A Prequel That Brings Back the Excitement of the Franchise

Rating: 9/10 (7 June 2012)

There are two sides to the X-men film franchise: the good side, which is "X-Men" and "X2" and the bad side, which is "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." The good side really brought the excitement and greatness of X-Men to the big screen and the bad side completely ruined the franchise. What this film actually did was making the story extremely enjoyable and bringing back the franchise to the same level of greatness of the first 2 films. This film did a great job of telling a story that connects this film to the others from the franchise and making it enjoyable for all. If you watched the good sides of the franchise, then you will be able to point out the resemblance and connect the dots that lead to the events of the franchise. You will get a better understanding of how the characters became how they were to be, giving strong feedback and enough depth to explain their ambitions and characteristics.
Director Matthew Vaughn not only did a great job of connecting this prequel to its predecessor, he developed a strong story that is enjoyable for both fans and for people watching this for the first time. The director treats this as the first of the franchise to be made into a film, allowing people who have not seen or heard of X-Men, to be able to get on and enjoy the ride. You seriously don't have to watch any of the predecessors in order to understand the characters and the storyline. What I really liked about the story was the creativity of adding this historical event, making it fictional and adding scenarios that are filled with enthusiasm. The film focused extremely well on the characters, giving them a great amount of depth and characteristics, making these characters really likable. Unlike the last two films of the saga, I didn't have that feeling that most of the characters were there just to be on screen and to brought in for no particular reason. All were added for a purpose and most of these characters play a critical role in the plot. Most of them have incredible abilities and it is quite amazing to see these characters unleash their power. My only complaint about the characters was Beast because of how ridiculous he looked compared to the 3rd entry. Beast in the 3rd film looked like how Beast should look, but Beast in this film looked like an overgrown Beast doll that didn't get the cuddling and love from children.
Another thing that diverse this with the last two entries of the saga was bringing in the excitement and making these scenes count. It was amazing to see these characters use their abilities, fun to watch them train and the final showdown had that action packed excitement that you want in a super-hero flick. You may complain about the final showdown, based on how these characters have these crazy abilities, but didn't receive the justice and showdown that you wanted to see; other than that, the final showdown is great and it will get you quite excited. Personally, the director brought up some pretty awesome, well shot scenes that were pretty awesome. My favorite has to be near the end of the final fight between Magneto and Shaw. Just watching that scene really brought a huge grin because of how awesome it was and is definitely one of the most awesome scenes I have seen in 2011.
The main question that people will wonder is if James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender can pull off being Professor X and Magneto's younger self. The answer is simple: not only did they gave out great performances, but they were extremely great and portrayed as the characters quite perfectly. You see a different side to the characters, something that you didn't get to see in the other films, and the film gave plenty of depth to these characters and both actors just did a tremendous job portraying as both characters. None of them outshine one another, since both gave out equally strong performances, making you like both characters equally. Kevin Bacon was simply great as the villain, Sebastian Shaw. Shaw is definitely one great villain and stand tall with other villains in the saga. What Shaw can do is quite impressive and once you see what he can do, you will be quite amazed and will definitely like him as a villain. Every other cast also did great and fit very well with their characters.
Not only did this brought back the saga to its feet, but it definitely stands equal or actually better than the first 2 entries of the saga. Great characters, exciting moments, great portrayals and perfectly combining the story with the others made this film a worthy comic book film and an exciting film to watch.