amazed at so many positive reviews...

Rating: 1/10 (13 June 2011)

Don't know where to begin, this was such a bad, cheesy, lame film! - and I'm an X-Men fan. The previous 3 seemed to have some intelligence, but this seems like it was made by some dumb-ass kid. I can't believe how many good reviews this has when almost everything about it was so poor.
The acting: overwrought and embarrassing (especially January Jones who was like a Playboy bunny just learning to act).
The characters: Prof. X - why the hell is he English all of a sudden? - was like a creepy, cheesy, horny David Cameron (which can never be appealing). Nothing like his character in the comics or other films - just bad and embarrassing. Magneto's accent came and went as it pleased (and I'm not even sure if it was ever supposed to be there, or what it was supposed to be), and he was as interesting as a piece of wood. Banshee was American, not Irish; Moira McTaggart was American, not Scottish. Unrealistic motivations and actions abound. The Beast's costume looked like Wolverine has rolled around in some blue fur and glue. Otherwise, it's a like a catwalk of one beautiful, posturing teen after another: every person, every random mutant, had to be young, beautiful, ripped, sexy - even if they were previously cab drivers or whatever. Totally unrealistic and all about image consciousness (ironic for the heavy-handed message about Mystique accepting herself).
The structure: a lot of running around aimlessly, with one anti-climax after another.
The setting: supposed to be early, pre-hippy 60s, but often came off like mid-late 60s, as if the set/costume/music people were a bunch of ignorami who just thought 'cool- 60s, mod, James Bond, shagadelic'. Really, really lame.
The sexism: women are mainly there for eye candy, and to be models of insecurity, and any excuse to show them in lingerie, in strip clubs, T&A close-ups etc. is greedily taken. Emma Frost is instructed by Magneto to go get her some ice, and she does so like an obedient servant. Angel and her fellow prostitutes are all beautiful, happy and fit, willing servants for the pleasures of men - not depressed, shaking, acne-scarred women debasing themselves to feed their families or their habits. Really irresponsible film-making - and before anyone says "lighten up, it's just a movie", remember that the comics were really good - and realistic - about social issues (despite the women's skimpy costumes!).
The racism: I can't believe reviewers haven't mentioned this - in a scene where Kevin Bacon says to Darwin (who is black), "So you have two choices, you can do nothing with your powers and be enslaved..." and at the word 'enslaved' the camera does a close-up on Darwin for a long few seconds... reinforcing the equation of black man = slave. Maybe the heavy-handed director was trying to suggest that Darwin would naturally relate to Bacon's speech given his race's history... but a few minutes later he's killed! - the old movie cliché' that the black man is always the first to die, once again! Truly an appalling piece of film-making, and not worth the half-price tickets I paid for.