After the debacle that was The Last Stand, I was leery of X-Men films. When I heard there were going to be more, my attention was held. We'd have new cast members and new villains, plus an origin story of Professor X and Magneto. We got James McAvoy of SciFi's Children of Dune and Kevin Bacon (who starred in Tremors and Animal House) and we got an era during the Cold War a decade after the second World War. I don't remember too much of First Class, but it was very entertaining. If you wanted more X-Men but were turned off by The Last Stand, this should be your priority. This movie works as a prequel. And it doesn't suck.

X-Men: First Class is a fun mix of actual historical events with a comic book storyline. There are some bothersome inconsistencies between this film and the other four, and it was fairly long, but overall it was an entertaining ride with good performances and some fantastic visual effects.

To be honest, the first three fourths of the movie are acceptable and decent, and worth at least 6/10. Nevertheless, the last quarter becomes total junk. The villain suddenly dies, and the Soviets and the Americans turn from enemy into friends in just no time. The transition is rather weird. The more ridiculous thing is that Magneto transforms from hero to villain without any warning. In some sense, the movie "First Class" fails to a great extent in plot and character development.

X-Men: First Class is arguably the best of the X-Men series which comes as a relief. Part of the reason why First Class is so successful is that it places emphasis over the characters rather than plot. At the heart of the movie is the relationship between Professor Xavier and Erik Lensherr. The movie does an excellent job of crosscutting between Erik and Professor Xavier's childhood to showcase how their unique mutant powers have shaped them. Erik grew up in a Nazi concentration camp in Poland and Charles Xavier grew up in an affluent mansion in upstate New York. Needless to say, when Erik and Charles eventually meet each other as adults, it's clearly obvious that these two have very different ideology's about how to do deal with humans, and the film plays with this idea to some degree. Charles Xavier first meets Erik Lensherr for the first time in Miami, and the rest of the film showcases them recruiting other mutants. Unfortunately, the film has X-Men in the title, so there are other supporting mutant characters integral to the film as well.Alas, most of these characters are underdeveloped, and because of this, you come to know them by their powers instead of their personalities. However, the performances by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are good enough to anchor the film. Fassbender, in particular, is a standout he plays Erik Lensherr as a charismatic James Bond type with a real chip on his shoulder.His performance as Erik Lensherr is absolutely magnetic if you forgive the pun. Xavier, however, is a little bland, but this is due to no fault on McAvoy's part. The writers obviously couldn't figure out how to make Xavier a more compelling character. Fortunately, McAvoy's performance is good enough to make up for this oversight. Jennifer Lawrence is good as Mystique/Raven she gives Mystique a certain naive sweetness. Kevin Bacon is also excellent as the megalomaniac mutant Sebastian Shaw.Unfortunately, his character is never really given any real depth, he's simply a one-dimensional villain. The film also would have benefited from exploring the creator/monster dichotomy between Sebastian Shaw and Erik Lensherr a bit further. It was one of the more intriguing ideas in the film that was left unexplored. Overall, X-Men: First Class is an entertaining action film with good performances from its two leads, and it has some pretty kinetic action sequences scattered throughout the film. The film is definitely a must see for those that were disappointed with the last two X-Men films.