bus station, Xavier giving Wolverine the tour of the school... and on and on and on.

I mean, I'm trying to be cool about this and maintain some sense of critical composure, but... but damn it, I've been waiting for a great Marvel movie since I was a kid. I gave up hope years ago. I truly never thought that tonight would come. THEY DID IT, I TELL YOU!! THEY GOT IT RIGHT!!

Do I have problems with the film? Is there a sober note to balance this unbridled enthusiasm?

NO!!! THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT UNBRIDLED!!!

I hope this movie makes a mint. I hope we see a string of sequels with De Santo and Singer at the reigns. I hope Hugh Jackman becomes a monster star. I hope that Mark Steven Johnson and *shudder* Raja Gosnell and all the other guys who are about to start playing with other Marvel franchises all find themselves inspired and set free. These movies can be made. The curse is broken. The drought is over. The evolution has begun.

"Moriarty" out.