The First Superhero Movie I Liked In a Long Time

Rating: 7/10 (21 July 2014)

I'm not a fan of superhero comic books, but I'm not against the idea of superhero movies. Its just that few of them escape the clichés of the hundreds of other actions films out there. The Dark Knight was pretty good half a decade ago (tarnished by edgy teenage misanthropes, but that's not TDK's fault), but since then Marvel and DC either didn't interest me or disappointed. I was mildly interested in seeing this due to its high Rotten Tomatoes score, so I chose this for a movie outing with a friend.
It was actually a perfectly solid action flick. I wouldn't say it sets a new bar, but it avoided clichés by focusing on character. In fact, action and character development were evenly matched.
The conflict between Professor X and Magneto is done surprisingly well. You wouldn't think a superhero movie would do a good job at showing the clashing sides of moderate vs extremist activism, yet both sides are portrayed realistically. Magneto is villainous, of course, but he's not evil for the sake of evil. Professor X believes that humans can be taught to accept Mutants, yet all their crimes make Magneto convinced only one race should reign on Earth. And its not easy to debunk him. Mystique was also well done, not subservient to either side.
There was too much gristle in terms of the number of superheros. Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique are the only vital characters to the plot. Wolverine, Beast, and Kitty Pride serve important roles, but don't have a character arc. Perhaps twice as many characters make cameos, but ultimately are forgettable unless you read the comics. The action never wowed me, personally. Some of parts against the Sentinels were cool, but predictable.
Regardless, the characters were strong enough to hold the movie for me. A 7/10 may not seem like much, but its above average. I think it deserves its large box office toll, and I'm curious if the sequel can maintain this quality.