wrecking the White House.

Magneto going mutant bond in First Class certainly stirs a giddy feeling. Not that it was difficult or creative, but just that they went there.

Quicksilver was fun and all, a technical marvel and such, but also kind of obvious. You don't have to ask the question, "how am I going to visualize that character and his powers" so much as how are we going to achieve it and how much money can we budget for the scene.

But to take this http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P-cvrMffnEA/Tqc6tQPZVsI/AAAAAAAAHyk/YAvt04eWPOI/s1600/bamf.jpg and put it into motion, to capture his personality and the acrobatic/animalistic way he moves, to so perfectly represent his 4-dimensional fighting style, his intelligence and guile...that was problem solving on top of creativity on top of achievement!

I had problems with Days of Future Past and the future part being just an orgy of characterless super power special effects--and the movie made me realize I like Rebecca Romijn's Mystique better than Jennifer Lawrence's.

So, while X2 and First Class might be equal in story the opening scenes make the difference.

First Class's regurgitated Magneto prison camp scene fell flat for me. It blew my mind in the first X-Men. Again, you couldn't believe they went there. It was so heartbreaking and powerful. Something about recreating that scene didn't work. It didn't feel the same as when I rewatch the original. And while kid Magneto crushing the soldier skull in his helmet was cool, screaming while grips and gaffers threw stuff in the background was goofy. The Nightcrawler scene pushes it over the edge for me.