I'm admittedly a fence-sitter: I like it, I've seen it several times, but man it gets a lot wrong. It's hard to articulate that position, because I say a lot of bad things about the film, and then give it an overall good rating.
1. 20 Years Ago So far, so good. The monologue is noticeably absent, Already the pacing problems begin to show themselves, as Erik and Charles take no time at all to talk to the Greys. There is some nice banter between them, though, and sets up their background quite nicely. Still, the scene moves too quickly, as though the writers are in a rush to unload the parents, who really needed a bigger role, especially later in the film.
2. 10 Years Ago Ah, this is more like it. Cayden Boyd is a fantastic actor, as is Michael Murphy. This scene is, tonally, what this movie should have been. Pitch-perfect. This scene segues into the opening credits, which are nifty, but again, they seem out of place in this position, as the previous two films opened with credit sequences.
3. The Danger Room Ah, yes. The Danger Room. All that waiting doesnt seem quite worth it now, does it? This scene suffers quite a bit from the editors Wolvie-centric knife, as a lot of potential characterization is either cut to the minimum or totally neglected in favor of following Logan around the entire time. And the acting is pretty bad all around, except maybe Anna Paquins. Lets not start on the Sentinelit either needed to be seen and explained, or not seen at all. What we got was silly. Of course, even when directly addressed, Colossus doesnt get any lines. So whatever.
4. Scott Grieves Jimmy Marsden, we hardly knew you. Anyway, this scene is brief, but it works. Scott misses Jean, and shes somehow haunting him from beyond the grave. If only their connection was given more importance than heres how we can kill Scott off.
5. Rogue and Bobby Rogues angsting about her powers because
well, actually, Im not sure why, because X2 definitely implied shed be getting used to them and start being a full-fledged X-Man. Come to think of it, so did the Danger Room scene, oh, 90 seconds ago. I guess the semi-hug between Bobby and Kitty is the reason, and that works well enough, but since that subplot goes nowhere, its considerably less effective. But Rogue should be yelling at him about that, not being all passive-aggressive oh I cant touch you! but I wuv you! but you dont deserve me! but I really wuv wuv you!. Good acting from Anna, but not the character as she should be portrayed given her arc from the previous films.
6. Scott and Logan And so it begins. Logan is assimilating Scott. Jimmy really sells Scotts tortured soul, and Jackman does a really good job of playing Cyclops. And another awesome statement of the Phoenix theme. Once again, the scene is too short, but it isnt a terrible problem. Yet. Heres the deal: this is the last time we see Scott do anything important in the movie. And all hes doing is walking down a hall. Mull that over. But well cover that injustice when the time comes. For now
7. Meet Beast Hehe. Hes upside down. I love Kelsey Grammer as Beast. As far as Im concerned, hes the best thing about this movie by far. Such a perfect way to introduce him. I wonder why his secretary gets him after the meeting has started? Shouldnt he already be there? In fact, shouldnt she get him ahead of time? God, shes an awful secretary. On to the meeting, where Bolivar Trask pretends that hes gonna be an important character, but is really just a trivia question pasted onto a character who is nothing like the original trivia question. But whatever. Theyve been tracking Magneto, which kind of begins to sell him as an Osama-esque threat to national security. The scene-in-a-scene with Mystique doesnt work. Why was it set up like that? And on that note, why is it noted that she was imitating Trask? Continuity would say that they should have noticed that Senator Kelly was, yknow, dead. The scene with Mystique is nice, but it needed to be its own scene. Its silly that theyre sitting at a meeting watching this interrogation. That just wouldnt happen. Hanks reaction to the cure is really good. Josef Sommer kind of hams it up as the presidentthe on principle line is really overdelivered, but its still effective. And better than the real thing.
8. Ethics class Really hamfisted setup for a particularly uninspired twist at the end. I like the discussion of ethics, but Id like it more if it tied into the Phoenix story like it really should have. I hate Dell product placement. But in seriousness, these ideas of power and responsibility needed to relate to Jean, and the writers dropped the ball.
9. Charles and Storm - This scene is a giant missed opportunity. What should have been a chance to flesh out Storms backstory and character just turns into mindnumbing exposition, and the ridiculous statement that Scotts a changed man. Well, he is if you leave in his room by himself for however long its supposed to have been since X2 ended. Writing off the leader of the team like that? I have a feeling Tom Rothman wrote that line. It doesnt work, it reeks of shoehorning Scott out of the story, and honestly its just bad writing. Oh, and theres something Xaviers not telling us. Zak Penn insists thats not about the cure, which would be true, because Xavier doesnt know about it yet. Otherwise, Hank wouldnt have come all the way from Washington on his way to San Francisco to deliver that news in person. Oh, wait, that doesnt make any sense
I thought Hank was a doctor? I guess hes got some frequent flier miles saved up. Anyway, Penn says its a reference to Phoenix, but it doesnt really make any sense. In fact, the entire exchange is stupid, and doesnt move the story forward at all. Its just words to give Halle something to do. It shouldnt have been hard to put in a line, just a line, to give Halle more depth. If Storm was going to get a bigger role, there needed to be some meat added to it. Instead, they just blew up her role in X2, giving her roughly twice the screentime and halving the significance.
10. The Cure Here we go. More Kelsey is always good. The reunion of Storm and Hank works well, and feels natural. I like it; the film could use more moments like this. But the scene immediately devolves to the PowerPoint style of scripting that Kinberg and Penn seem to favor. Seriously, this scene goes from one talking point to the next like a flowchart, not natural conversation. Its too fast, and it seems like they just cant wait to get the exposition out of the way. Id normally accept this, but its not like theyre making room for more interesting characterization, because as soon as the expositing is over, the scene ends. Logans back in character, which is good to see. If only hed stay that way. I have a feeling some of these scenes were written before the Scott parameters were set.
11. Storm Reacts to the Cure I realize its not technically a scene, but this deserves its own entry. This does not work. For one, Halle is speaking way too quickly, like shes reading a cue card that Kelseys holding for her. Second, it doesnt make any sense. Shes being offensive, shes spewing vitriol that really has no relevance to the situation
its not even like she has a point. Shes just reiterating her stance without giving reasons. And she comes off like a *****. This is not Storm. Not good at all.
12. Announcing the Cure the scene more or less plagiarizes Whedons scene from Astonishing X-Men #1, with the Alcatraz bit shoehorned in because Ratner thought itd be cool. Annas reaction works. But waitwere back to Halle the über-*****. She pretends to apologize to Hank for being so insensitive, but then she freaks the hell crazy on Rogue not fifteen seconds later. Rogue needed to have something to say after Storm insists that nothings wrong with Rogue, though clearly it is. Of course, Rogue shouldnt even be contemplating the cure, but Im beginning to think by this point that no one involved in this movie watched X2.
You must find the appropriate base to bounce it off or else you get false reads.
Not an OUNCE of my worth as a poster here is invested in your opinions. Lets be perfectly clear.
You have your facts, I have mine. Lets not pretend some guy on a message board picking at a film in the most ridiculous ways is going to teach me logic 
Im sure Bryan and tons of talented directors have a few choice words for these communities, that would trump my sugar coated expressions lol Didnt Avi Arad already do this?
Yes you have escaped my clutches once more...........
