Before I begin this review I would like to point out that I watched this with no prior prejudice against the entire Marvel and X-Men corporation. The only things I saw before this was the previous X-Men movies and the Wolverine movie staring Hugh Jackman so bear that in mind when reading this.
I loved this movie to be entirely honest with you. I'm a pretty simple person when it comes to my movies. I don't go to a movie to be confused, listen to thought provoking philosophers go on and on about the universe and try to convert me to some strange new cult way of thinking. I go there for the enjoyment of escaping away into a fantasy world where the impossible become probable for a few hours and this movie allowed it to happen.
So here is the story: In 1944, in Poland, the boy Erik Lehnsherr unleashes his magnetic power when his mother is sent to a concentration camp. The evil Dr. Sebastian Shaw brings Erik to his office and kills his mother, increasing his abilities through anger. In New York, the wealthy Charles Xavier meets the mutant Raven (Mystique) and invites her to live in his manor. In 1962, the CIA agent Moira MacTaggert discovers the existence of mutants working with Shaw and the invites Professor Xavier to recruit mutants to work for the USA government. Xavier teams up with Raven, Erik and a group of young mutants. Sooner they learn that the evil Shaw has the intention of beginning a nuclear war to destroy the world and increase his power.
I loved seeing the back-story of how Charles' and Erik's relationship grew and transformed by the end of the movie. It was probably the most touching and heart-wrenching part of the movie for me - to see two close friends become enemies. One thing that sort of confused me about their friendship and made it just a bit unrealistic for me was in how fast their friendship grew to such monumental proportions. From the way that they interact throughout the entire X-Men saga one would think they were childhood friends turned enemies. So unless their bond formed over a longer period of time than the movie suggests I had to question that. I enjoyed seeing some new faces and wonder where they went but otherwise it was a very good movie. I also really enjoyed the lead actors of this movie. I think James McAvoy, a recently discovered talent that I loved from the minute I saw "Wanted" (will do a review of that one later) and am glad he got to play such an iconic role and see that he did it justice. It was all so good I saw it three times in theaters. Haha!
Whyever would you be biased against Marvel? I love Marvel. I grew up with Marvel. The merest mention of Marvel makes me itch to write a big semi-off-topic essay, but I'll wait till I watch the film myself. It's obviously a "parallel universe" to the X-Men canon of the comics. Magneto first appears in X-Men #1 (1963), but Wolverine doesn't join the group till Giant Size X-Men #1 (1975), and the first appearance of Sebastian Shaw is in X-Men #129 (1980). As a purist I tend to mock deviations from the comics, but I agree, films are made to be enjoyed, so we should take them at face value. Not everyone who went to see this film has read and reread the first 200 X-Men comics over and over again.
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