Better than the critics say, easily. But a firmly average X-Men film.
Though the last act falls into a predictable superhero format, the first two-thirds of the film are quite strong. There's a good performance from Sophie Turner here, and she does well at potraying the struggle she's going through. Raven's death was done better than I thought it would be. Some characters feel ultimately irrelevant to the overall story (Storm, for instance) but that's to be expected. This film is about Jean Grey, after all.
There's a nice dynamic between Xavier and Grey, and the moments where Jean's letting the force overtake her and then realizing what she's done are the film's best. The battle in New York was solid, if a bit generic. I was sure Magneto was going to bite it on the train sequence . . . which brings me to the villain(s). Some alien race led by Jessica Chastain who plays Vuk. None of the others have names that I can remember, and they're about as bland of an alien force as you can get. Chasing the power that Jean Grey took on, yada yada, boring villains. Also a huge contributor as to why the film falls apart once Jean rejoins the X-Men.
I have no idea what the critics are smoking. This is not the worst X-Men film. It's got some great bits, like Magneto and Jean squaring off. I put this firmly above X-Men Origins, X-Men Apocalypse, and (gasp) First Class. But it falls under all the others, leaving it ultimately in the middle. It ends on neither a whimper, nor a bang, but just ends.
Review by vault2008BlockedParentSpoilers2019-10-20T01:59:06Z
Better than the critics say, easily. But a firmly average X-Men film.
Though the last act falls into a predictable superhero format, the first two-thirds of the film are quite strong. There's a good performance from Sophie Turner here, and she does well at potraying the struggle she's going through. Raven's death was done better than I thought it would be. Some characters feel ultimately irrelevant to the overall story (Storm, for instance) but that's to be expected. This film is about Jean Grey, after all.
There's a nice dynamic between Xavier and Grey, and the moments where Jean's letting the force overtake her and then realizing what she's done are the film's best. The battle in New York was solid, if a bit generic. I was sure Magneto was going to bite it on the train sequence . . . which brings me to the villain(s). Some alien race led by Jessica Chastain who plays Vuk. None of the others have names that I can remember, and they're about as bland of an alien force as you can get. Chasing the power that Jean Grey took on, yada yada, boring villains. Also a huge contributor as to why the film falls apart once Jean rejoins the X-Men.
I have no idea what the critics are smoking. This is not the worst X-Men film. It's got some great bits, like Magneto and Jean squaring off. I put this firmly above X-Men Origins, X-Men Apocalypse, and (gasp) First Class. But it falls under all the others, leaving it ultimately in the middle. It ends on neither a whimper, nor a bang, but just ends.