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Just got back from seeing the X-Men franchise revitalised, if not quite returned to the heights of X2. Nonetheless, this is marginally better than the first X-Men film and light years ahead of X-Men Last Stand and Wolverine. People have referred to this as a reboot, but it's remarkably faithful to the first two films, both in details (Mystique retains her look down to the last blue scale) and use of X-Men history. Indeed, the first scene of X-Men is recreated shot for shot to expand on Erik's time in the concentration camp.

That said, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender wisely steer clear of any attempts at Stewart and McKellen impersonations. Instead they both do impressive job of making the roles their own. Charles is something of a swinging 60s playboy, whilst Erik seethes with barely controlled rage.

The plot is really nothing more than the obligatory origin story which probably skips along a bit too quickly for its own good for the first half of the film. There are far too many mutants to introduce properly, so most are left as window dressing. However, Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast) are given a bit of room to expand their roles and neither wastes the opportunity. As for the protaganists, Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw) coasting as the smirking villain is no bad thing, but January Jones (Emma Frost) pretty much reprises her Betty Draper act from Mad Men which is a shame.

I'd say the film hits its stride properly when our gang settle down in the Xavier mansion and begin training (complete with montage!). The final showdown in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis is suitably spectacular, but as with many X-men films before it, some of the participants are kind of left standing around watching with no opportunity to use their powers. You'd have thought that given that the X-Men are trying to diffuse a tense situation, better use could have been made of Mystique and her shape shifting ability. But no, she's pretty much told to sit on her blue butt and stay out of it.

As you have probably guessed, it all sets up nicely for the sequel, but I won't spoil it by saying who ends up on which side of the line.

Oh and there is a hilarious cameo which is worth the price of admission alone (a small clue is hidden in the spoiler box below)

Sounds interesting, will see it for sure.

So, as the Flashman, how many Orkmoticons would you give this movie out of 5?

I kinda came up with a rating system for ya.



Does the Flash Like?

Im guessing the cameo is Hugh Jackman.

Thanks for the review, though it did nothing to deter me from watching it this weekend.

Chowderhead wrote:So, as the Flashman, how many Orkmoticons would you give this movie out of 5?

I kinda came up with a rating system for ya.

Spoiler:

= If you don't go see it, Flashman will personally drag your ass to it.

= Most will like it

: Some may enjoy it

= Don't go

= Never go!


You rate like this:

This movie gets a . Some may like it, I may have. Still need to find out...

Does the Flash Like?

If it get's this does that mean you're too embarrassed to admit you like it?

@ Chowderhead - Using your quirky, but nifty review methodology, I would give it a

@ AvatarForm - Not saying

I agree about the cameo. I laughed so long I'm sure I missed the next scene entirely!

By the way, I give it out of 5.

warpcrafter wrote:I agree about the cameo. I laughed so long I'm sure I missed the next scene entirely!

By the way, I give it out of 5.

Same.

The film looks great and I'll hopefully be seeing it later today, if not, sometime soon. Is it true that there are some parts in it which erase the terrible third X-men film and the Wolverine film, making it a great movie which erases bad movies?

ZeroSamurai wrote:The film looks great and I'll hopefully be seeing it later today, if not, sometime soon. Is it true that there are some parts in it which erase the terrible third X-men film and the Wolverine film, making it a great movie which erases bad movies?

I don't understand why people hate those movies so much. Oh well, perhaps I'm not as bitter and jaded as I sometimes feel.

By the way, upon watching it a second time, this conclusion has come to me.

I must have missed something because I loved Wolverine while disliking the older X-men movies. #2 was probably the best of those 3 but to me that wasn't saying much. I hope they tie in all the Origins movies much like they are tying in all the Avenger Character films.

Just got back from watching, and it was awesome. The end. X-men 1 and 2, along with Wolverine, were all great, while X-men 3 should be officially stricken from the record.

I have to say that Fassbender steels the show in this one though.

It dragged along for me alot for the first 2/3.

