My favourite X-Men movie, quite a lot of good action scenes

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2016)

I'm not really a fan of the X-Men movies overall. Including Bryan Singer's first two. He feels like a bit of a one-hit-wonder director. The Usual Suspects was brilliant but I believe that's mainly due to its script and great cast. Singer has a good visual style but he can go wayward if something is missing. All his other movies have been comparatively disappointing (Superman Returns was especially awful apart from Parker Posey who is hilarious).
The X-Men movies are consistently too serious for their own good. The basic premise is incredibly stupid, much moreso than other superhero franchises. Every character is ridiculous and there are so many confusing contradictions - the limits of the powers and the "rules" of the universe are never fully clear. That's all fine though. As long as the tone of the movies is fun and focuses on fantasy, adventure and action. But they always mention evolution which it has nothing to do with (and shows a deep misunderstanding of evolution). And they try to relate the plight of fictional mutants with civil rights. It doesn't work.
This movie fortunately spends more time on spectacle, action and character development. Some of it is stupid and questionable but overall its impressive how many ideas they were able to fit in. The story is far-fetched but fairly fresh and clever. It's a bit akin to Inception, going into a kind of dream (the past) in order to cause some deep, fundamental change that alters the path of history. Oh, but only Wolverine can go back, you know, because he heals the fastest. Don't ask too many questions okay?
It's nice to see so many characters and to have them played by the original actors. The action is fast-paced but I was able to pick up on a lot of nice details. The way the Sentinels imitate powers to their advantage, using fire against ice and vice-versa. It's funny that all Magneto has to do is twitch an eyebrow and raise a hand to make ball bearings fly or to lift a stadium off the ground. When he lowers it, it barely causes a slight rumble. Physics. He can also close his eyes and control extremely intricate patterns of metal twisting and connecting to stuff he can't see from hundreds of metres away.
Quicksilver is a cool new character who can move extremely fast. But he doesn't die from any of the numerous ways that this would kill a person. And he is pretty fast to disappear from the movie as well, which is a shame as he's unique and amusing. It's funny that his co-star from Kick Ass plays the same character in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Part of the movie is set in "China" as the writing tells us. I guess that's all we need to know, right? I'm surprised they didn't just say "Asia". Another part is set in "Paris". For no apparent reason other than to let us watch Jennifer Lawrence practise her French (and Vietnamese).
There's a funny impersonation of Nixon that doesn't have much to do with the rest of the movie. We see the tape recorder under his desk. We also find something out about the bullet(s) that hit Kennedy. There are some funky 70s costumes and hairstyles going on. But it's irrelevant to the plot and a bit distracting. The acting isn't bad but it feels a bit over-the-top, especially with the young Professor X. At least most of it seems sincere.
I'm hesitantly excited for X-Men: Apocalypse. If they can focus on epic action scenes and not worry too much about trying to be sad or meaningful, it could be really good.