Marvel's dominance over the blockbuster season continues with this very solid prequel to the original X-men trilogy (we'll forget X-Men Origins: Wolverine), or, as a friend of mine said, the origin story to the origin story. Detailing the meeting of Professor X and Magneto, the film balances the inherit silliness of the series with some hefty emotional weight, detailing Magneto's time as a holocaust Jew as well as the tensions of the Cuban Missile Crisis, shown here as a deliberate conflict orchestrated by Kevin Bacon's evil and legitimately threatening villain.
Whilst it's fun to see younger versions of those we've grown to love throughout the series (I particularly liked the Raven/Charles character dynamic), my really joy was to find a film that is so effortlessly confident despite being green lit only a year ago. Whilst some moments early on feel a tad rushed, for a film that was written, cast, shot, edited and released in a twelve month time-span, you really have to applaud Vaughan and Goldman for their work. It delivers big bangs for you bucks (the sustained Cuban climax is an excellent extended set piece) whilst never shying away from the integrity of its characters.
Easily the best X-men movie since X-men 2. You legitimately want to see where they take things next.
4/5
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