It seemed every 5 minutes (and sometimes less) there was a cut to a shot of Oxford/Russian Army Base/Pentagon/Xavier Mansion/Secret CIA Base and they were all labeled as such as the story jumped around.
It got really good in the last 1/3 with almost all of the action occuring there.
Azazel was underutilised, although he had a most excellent fight sequence where men start dropping from the sky, it still holds nothing on Nightcrawler's scene at the start of x-men 2.

Sebastian Shaw's powers were well represented.
The training was 1 week, way too short.

The cameo was definitely a laugh out loud moment, the entire audience loved it.

January Jones as Emma Frost... most excellent.

ZeroSamurai wrote:The film looks great and I'll hopefully be seeing it later today, if not, sometime soon. Is it true that there are some parts in it which erase the terrible third X-men film and the Wolverine film, making it a great movie which erases bad movies?

It was surprisingly good I thought, but had low expectations. The guy playing magneto stole the show utterly I thought, and

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:It dragged along for me alot for the first 2/3.
It got really good in the last 1/3 with almost all of the action occuring there.

This.

I kept waiting and waiting for the movie to start.
But I'm guessing this is the start of a new trilogy, so hopefully the ground work is done now and we can have more awesome in the next movie

It was fairly faithful to the rest of the movies but there were some differences, so its not entirely a retcon.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Azazel was underutilised, although he had a most excellent fight sequence where men start dropping from the sky, it still holds nothing on Nightcrawler's scene at the start of x-men 2.

Nothing in the history of the movie world matches the awesome of that scene when I saw Nightcrawler first .

Well slight hyperbole but you get my point.

Awesome movie.

I'm going to see it this weekend - good to hear so many positive reviews!

Yeah, I'm glad to hear lots of people enjoyed it too. Gonna have to go see it soon.

AvatarForm wrote:Im guessing the ***** is **** *******.

Thanks for the review, though it did nothing to deter me from watching it this weekend.

Well, thanks for saying it anyway. I'm sure all of us that don't click the spoilers really appreciate it.

I liked it more than any other X movies or wolverine. I think what made it good was like The Dark Knight and the last Star Trek the key is to focus on making a good movie 1st.

Going to have to wait for dvd release myself. (Not by choice, still hoping to arrange it.) I have to say although I really, really want it to be good; the fact its essentially a prequel to the other films makes me cautious.

Interestingly,

Frazzled wrote:Interestingly,

Spoiler:

Is it just me or was it that all the good guys were white, and pasty white at that, whilst 1/2 of the bad guys weren't? ok there was token black guy but he was almost instantly wacked. Beast was a geeky white guy until he went blue.

And it continues the discrimination against red skinned people with devil tails who look like Satan.

Exactly!

After X-men 3 and Wolverine, my expectations for this movie are pretty low. Hopefully it will be a good one though...

Storywise its the best of 4. Action-wise X-2 is probably still the best.

I was really suprized with how good it was.

I thought the guy playing Charles was cool. Mistique was a bit of a let down. The rest of the team ok, Magneto didn't hit the spot(only fair Ian Mckellen left big shoes to fill).The only bad guy I liked was Azazel,mostly cos I love Nightcrawler.

Very funny cameo from our old pal. We all laughed for 2 minutes.

The rest was good just one bit was annoying.

Melkhiordarkblade wrote:I was really suprized with how good it was.

I thought the guy playing Charles was cool. Mistique was a bit of a let down. The rest of the team ok, Magneto didn't hit the spot(only fair Ian Mckellen left big shoes to fill).The only bad guy I liked was Azazel,mostly cos I love Nightcrawler.

Very funny cameo from our old pal. We all laughed for 2 minutes.

The rest was good just one bit was annoying.

Spoiler:

"Mutant and Proud" was said too much,it would have been okay said once,but I really thought it was corny when Mistique said it at the end,Charles gets shot and that's what she has to say.

Thats interesting. I thought Feldberger (Sp) did a better job of Magneto, and/or more importantly had better dialogue and action. He had that, I really really really hate you and want you to die so much thing quite well.
I especially liked



Of course this makes a bit of a jump the shark moment for me.

@ Frazzled



@ Melkhior

I don't know Flashy.