I love X-Men. They're a big part of my childhood and I continue to keep up with them as an adult. I have always felt that I was sort of a mutant. I grew up in a small farming community while having seasonal allergies and hay fever that kept me inside while everyone else was playing sports. I felt different. Often times, due to these allergies, I would have violent sneezing sessions where mucus and snot the size of golf balls flew from my nose in bullet fashion. So, yeah, I felt like, and was treated at times, like a mutant. So let me tell you about this most recent film and why it's good, but there are a few glaring problems with the writing. I'll start with the bad, so you can feel good about it later.
The premise of the film is that Wolverine (again the G**D*** focus) is sent back in time, by Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), through is mind to change the dystopian future where mutants are hunted and killed. They argue that it all started in 1973 when Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) kills Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) in a public fiasco. To stop this from happening, Captain Snikt! has to get the two most important people in her life to talk her out of it, Magneto (Micheal Fassbender) and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). They need the help of Quicksilver (Evan Peters) to get to Magneto whose been locked up (the reason for which is pretty ingenious).
This story isn't too terribly different from the original and the remake in the 90's cartoon. The idea is that an assassination of a public figure ruins everything. In the original comic book, Kitty Pryde gets sent back, in the cartoon it's Bishop (Omar Sy). In both it's Mystique that is the assassin. So we'll give it props for this. Except there is one huge, and I mean major, issue here.
WHERE THE F*&^ DID KITTY GET THOSE POWERS FROM!?
We've a set continuity. We know what her powers are. In no way (0%) do they ever even mention that she gets a new power. That would have been fine. Just a line saying, I can do this now, would have worked. Hell, doing what the original comic book did would have made more sense, that Xavier does it, since he's an already established psychic. This change of power also does nothing for the story whatsoever. At one point Claws goes crazy and accidentally cuts her. This is supposed to create tension in an already extremely tense situation that they're in (Sentinels are on their way to kill them again). I kind of snickered. It doesn't really come up again except for Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) to say, she can't keep this up, and have Xavier reply too bad kiddo she's got to.
The other big problem the movie has is why doesn't Quicksilver stick around? He just proves his worth in, what I think is, a pretty funny scene where he trips up a bunch of troops. I mean, yeah, he's a dick, but who cares? He's a huge dog in this fight, considering he begins to piece together that Magneto is his dad (gasp!). It also would have made the Sentinel fight scene a hell of a lot cooler. It would have established that even the first Sentinels were badass enough to take down a speedster.
One thing that bothers me a little bit, is that Havok gets pushed to the side. He's in it for a few minutes and then gets rescued by Mystique. Then he falls off the earth. Toad, F*&^%$# Toad gets more screen time. It's established in First Class that Alex has no home to return to. Why wouldn't he go back to the Xavier institute and join in the fight? Again, this would have made the final action scene a s*&% ton cooler.
Those are some big problems, the first two should be for everyone, the last one, well, that's mostly me (I like the Summers Brothers a lot). One other thing that bothers me a little is the ending. Everyone dies and in a CG gore fest without the gore. And it's one of those build-unnecessary-tension moments that doesn't serve much. Alright, lets talk good things.
I like Quicksilver. This particular incarnation of Quicksilver (as we'll get another in Avengers 2), I thought, will give us a good enough distinction between the two. He's a whiny, entitled punk who thinks he's invincible. It offers a deep contrast to Xavier's broody I-want-my-heroin attitude and Hugh Jackman acts like, yeah this is the young version of that son-a-b*&%!. I think it works out great. It would have been great to see his ass kicked by a Sentinel, but I said something along those lines already. The scene where he's meant to shine is done very well. I laughed quite a bit at the sophomoric tricks he pulls on the guards. This Quicksilver works.
James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender bring their A-game once again. These guys...man, I kind of fangirl about this, but they're really good at their jobs. The writing on their parts was done quite well, I can't think of changing anything. I liked that Xavier was more or less addicted to a drug, kind of showcasing the newer drug scene of the 70's. Then using that drug later in the movie as part of the action.
The action scenes are well done and the CG is good. The Sentinels are cool, but I would have liked to see them do more action than the 1 or 2 we get to see actually do anything.
The countering philosophy between Magneto and Xavier isn't as showcased in this one as much, but it is personified within Mystique. Her whole thing is that she's torn between the two and can't really find her own ground to stand on. It's cool to see her argue with both of them and to see her grow into what will probably be an excellent villain (fingers crossed).
I liked Warpath and Blink and Bishop as the "new" mutants we get to see. They do a great job doing some serious kick-@$$ against the Omega Sentinels. However, I would have liked to have seen more mutants in the 1973 scenes since we only really get to see Quicksilver. Yeah, Havok, Toad, Ink, and Spike are there, but for maybe 5 min. If those 4 had joined back up at the Xavier Institute, things would have been much much better. But, like I said, the "future" X-men scenes are all pretty damned cool.
The roll of the dice gives this movie an 8/10. If you're a fan go and see it in the theaters, if not, redbox it. But you should see it, if only to see how a movie can erase all previous movies while sticking to comic book roots (at least a little bit).
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