Fun when focused on the original cast

Rating: 8/10 (11 April 2015)

I was worried as the cast list and director for this film was released, I absolutely adored FIRST CLASS and was saddened to see that Matthew Vaughn wasn't back on board for the sequel (evenif we did get the brilliant KINGSMAN instead). I was worried that the First-class sequel was more and more becoming an excuse for Singer to play with all his old friends, rather than advance the franchise in any way.
Thankfully the film is very much more focused on the story of the 1970's and is much more interesting for it. While the Singer X-Men (for those in the original trilogy) fight a CGI extravaganza in a totally bland cave, the Vaughn-era X-Men move through the sets of a gorgeous 70's spy-fi thriller.
Jennifer Lawrence carries on her brilliant work from the first film and even now with more to do, her Mystique is absolutely one of the most engaging in the film and the wider universe. Having seen the rising prominence of the character in the film series it never seems like she's being given more screen time simply because of Lawrence's rising star status, and the increase in "things to do" is a reaction to such a strong actress bringing things out of a character who was more or less a henchman in the original trilogy.
The continued star of the show however is, for me, Michael Fassbender as Magneto. This young Magneto has absolutely become the living example of the X-Men story and the mutant struggle. Always on the edge of what's right, but rarely in the wrong Fassbender completely brings you on board with his position and his anger. The sequence where he confronts Xavier on the plane comes very close to the "just following orders" scene from the previous film. Even more so in this film than any that precede it I can see why people would join Magneto's team. Not to mention he looks bloody fantastic in period clothing.
I would have enjoyed seeing a little more of the FIRST CLASS cast back, Lucas Till's brief appearance as Havok aside they're all sadly disposed of off-screen. While these characters were never A-list, and would perhaps have been under served in an already packed out film, I did feel they deserve a slightly more impressive send off.
Another concern(*) prior to seeing the film was how much a lot of the promo material was concentrating on Jackman being back as Wolverine. Whilst I enjoy Jackman in the role, having him out of the plot for FIRST CLASS was refreshing. As it is, he is used well throughout the film – whilst a steady presence he never overwhelms the true story and is even disposed of for the films climax to allow the focus to be Mystique/Magneto/Xavier.
The scenes in the future remain the weakest area of DOFP for me, the Future-era X-Men never feel like anything other than expensive bookends to the First Class story. While some of the spectacle is fine, everything that happens is completely disposable and is even rewritten by the end of the film.
Going forward we know we have at least one more X-Men film in this prequel storyline (APOCALYPSE, scheduled for 2016) and the only thing I don't want this film to be is a ticking off connecting everything back to the first, 2001, X-Men film. The franchise is working well being a series of related trilogies, set me up for a softly rebooted series with the Cyclops/Beast/Angel/Iceman/Jean Grey roster and I'm fully on board.
(*)hey, I'm a comics fan – I do little else but worry about how these films are going to turn out.