Although the film felt a little bit rushed, overall it was extremely effective.

Rating: 8/10 (12 June 2011)

I, for one, was extremely apprehensive when I heard about an X-Men prequel. Bryan Singer's first two films will remain near and dear to my heart as superhero films go, and when Brett Ratner's "The Last Stand" hit theaters, it destroyed my hope to ever see another great X-Men film. While Singer's films were smart, carefully plotted, action films, the last two (The Last Stand, Wolverine) felt like a rushed, disorganized, cash grab. That being said, I expected nothing but the same from "First Class." However, what we got, while was still very rushed, was an incredible superhero film. Fassbender really floored me as, a man who would one day be Magneto, Erik Lesher. The story explaining how a mild mannered young Jewish boy in a Nazi occupied Germany became a powerful villain, hellbent on ridding the world of the human race was very compelling, and in my opinion what made this film as enjoyable as it was. However, I feel the fact that it was a mutant who created the monster that is Magneto, makes his vendetta against the human race seem a little less justified. While McAvoy is solid as always, I feel it's the supporting cast that really steals the film here. Lawrence really earns your sympathy as her character as she begins her transition from a self loathing little mutant, unsure of her identity, and slowly begins to accept who she really is, and the awareness that no human ever would. I have to give Vaughn his due here... It takes a very good director to make such a big budget action film, with shooting locations that span the globe in such a short amount of time, and still make it, not only watchable, but genuinely compelling. Now, given that in less than a year, the film suffered rewrites due to plot changes (going from an origin film just about Magneto, to the beginning of the X-Men), and just what Vaughn felt wouldn't feel fresh (scene's which he compared similar to fights that took place in Inception), he did, what I feel, was the best job any director could have done with this film in such a short period of time. I also feel, despite the fact that there are some continuity errors between this and the previous series, that this fits in as a excellent companion piece. I highly recommend giving this one a chance.