First up, why wasn’t this called X Men: Origins? We’ve already had X Men Origins: Wolverine and this covers Professor X, Magneto, Beast, Mystique and some other characters so Origins would have worked.
Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) can read minds so when the CIA come asking for help from him and his companion Raven (Mystique) it’s an offer he can’t refuse. While tracking an international terrorist (Kevin Bacon) he encounters Erik, who can control all metals. Erik has a murky past and is on a personal mission of revenge. Will he put his quest aside to join Xavier’s fledgling team?
Set during the cold war Cuban missile crisis this serves as a fine introduction to the characters mentioned. Michael Fassbender is fantastic as Erik (Magneto) and James McAvoy is competent as the young Professor X. Kevin Bacon also puts in a great OTT performance as the despicable villain and there is even a small role for original V and Total Recall star Michael Ironside.
The problems here are the slow pace and the use of some uninteresting characters. Marvel have plenty of great characters to choose from who have been underused in the previous films. Where were Iceman, Gambit and Colossus? Instead we get Banshee, Havoc and Angel, all of whom are ok at best and then there’s Jason Flemyng as Azazel who looks, for all intent purposes, nothing more than a red version of Nightcrawler.
It’s reasonably enjoyable but boils down to a mediocre reboot of the franchise that really just put me in the mood for watching the original trilogy, questioning the need for it at all.
Ric’s Rating: 65%
Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) can read minds so when the CIA come asking for help from him and his companion Raven (Mystique) it’s an offer he can’t refuse. While tracking an international terrorist (Kevin Bacon) he encounters Erik, who can control all metals. Erik has a murky past and is on a personal mission of revenge. Will he put his quest aside to join Xavier’s fledgling team?
Set during the cold war Cuban missile crisis this serves as a fine introduction to the characters mentioned. Michael Fassbender is fantastic as Erik (Magneto) and James McAvoy is competent as the young Professor X. Kevin Bacon also puts in a great OTT performance as the despicable villain and there is even a small role for original V and Total Recall star Michael Ironside.
The problems here are the slow pace and the use of some uninteresting characters. Marvel have plenty of great characters to choose from who have been underused in the previous films. Where were Iceman, Gambit and Colossus? Instead we get Banshee, Havoc and Angel, all of whom are ok at best and then there’s Jason Flemyng as Azazel who looks, for all intent purposes, nothing more than a red version of Nightcrawler.
It’s reasonably enjoyable but boils down to a mediocre reboot of the franchise that really just put me in the mood for watching the original trilogy, questioning the need for it at all.
Ric’s Rating: 65%
