For the record, this movie could have been a trainwreck. I almost expect it to be. With a stagnating franchise and an astoundingly limited production schedule, the practicalities of the project are daunting at best. But the result is something that does manage to work. It's fun and entertaining for the most part, and completely reopens the possibilities for the X-Men. Despite the best efforts of the marketing campaign to convince me otherwise, James McAvoy is wonderful as Professor X. He's endlessly charming and I can somehow see this man being tempered into becoming the hero we saw in the original trilogy. The integrity of Charles Xavier is all there. And Magneto has more than his fair share of badass moments, with Michael Fassbender being cast perfectly. Sadly he doesn't have quite enough time to develop fully, and could have used a few more good character moments. He needs something more than "gah! Nazis!" to stay interesting. Overall, a good sense of humor and undeniable sense of cool make for quality summer entertainment. It's a very difficult movie to hate, but I'm a little surprised at just how much love it's getting.
Part of the problem is the huge cast, and the ultimate lack of a team dynamic. Take Rose Byrne as Moira McTaggart. She plays a key role in the first 30 minutes or so, before going an hour without saying a single word. She's scenery. Shaw's henchman are nothing more than walking special effects, with Azazel and Riptude having a combined word count of 5. And the actual recruits themselves? They spend far too little time playing off each other, and are too underdeveloped for us to care about them. Does Havok do anything besides make fun of Beast? Does Darwin do anything besides sacrifice himself, which the audience will struggle to care about? The actors for all these roles certainly had a knack for their characters, but did little else than use their powers to fight. I liked all these characters, yet didn't know enough about them to care.
And then we have the characters who were just flat out handled poorly, despite their larger screen time. Jennifer Lawrence is a very likeable Mystique, and the girl clearly has a long career ahead of her in film. But the character's development arc is horribly mishandled, and every word out of her mouth has something to do with mutant pride. She slowly becomes a broken record, and the whole "will she or won't she" routine becomes a dull affair. And Beast. If there's one thing I actively hated in the movie, it was Beast. Nicholas Hoult did some nice work before Beast went all furry. Nothing to marvel at, sure, but nothing cringe worthy. Somewhere between nightmarish CGI and his misguided attempts at acting badass it all falls apart.
As for our leading villain, does anyone remember what Brad Pitt said in Ocean's 11? "He has to like you, and then forget you the minute you walk away". That sums up my feelings very well. Bacon is tremendously cool as the character, bringing charm and good humor to the part. But while I be talking about him a year from now? No, absolutely not. Ultimately, he's a pale shadow of Magneto in the original X-Men movies. He has the same goals and motivations (which they fully acknowledge, in an awesome way) without any of the complexity or menace of Magneto. Outside of his first scenes working with the Nazis, he never comes off as a plausible threat or someone to be feared. Maybe it's because he's on permanent playboy mode and always acts like a fop. Bacon needed a good scene where he could go unhinged and lose control, dropping his suave facade.
With so many characters and themes, the most important element of the movie should be the editing and presentation. And without the proper time and resources, the movie lacks polish. The pacing is awkward at times and the movie jumbles from scene to scene. Take Magento's first encounter with Xavier. After their skirmish with Shaw, there's a healthy amount of exposition before the two talk again. I never truly understood why they were considered to be such good friends. They have a few key moments together which I wouldn't define as a deep friendship. So when they inevitably part ways, I don't really care. All they did was team up for a mission and spend five minutes psychologically scarring a few kids. Their friendship dissolving means they are in exactly the same place as they were less than half a movie ago, with one of them now a diabolical madman and the other in a wheelchair.
Now you might mistake this for a negative review, and that's not completely true. The movie is still great fun, and I do recommend it. My only concern is that the movie has it's fair share of flaws that are being curiously overlooked by fans and select critics, and what is only a good movie being proclaimed as something great. The good news though, is that all of my complaints are completely fixable. Matthew Vaughn is more than a competent director, and except for Beast and Emma Frost I desperately want to the see the entire cast come back. With a tighter script that creates a stronger team dynamics and more time for editing and planning, I don't see any reason why the X-Men's sophomore year shouldn't be even better.
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