X-Men: Economy Class

Rating: 4/10 (12 June 2011)

I'm prepared to forgive the film its poorly explained, misconstrued, evolutionary science, as it is a comic book adaptation after all, but that should not excuse the ponderous emptiness of the story, which detracts significantly from the promising beginnings established in the first film(s). Bereft of compelling character development, sinister undertones and brooding tension, the 'climax' of betrayal and inevitable, prophetic fulfilment were so poorly managed I was left feeling ambivalent and detached; while the rest of the film, with its cheesy 'nudge-wink' humour and clumsy, explanatory dialogue left me head in hands, knuckle-biting, inwardly-sighing and fidgeting with disappointment throughout.
I got the impression Matthew Vaughn wanted us to laugh AT the film, with a number of moments where this was seemingly encouraged (Wolverine's cameo, the bedroom scenes, Beasts appearance etc). Was he in fact being a lazy snob toward X-Men just because he had his own little adaptation in Kick-Ass? I had a bad feeling when I discovered Bryan Singer wasn't directing the third film, but little did I realise that X-Men: The Last Stand would actually look good in comparison to First Class. I now await any Kick-Ass sequel/spin-off with unexpected trepidation as I have no idea what Matthew Vaughn was trying here and I was amazed to discover Bryan Singer was actually involved in the creation of this messy film, which ended up being too much of not a lot.
All said and done, Fassbender and McAvoy put in decent performances, although Kevin Bacon as the central antagonist was truly underwhelming and un-menacing and if this is the best he's got to offer then he should go back to doing inconsequential cameo's in films like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, or make a prequel of tremors, or just give up. Any of which I would be happy with.