X-cellent beginning

Rating: 8/10 (23 April 2016)

I remember when this film first came about and I caught my first glimpse of the trailer "Trust a few.....Fear the rest..." and I was immediately blown away and then I watched the actually film and again was blown away. For me around 70% of the movie works for me and that is more than enough for a first effort, particularly when dealing with the X-Men. The main plot hole for me was the lack of explanation when it came to Magneto's grand plan, what exactly was this machine and how did it actually work powered by Magneto???? To be fair I saw this as more an intro movie so I was more than willing to overlook it on this occasion. Casting and character portrayals were pretty solid with some major standouts and a few duds. The chemistry between Stewart and McKellen was superb and they carried they're roles well, McKellen just pips Stewart for me. Jackman was very faithful to the character of Wolverine and reigned it in enough to keep him interesting and multi dimensional rather than cartoonish. Paquin portrayed a very different Rogue and once I got over my inital fanboy disappointment I rather enjoed her performance and she brought a lot of depth to the character. Romijin was also a major scene stealer with her alluring Mystique. Janssen played the tore Jean Grey well but her character did come across a little flat at times as did Marsden, although he has kinda nailed that annoying Scott Summers quality. Mane & Park done well also and I was delighted to see both characters brought to the big screen. OK they were pretty just lackeys but it's a comic book film so it has to be expected. It was nice to see both actors having so much fun in their roles. For me personally the biggest let down character wise was Halle Berry's very weak Storm. Now to be fair Storm is my favorite of the X-Men so I was thrilled to say the least when I discovered she was going to be in the film. I was expecting a strong African woman who kicked ass and was not to be toiled with. Instead I got a rather weak character, not physically I mean as she did have some of the best action set pieces in the film. But as for the actual character Halle brought nothing, she had no real voice (god that awful accent) or presence whatsoever which is just a crying shame. It wasn't all on Halle as I feel Singer could have done sooo much more with the character, what a missed and failed opportunity. I should also mention that Singers biggest flaw was making Wolverine pretty much center stage really had a knock on effect on allowing other characters to truly shine and other plot avenues to be explored. Having said ALL of that I truly thought the X-Men was a triumph with it's sleek look and excellent action set pieces, it has most certainly paved the way for the comic book films we see today.