Login
Really fucking loved this, it's easily on par with X2 (and X2 is one of my all time favourite super-hero films). I think the film pales in comparison to X2 in overall structure (and nothing in the film matches the sheer energy of the Nightcrawler attack or the savageness of the Wolverine/Death Strike fight) but it towers over X2 in terms of characterisation and specific scenes. The cast are a joy to watch, the style of the thing is amazing, the script is surprisingly sharp (despite doing a prequel thing I hate and having to do the origin of a bunch of inane crap like the jet and the X-Mansion) and Vaughan's eye for incidental detail is brilliant. I just wish it felt more cohesive. There are so many great moments, but it often feels like you're watching a collection of FANTASTIC but loosely unrelated scenes.
I also loved the use of superpowers in this film, even little stuff like Magneto throwing the knife, and then pulling it back to stick into the guys hand again are made really great by the way Vaughan films things. He almost has a naturalistic take on the powers, sort of accepting their presence and filming them casually instead of making them specific money shots.
Fassbender is defintely the MVP, but I think Bacon does a lot with very little. His character is essentially beta-Magento (even his power matches Magneto in that it uses the tools of humanity against them), but he injects the character with life. He's almost delightful in his glee in his opening scene. Also love the score, really great piece of work, looking to see when it gets released on Amazon.
Edit: Oh, and I could watch an entire film of Magento and Xavier just recruiting people. That sequence was so much fun, it even made the end of it (which really should have made me groan) work.
