While not the best of the Marvel films, it's highly entertaining and fun.

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 2011)

I am not a comic book fan. I like films based on the characters but unlike my oldest daughter and many in the audience, I was not looking to see if this movie is exactly like the X-Men comics. So, if you are such a fan, I might not be the best reviewer to read. However, I did notice that this movie pretty much ignored this hard-core audience. Unlike practically every Marvel film for the bast decade or two, there was no cameo by Stan Lee--none. And, unlike the typical Marvel film, Fox chose not to include any special extras scene at the end of this film (though there was a cute cameo with Wolverine part-way through the film). Because of this, I felt bad for the audience, as I saw it at the midnight show on opening night--and could see and hear the hard-core fans' disappointment--in particular because there was no appearance by Lee. According to my insanely devoted daughter, she read Lee's tweets and apparently he was never even asked to do a cameo for "X-Men: First Class"! Sadly, the film seems only intended for the casual viewer when just a tiny bone would have pleased the fan base.
Now as for the film itself, it was great. The script was highly imaginative and managed to incorporate real-life events into the X-Man universe. Little did I realize that the Cuban Missile Crisis was actually instigated by the Xs!! In addition to a dandy script (where, incidentally, it sure looked like there was a love connection brewing between Xavier and Magneto), I liked the acting, action and pace. At well over two hours, I was happy as there were no obvious lags.
However, being a natural born complainer, there was one other big thing that bothered me. There was a great black X-Man character but he was handled horribly--and I could see the black audience feeling alienated by some DUMB decisions in the film. First, in one scene, the word "slave" is used--and the camera pans directly on the black character! Second, only minutes later, the black guy was DEAD!!!! This is an offensive cliché---and although I am NOT a politically correct nut, it was obvious and ticked me off, as it was totally unnecessary. Could this have been handled better...heck, yeah!! A minor thing that bothered me (I am a retired history teacher) is that many of the characters' hair styles were from 1962 but many were also straight from 2011. Another minor one is the use of songs that didn't yet exist--such as WWII soldiers listening to Edith Piaf's "La Via En Rose"--a song that came out in 1946--a year after the war. These were a bit sloppy but were minor mistakse. Still, it is a good film--well worth seeing and fun--just a few mistakes short of perfect.