Marks the Beginning

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2012)

After Matthew Vaughn refused a prior X-Men movie, he finally came and made this one. And it seems like he made the right decision. He had more to say in this, then he would have had in the earlier one. Still even as it is, there are of course a few things to be considered (timeline-wise) and even I could see and smile about a few nods to things/nods to future happenings.
It has be said, that this is a stand-alone and has not that much to do with the other X-Men movies. But since I am not that aware of the comics I can only compare it to the other movies. And this is definitely a very good entry into the series (and ties can still be found, with one particular cameo that was just really funny).
Apart from the coherent story and nice build up (even if you can see where it is going and you probably will), the other thing that makes this movie special, are the actors. Top notch casting with some heavyweight actors put into the mix. Highly recommended, even if you're not that much into comic movies ...