Just a couple of things,
First, the black leather. The early X-men all wore uniforms quite similar to to the ones worn by the characters in the movie. I think that if you know the charcters, it was like picking up towards the beginning of the series. They also simplified somethings for the purpose of the film, i.e. Rogue shared a resemblance to another character Jublilee, and Magneto took on some Apocalypse type characteristics. But in a way, I do kind of agree with hose simplifications. All of those charaters would have made things to complicated to understand for the viewer who was not already a fan. I think that what you see as a lack of character development could be a result of you not being a big fan. I already knew the characters going in. They were not strangers, (I know that sounds weird), so they didn't really need development. One of the things that disappointed me about X-Files when it cam out a couple of years ago was that they spent to much time trying to explain things for people who were not fans of the show, so I was gald that this was not the case here. Well, I will stop now. Storm did need more lines and I am still not sure about there choice of Halle Berry for the part. (Nothing against the woman herself.) By the by, where is this good movie thread?