Near-Flawless X-Men Finale.

Rating: 9/10 (2 March 2017)

I saw the movie 2 days ago. It premiered here in Taiwan before America, so I simply got lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I've been an X-men fan since issue Uncanny X-men 129 and the original run of the Hell-Fire Club was nothing short of stunning with it's Dark Pheonix ending. But alas, I gave up comic collecting in 1992 and moved on to other things. Still loved most of the movies... but most of them were based on stories I already knew and loved.
Then came this.
I knew nothing about X-23 before I entered the theater. 2 days of research and I would have to say that I missed out on a very intriguing character. The backstory given in the movie is nearly the same as you would expect it from the books / TV-Show, so there are no surprises there. But what makes this stand out is the performance of one young (OMGOSH SHE'S TWELVE YEARS OLD!!!) actress -- Dafne Keen.
From the moment she bursts onto the screen in full primal fury, you know you need to buckle your seat belts, cause this movie is going places fast. The sheer ferocity of the character is so amazingly well channeled through Dafne's performance that you find yourself stunned as she becomes a brutally lethal killing force. Her performance is so perfect, so incredibly much so, that one of my biggest problems with this movie stems directly from it: Child violence. The movie brims with it. CHILDREN.... killing as if it really meant nothing to do so. As if it were just another video game.
I understand --- they are in the fight for their very survival and thus you do what you have to do --- but seeing it play out is unnerving and at times unsettling.
And yet... still.... Dafne.... wow.
Watching Logan and Professor X bicker like the two old men they actually are (Professor X is in his 90's during this movie, which is said to take place in 2029), you can't help but wonder what put them in the situation they are shown in --- Wolverine a stumbling alcoholic and Charles Xavier on the edge of dementia, suffering from Alzheimer's. It will break your heart to see these once great heroes at the end of their days.
Sir Patrick Stewart's performance is top-notch. You honestly want to cry for his situation throughout the movie. And Hugh Jackman, well, this movie will more than make up for the last two duds. As a final turn for their portraying these characters --- they go out fighting and give us a movie worth seeing again and again, so as to enjoy the subtly of brilliance that is their performances.
There are questions still remaining from all this:
1) What happened in West Chester? 2) Where are all the other mutants & why are there no more being born? 3) Just how did X-23 (and the others) escape and find their way to safety.... and just what safety is there? (It's never shown) 4) What became of the "Days of Future Past" time line set up in the last X-men movie? 5) And if Adamantium is truly the source of the poison that is affecting Logan's healing ---- won't the same be true for X-23 (Laura) at some point?
There are other questions.... but I want to end on this:
It's not often that a movie will surprise you and leave you wishing that they had made it longer... maybe even doubled the time it was presented in.... this is one of those rare movies. It could have been 4 hours long... and it still wouldn't have been enough. You'll understand when you see Laura and Logan in action. It's like pure poetry.
Go see the movie... you won't regret it.