Surprisingly good

Rating: 7/10 (24 June 2014)

Surprisingly good! If you've seen many of the recent crop of super-hero sci-fi schlock that's been released then you'll understand why this is a surprise.
The premise is that Wolverine is sent back in time to prevent the horrible Terminator style future all the mutants are experiencing. There is plenty of eye candy CGI and explosions and all the usual suspects make cameos. In that way it's similar to other offerings but this one, unlike those, has an engaging story. True there is probably nothing earth shatteringly new here but the deft handling keeps it from ever feeling like a paint by numbers tent-pole.
Wolverine doesn't do much Wolverine, he's mainly used as a POV character for us to bridge the past and the future. Peter Dinklage plays the gov't villain and while I always love seeing him on screen his character seems underutilized. Hugh Jackman carries the movie in terms of character and acting chops though the cast in general was very well chosen, there are just so many of them we only get a little bit of time with each. Young Xavier and Magneto reprise their roles from the previous movie and Mystique looks better than ever and we actually get a bit of character development from her. Giamatti has a great scene chewing couple scenes that are far too short, I can only hope he and Dinklage will be used more in future movies. It would be awesome to see a spectacle genre movie that also let some of these great actors loose.
The world building holds together very well, not as many obvious anachronisms. I didn't feel the effort to hold suspension of disbelief like I have in other recent genre flicks. Special mention for the scenes with Quicksilver showing off his powers, those were particularly effective.
If they can keep this quality up for the future offerings then I will be going for sure. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.