Reviews

While the first two "X-Men" films spent a lot of time on introducing characters, their back stories, and their powers, this third film assumes you know the characters and their relationships, and launches right into the action.

The movie introduces new characters Angel and Beast, but it doesn't take much time to explain what their powers are, since it's obvious just looking at them.

All the mutants' powers are utilized to good effect here, going beyond the brief displays in past films -- when an all-out war breaks out between mutants and the human military, all characters push their powers to the limit.

Also, if you haven't seen the movie yet, be sure to stay through all the end credits for a surprise bonus scene at the very end. If you're one of those people who bolts out of the theater as soon as the credits begin, you're missing an important final scene to the movie.

"The Untouchables" had many great elements:

1. An excellent cast, including several familiar faces from TV and films: Tom Amandes ("Everwood"), William Forsythe ("John Doe," "UC: Undercover," "Out for Justice"), John Rhys-Davies ("The Lord of the Rings," "Raiders of the Lost Ark"), and David James Elliott ("JAG").

2. Some entertaining -- if historically unrealistic -- stories, combining gangster action stories with looks into the personal lives of the characters, especially the relationships with Al Capone (Forsythe) and Eliot Ness (Amandes) and their respective wives and children.

3. Fantastic theme music by Joel Goldsmith (I'm still humming it, and I haven't seen the show in 10 years). I wish they had released a soundtrack album for the series.

Though the show was on for only a year and a half, "The Untouchables" was able to tell a complete story, fleshing out both the heroes and the villains into complex characters, and it wrapped up most of the plot lines by the final episode.

This series would make an ideal DVD box set. Are you paying attention, Paramount?