Review: X-Men: First Class, Earns A Solid “B”

The X-Men films, for me, have been perfectly competent, but nothing that made me feel passionately up or down about them. The grades I’ve given them over the years are what I’d call “Friendly C+’s.”

The new X-Men: First Class scores a bit higher, thanks to it being an “origin story” that answers questions about how, for example, Magneto became the bad guy who he is today and how Charles Xavier ended up in the pimped out wheel chair.

The film hits the ground running with a sequence early on showing how Magneto (the excellent Michael Fassbender, who was so great in “Inglorious Basterds”) was a Holocaust survivor whose talents were a prize the Nazi’s wanted to exploit. Kevin Bacon has a deliciously nasty villainous role, by the way, which adds to the fun. James McAvoy is also charming as Xavier and brings probably a bit more dewey eyed pathos than you’d normally expect from a super hero flick.

The plot line that takes us into the Cuban Missile Crises stuff was a little slow-pokey for me, but I liked the ensemble cast and the early 60’s setting. The first class gets an upgrade from the graduates—it earns a solid “B.”