Well acted, well told, but has a cheap feel to it

Rating: 7/10 (9 June 2011)

I enjoyed this X-men very much because of the script and performances by the two leads. But there was something missing I thought, and realized what it was after watching the old X-Men films after coming home from the theater.
X-Men First Class had some epic sets, and some very good CGI, but the pacing was off, and at times looked cheap. The direction was OK in some spots when it came to the pure shots, and cinematography, but the story felt choppy. Scenes ended too fast at times and there just was no atmosphere in this film. It was as if cheap cameras were used to film this, with no camera filters. It almost had the quality of a Smallville type television series. Or even Heroes...it felt like it was made for basic TV. The word Epic can't be used to describe this film even though I'd like to call it epic.
Anyhows, I'm a big X-men fan, and wasn't let down. The story was pure X-men, basic, and an origins story, and so no surprises in this one. Magneto was written in a way that made him less hated. Xavier's character was played very well, and had some charm to go along with the wisdom. I also thought the score was good at times, and sometimes sounding like Parade music. The Marvel films need better scores in general, and it's as if this movie was influenced somehow by Disney. The best way to sum it up is like this. The old X-men films felt more like the new Batman films, and First Class felt more like the Tim Burton films. I just think it's tough to call this the best X-men film of all time. I don't think it is.