Review
What you need to know about this movie before you go and see it. 1. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are superb. Each one alone would have made the movie terrific but together Forgetaboutit! Every step of the way every scene every emotion these two men own the movie and watching their bromance is a treat from start to finish. Make no mistake about it even when the world is on the brink of utter destruction what really matters is how these two men relate to one another. And when you watch the movie you will care. 2. Everyone in the cast is good. Kevin Bacon has never been better and Jennifer Lawrence is wonderful. Rose Byrne and January Jones arent given much to do Ray Wise and Michael Ironside only have a few short lines but across the board the entire cast are a delight. 3. The story is tight. Youve got a bad guy with a plan which he sets about executing in ABC fashion. Against him the good guys work together. Their motivations are different of course but they pretty much want him stopped so they unite. Thats it. 4. Charles and Erik are fascinating characters. They debate. And viewers can debate endless about them and about who is right etc. As you watch you desperately wish they could stay friends but you understand why they ultimately cant. Even if they themselves in these early days dont understand it yet. To have that so perfectly captured in a Summer Blockbuster movie is part of what makes this a treat and a future classic. But aside from their relationship to each other the movie takes time to make each of them interesting in his own right. We get to see Charles as a teacher for instance and come to understand how he impacts upon the lives of those he tutors. Some of Eriks best moments (away from Charles) are in his comments to Mystique about her appearance making it clear that this man has more to him than the shadow of his past. 4. Most supporting characters have very little screen time. But thats okay since this isnt THEIR story really. Of the bunch it is Mystique and Beast who are best served. Both have terrific character arcs that in a lesser XMen movie might have been the highlight of the film. Here their stories serve as quality background material to the main event (Charles and Erik). Beyond that we just learn enough about everyone to know what they can do and like them a little bit mostly through their banter and most obvious character traits. Once scene where most of the supporting characters are clearly terrified will certainly go a long way towards making you care about them for the rest of the movie. On the downside Shaws two henchmen dont get ANYTHING to do except use their powers and at the end of the story we know as much about Emma Frost as we did at the beginning. But these are the exception not the rule. 5. Visually this movie is a treat. The FX are good no surprise but much better the actual setscostumes are beautiful. Whether its a remote CIA lab or a lapdance club whether its the Magneto helmet or Mystiques everyday clothes you are always admiring the look of whats on screen. 6. There are action scenes all during the movie but having said that the movie builds as it goes. The first half is more storyheavycharacterheavy so that when the action REALLY starts we care about everyone. And again it works. Even with the scant details given their characters when Banshee and Havok (for example) go into battle you are invested in them to a certain degree. 7. There are surprises. Deaths betrayals cameos and namedropping. But as well as being cool all of this makes perfect sense for the storyuniverse of the movies. Superb! Rocksolid script two amazing lead performances (the film is basically a bromance). Havent been this excited about the XMen franchise since X2 XMen United.