Okay, my turn.
Now I'm gonna start by saying I'm more of a DC fan, although I love
classic Xmen (as in the Neal Adams era, Byrne/Claremont and right up until Jim Lee took over the art duties, just about the time the number of X teams began to x-plode....lost interest real fast after that), this is because I was
reading those stories as a kid.
To me the classic X-stories always had a family feeling to them, so that when Jean Grey died, it really resonated. As such, when I read DOFP back in 1981, and it was shocking beyond belief to see all my favourite heroes DIE !
Also, I ****ing hated what Singer did with Superman Returns.
So having said that time to talk about the film
GOOD STUFF:
- McAvoy, really carried the film. His Xavier was believable and you felt sorry for him, without despising him for his initial weakness/apathy. I especially liked the fact that Singer allowed him to be coarse, and tell Wolverine
to "**** off. " You believe in his redemption and his struggle to become the man he once was/ the man he was destined to be.
on that note, I loved that Singer's characters actually swore. Great to see the Xmen talking like real people.
Fassbender, always great, really good connection with McAvoy (even stronger than in XMen first class). A very credible villain, you love him and hate him at the same time - did at least as much as McAvoy.
Jackman: probably my favourite Wolverine portrayal to date, as he lacked the self-pity and broodiness of Xmen origins or The Wolverine (which I didn't like). I kind of go against the grain and prefer Wolvie as having feelings, and a heart of gold (which is how he was portrayed in the classic era, probably his relationship with Kitty, and later Jubilee was what really redeemed him as a character). I liked that this Wolvie was less self-absorbed and broken and instead was motivated by concern for others - about time.
Stewart: Always excellent. He'll always be Professor X to me, no matter who else they cast in the role, because he captures the compassion, the bravery and the nobility of the character. Not a big part, but he made every second onscreen count.
McKellan: not given much to do, fair enough considering the size of the cast and story, but it reduced him to a very impressive piece of furniture.
Lawrence: a true femme fatale, not hindered by the makeup, a credible antagonist, but like Magneto, we feel for her. Considering her mega star status, a smaller role but a very good performance.
Magneto vs the White House, nice, he was holding all the cards there, he had the WH surrounded by the stadium, had the sentinels under control and the magic helmet. I honestly thought for a moment, "Wow, they're screwed. How are they going to take him down?" even though I knew they would.
Blink- not much acting, but boy did they make her use of her powers cool. Nice work Singer.
Quicksilver - took a character who's usually mildly annoying, and made him tremendous fun and a credible super-being.
Loved him ! That slo-mo sequence in the Pentagon kitchen was my favourite action piece of the film (perhaps of 2014 so far, it was wayy better than anything in TASM 2, and I enjoyed that film too).
Singer re-created the panache he showed in Nightcrawler's assault on the White House in X2, a real flash of brilliance. I'm sure people will be talking about the kitchen sequence for a long time.
Hoult: a credible supporting role. Nice pulled off, given a few things to do, and performed his duties admirably
THE INTERESTING (not good or bad, just interesting):
-there was a very strong "Inception" vibe, during some of the flashes between past and future, and especially at the end when Wolvie wakes up and everything's okay. If you listen, even the music sounds a bit like INception. Chris Nolan deserved a credit there.
THE OKAY:
- the story: a pretty credible adaptation of DOFP.
- Magneto (as a story point) ....if you think about it, they might have been better off at stopping mystique without him, as he turned on them pretty quickly. I think this almost borders on a plot hole, as in maybe they could have stopped Raven more easily without having to contend with Magneto's hidden agendas.
Also, if they'd left him in the Pentagon, the end sequence never would have happened - all Chuck would need to have done is get his powers back and shut down Raven. I'm not an expert on plot holes, but this seems a bit close to one, someone who's more plot hole conscious can feel free to correct me there.
- the other X-Men: Ellen Page is one of the best actresses of her generation, she was credible, but could have been given a little more to do than crouch over someone's head the entire film.
Ashmore was good as Iceman, but I have to say nice things about him, as he went to the same high school as my sister.
The Sentinels : the 1973 versions were okay, as to me the Sentinels are defined by their machine-like nature, i.e. that they are just machines with no personality or individual thought. So, I found the future Sentinels a little too similar to the Fury (from Captain Britain), both in design and powers (and of course the destroyer from Thor, with their face-blasters). They were a bit too much like living creatures. Sure they were nasty and scary, but I wasn't a fan of the overall design.
BUT
With a little redesign, they could have had a similar look/feel to Nimrod (the so-called ultimate sentinel) in fact, having a single Nimrod sentinel, backed up by ordinary ones, would have been more interesting IMO, because then we could have had one mega sentinel with a bit of personality (as another antagonist) and a pack of mecha-goons. That might have made the X-men's deaths a bit more emotional, as for Nimrod it's personal
Dinklage: yeah, he's always good, but he could have gone a lot further with this role, if given more to do. The explanations for his motivations (that he was a bit deluded on one hand, and fanatical about fighting for humanity's survival) needed just a little more to flesh them out.
Also, the fact that he had killed a number of major X-Characters, and we only hear about it through verbal exposition......not great.
X-Platoon: given the tiny bit of screen-time, Toad, Plague and Havok were pretty good, but their adventures in Viet Nam could have been a movie all in itself.
THE NOT-SO GREAT:
Death: during that film some beloved X-people die pretty violent deaths.
However, I didn't feel that much emotion - particularly in the opening sequence (even when Iceman's ice-head gets stomped on). Maybe Singer just isn't good at death scenes. For some reason it didn't have the same impact.......by contrast when Gandalf "dies" in Fellowship of the Ring, lots of folk, myself included, get a bit emotional, even though everyone knows he's coming back to life - just better direction and staging.
Stryker - wasn't a big enough *******. Looked the part, but that's about it.
Sunspot- well the special effects did all the acting.
Storm- pretty good for being heavily pregnant, but didn't get enough lines or screen time to help us connect with the character (so all in all, a good looking cardboard cutout).
Bishop- probably the least interesting or necessary character.
Colossus- needed a line or too, and really should have been a lot tougher than that to kill. Probably one of my favourite Xmen, I was sad to see him
get taken out, and apart relatively easily.
SUMMARY: All in all, one of the best X-films ( hey, I liked Last Stand too) and best Marvel (well Fox in Marvel's clothing) film thus far in 2014.
I give it a solid 8/10. I enjoyed it more than than Avengers and the Spider-Man films. I think with a few tweaks it could have been great, as in one of the great superhero team films of all time (so a 9/10 or better), maybe an extra 10 minutes of film time to flesh out a few characters (and a different approach to the future sentinels).
We've all seen amazing special effects so that's not really all that impressive.What was impressive were the performances by McAvoy, Fassbender, Jackman and Lawrence, which really carried the film.
BTW they forgot to explain how Prof X was alive after Last stand (yes, I've seen the post-credits scene, but a little more was needed) and how Magneto got his powers back (obviously the "cure" wore off, but again, a line or two of dialogue would have helped us out).
Anyway this is all just IMO.
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