Good. Well worth seeing

Rating: 8/10 (9 June 2011)

Good. Well worth seeing.
It's a reboot, so some of the character back stories may not make complete sense to anyone who knows the original history. Set in 1963 the film centres around the meeting of Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Eric Lensherr (Magneto) and the founding of Xavier's school for the gifted.
Eric's personal back story is given as flashback, and will seem remarkably familiar to anyone who's seen the previous X-films. Charles's story is somewhat different to what we've seen previously.
XM:FC explores the usual territory of difference and prejudice, but this time devotes a good proportion of the first third of the film to some good old fashioned, bond-like action.
The middle portion, as would be expected develops some of the other characters - this part drags a bit, but then again I'm probably not the target audience, not being a teenager.
The final third ratchets up the action and dramatic tension, if not quite as convincingly as the beginning.
I had some concerns about slight overplaying by the three main stars - Magneto twisting the air as if he had a Nazi's throat in his hands, and Prof-X touching his temple as if he was a circus mind reader. But I'll forgive them both some slight overacting, they didn't take it too far. Kevin Bacon on the other hand, took the 'big acting' a couple of steps further, but it seemed to suit his style and the evil ego-maniac character he played.
The kids all played their parts moderately well.
Overall, quite well done. As good as, may be better, than the first two X-films, and definitely better than the poor third on. The main praise should go to Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Bryan singer for a good action film.