Don't know if i needed to see the other films to get it but...

Rating: 4/10 (30 June 2011)

I base a good film on three things: a good story line, good acting and/or lots of impressive action. I guess the good acting may not in itself make a film good but it certainly helps.
I started watching it and for the first ten or so minutes i thought ah this looks like it might be a good film, although possibly slightly confusing. The acting in this first part seemed mostly solid so i give it 7/10. However, as the film continued the plot seemed to become increasingly simplistic and predictable causing it to be very dull. The story dragged out with moments that lasted far too long and scenes that seemed like they were only there to make the film a length worth watching for the increasingly ridiculous cinema prices.
Other than the first section the acting seemed mostly weak with no particular stand out characters. I never really thought that i had a connection with or felt emotion for any of the characters apart from at the beginning. I thought that Dr. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) was the only exception as he seemed to have a solid set of lines and he played the part well
Finally the action element was the joint weakest with the plot. There was very little action with odd spouts of poorly choreographed violence. I thought that Havok (Lucas Till) looked like a badly mimicked iron man that wasn't nearly as cool. The action scene near the end was, i thought, a shambolic, disorganised mess. It seemed very anti-climatic and given that it's a superhero movie the action is what most people will go to see it for.
So overall given that the movie doesn't fulfill any of the above criteria I must say that the film was a disappointment because it could have been so much better. I have, however noticed that the majority of the other reviews have been very positive. I cannot imagine how this is possible other than if they are all avid followers of the x-men series. The only other reason is that there could have been several things that this film explained, answered or linked about the last films that were as of yet unanswered which made it a good film. If this is true please feel free to make me aware of it. As this was the first x-men film I have seen I realise that it may have been beneficial to see the previous ones so therefore I cannot really advise those people who have seen the others in the series but to the ones that haven't I would personally save your money for Transformers which is a significantly better film for those looking for a true action superhero movie. For these reasons I give it a rating of 4/10