X-Men Unite!

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2011)

After the abomination of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (and I love Hugh Jackman and the Wolverine character), I must say I wasn't excited for another X-Men movie. However, the trailers were pretty decent and it was enough to spark my interest in seeing it. Did they make up for the awful Origins movie?
Yes. Yes they did. With the absence of Wolverine (with a small cameo, at least) I wasn't sure what to expect. But man, there is so much to like! The film begins with Xavier and Magneto as kids. It only lasts for a good ten minutes, but I would be happy if the whole film centered around these two kids. Magneto was separated from his mother from Nazis, and is confronted by an evil Kevin Bacon with a German accent. Kevin Bacon wants Magneto to move a coin, much like he did with the gate to get to his mother. However, Magneto couldn't so Kevin Bacon shoots his mother. Magneto goes crazy and suddenly the whole room starts moving and crushing and Kevin Bacon just laughs. Meanwhile, Xavier befriends a shape shifting girl in his home named Raven (later changing her name to Mystique), and thus we see the opening title.
Then it flash forward to when they are adults. At first, I wanted to film to center around those kids but the adults did their parts well. I think I speak for most people when I say that Xavier and Magneto's relationship is the heart of the story. However, it never really felt as strong to me as I liked it to be. Call me cynical. But I was very impressed with James McAvoy's performance as Xavier. He could hold a candle to Patrick Stewart any day. Seriously, he carried the film well and I grew to like him more and more as the film went on. I particularly liked the relationship between him and Mystique. She's so gorgeous, that I was hoping he would at least kiss her at some point.
There are, of course, other mutants in the group, but the only one with meaningful powers belongs to Havok (Lucas Till) who seems to be the only one who has powers that could actually help them. The others can either cling to things, run fast, adapt to environments, or fly and make sonar noises. They just didn't seem like they could be a match for the evil Kevin Bacon and his group of goons. These guys just look like they could rip through this team like tin foil and hardly believable that they could stand a chance. But hey, at least it helps with the suspense factor.
I did wish that they chose a different ending and just save that one for a sequel or something. I don't want to give too much away but like Origins, they keep ruining the continuity of the series. If you watch these films in order, it just doesn't link up. However, as a stand alone movie to the franchise, it was done exceptionally well. I have renewed faith in the X-Men franchise, and I can't wait to see what happens in the Second Class.