This film follows the origins of the relationship between Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, otherwise known as Professor X and Magneto respectively (and played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the original movies), also providing backstory on previously seen characters like Beast and Mystique while introducing new ones such as Sebastian Shaw. The acting from the main pair, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy is tremendous, evoking memories of the previous performances while making them their own. McAvoy combines Xavier's intelligence with youthful charm, whereas Fassbender's interpretation of Magneto is more raw, less of a "thinking man's supervillain" and more of a flawed superhero, trying to work out the rights and wrongs of the world after being dealt such a poor hand in his youth.
The supporting performances are generally good. Kevin Bacon as Shaw is appropriately dastardly and the additional detail added to the relationship between his character and Magneto is very well done, setting a darker tone for the rest of the movie. Jennifer Lawrence was more annoying than anything, but Mystique in general has never really been that interesting of a character to me anyway. January Jones' performance as Emma Frost is not a standout one either, but she certainly looks the part and contributes more than enough as Shaw's arrogant second in command. Nicholas Hoult is pretty good as Beast, although his post-transformation appearance did get a few laughs - not a shock, he looks like Sully from Monsters Inc., not an issue that can be avoided really.
After that the characters fall into the usual X-Men trap of being rather underdeveloped and ten-a-penny. Some, this is for the best. Riptide looked a bit boring so I didn't really care to know much more about him. Azazel, on the other hand, is a massive man who... well, he's the Devil, basically. Well, not technically, but he's the spitting image of the lad (that lad being the lord of the underworld). I'd like to know SOMETHING about him. Many of the younger members of the X-Men team are kind of annoying in the way that young people are, what with their youth and exuberance and everything, and they fare poorly compared to their superior colleagues to the point where whenever there's a "mutant clubhouse" scene with the kiddywinks you're just waiting for Chuck 'n' Erik to pop up again and be awesome. I recall this being a bigger issue in some of the original X-Men films but it's still an issue here.
Some of the visuals in this film are particularly entertaining, and almost all of them involve Magneto being absolutely badass and destroying groups of villains, be it slashing them up with coils of barbed wire, pulling them along the floor and kicking them in the face, or destroying a cruise liner with the anchor's chain. You'd be hard pressed to find a better example of a superhero being made to look more ruthless and powerful, it's outstanding, and Magneto's cold persona shines throughout, building to the climactic scene with Xavier and Magneto, actually bettering the comics in a manner which I won't elaborate on for the sake of spoilers. If there's to be one defining thing this film succeeds in, it's making us sympathetic for Magneto and it allows us to understand the torn friendship between the two main characters in later instalments.
Overall, this ranks as one of the better films in the X-Men franchise and is a very good film. It still has some of the same issues as the others but they can be overlooked because it's generally good entertainment with some incredibly strong performances from the usual suspects, and the SUPER SECRET NO SPOILERZ PLZ cameo got a big laugh so yay! Two thumbs up.
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