well done, but really shows the limits of a 50 years old storyline

Rating: 7/10 (26 November 2011)

This film is the fourth movie based on Marvel's comics X-Men, and it is certainly the best episode.
'First Class' is a prequel to the other 3 films, and it feels like a reboot of the storyline to clear the previous shortcomings. The obvious benefit is that this is the first X-men film which is self-contained and can be evaluated like a movie rather than the live adaptation for the comics readers. Unfortunately, this film also illustrates how thin and old the plot of the X-Men is : a basic metaphor of a world divided by the cold war, obsoleted by the complexity of more recent series like the Watchmen.
The cinematography of 'First Class' looks like the typical superhero movie from Hollywood's factory lines. Surprisingly, the special effects are lagging behind, they are jumping to the eyes (the castle 3d model, the missiles, the blues skin and fur effects). The split-screen scene during the X-Men training is one of the strange cinematographic choices which really fall flat, and cut the film in a patchwork of disarticulated pieces. The film introduction is astonishingly good, but the acting is then getting immediately awful, until the end credits. Except Magneto, the characters have no sign of personality, and the 'actor studio' method seems to be unknown to the whole casting.
As a conclusion, this film is one of the fist fine superhero movie ever, but it will only be reminded as a film de genre.