Logan/Wolverine finds the younger Charles/Prof. X (James McAvoy) and Erik/Magento (Michael Fassbender) and they find Raven/Mystique, but not in time, so they have to improvise. In the end, it is a struggle between the use of force to defend themselves versus the hope for peace -- like previous X-Men stories. [imdb] [photos]
The best part was the team-oriented fighting scenes as it plays up the cooperation between the characters in the present, and it is punctuated by the terrible death scenes of so many characters -- this amps up the intensity. Even though there are a lot of death scenes, it is comic book action (breathing fire) so the high body count does not seem morbidly gross.
Also tops is the relationship between Charles, Erik, and Logan both with the old actors and the young actors. Very well written. I loved both Charles, but I did not like Michael Fassbender at all. Jennfer Lawrence's character is in many scenes, but often disguised. She did not have too many scenes to show her acting, and she missed a chance at the final climax, but underplayed it. I think it called for tears, or hair-pulling or maybe shape-shifting into a pretzel.
The cast is so big that I only see my favorite characters for a few minutes, and there are teases of so much comic-book backstory.
The music drifts between boring 70's pop and drum-heavy orchestral music -- nothing special here.
A top popcorn movie. Never dull. Often fun and gripping.
