X-Men: First Class

2011 • 131 minutes

About this movie

Following the classic Marvel mythology, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together with other mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known.

Ratings and reviews

When I first tried to watch this a couple of years ago, I had to stop about 3/4 of the way through because I could no longer stand watching a mess idiot kids do stupid things during the 60s. I kept seeing reviews saying this was one of the better X-Men movies. So, I just tried to watch it again. Nope. Just as bad as I remember. Actually, it's worse. The very driver of the movie (the Cuban Missile Crisis stuff) is ridiculous. It would require the main bad guys to hench so blindly that they'd believe the pile of obviously unsupported horse-feathers their boss was feeding them to the point of mass (self) extinction. And, I'm not even going to talk about the tremendous issues with the technology available vs technology used. With more adults in the movie and with less of a 60s feel, maybe this would have been OK. But, not as it is.

As a whole, this is a good film (average). The original trilogy was certainly better (every bit of it) but this is by no means a bad flick. As a comics fan I like what they are doing in bringing the two classes together in the "Days of Future Past" storyline but this film as a standalone is nothing more than average (but Mcavoy and Fassbender are splendid together). Worth a watch to see their chemistry- rivals that of their predecessors.

Decent movie, could have been so much better. Should have started the franchise with the origin, with the original X-Men: Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Iceman, and Angel. Now, going back to the origin story, you have to replace Angel... and you have continuity issues because you can't keep track of your tangled mess. Well cast movie, well done. Here's to hoping Marvel doesn't Fox up this franchise when they reboot it.