Possibly the best Marvel film so far

Rating: 9/10 (3 June 2011)

It's not 'The Dark Knight' reader. Don't go into first class expecting a gritty, boundary pushing superhero movie that will totally blow you away. It's honestly a tad formulaic, a few of the special effects are a bit off, the concept is a bit silly, the nitpick list could probably go on for a while...
Despite this, I absolutely loved this movie. X-men one was good, but too short and anti-climactic, X2 was a great blockbuster that really ramped up the franchise, X-men three was kind of a let down but not as bad as some say, Woloverine was just a bit rubbish, it had it's moments but... meh, First Class I feel, puts them all, even 2, to shame.
Let's start with the performances which I must say were all excellent. James McAvoy's Charles Xaivier (Professor X) was charming, intellectual and just plain likable, I think he really got it down to a tee. The same can be said of Michael Fassenbender who's Eric Lehnsherr (Magneto) was tragic, rage filled and in a lot of cases quite frightening. Without giving anything away, there's this scene in Argentina and I mean... DAMN! It turned into like a Tarantino film, it was thrillingly put together. Honestly this is an awesome Magneto. He owns the screen whenever he's there. The Villain, Robert shaw, played by Kevin bacon really strikes a chord on the douchometer scale. While I didn't really like him I think that was the point. He was a great overly nasty villain who the rest of the cast were able to play off perfectly. I really, really hated this guy, which was great. As for the rest of the cast they were all great too. Mystique was far more interesting here than in the prior three films, Beast was a good sort of metaphor for ugliness and the attempts to stop it, CIA agent Moria (or whatever her name was) was good, hell they were all good.
I think the film was actually more a character piece than anything else. The action scenes were great and all but it's the characters, the performances, the scripting that make this film shine above most of today's blockbusters. I'm not saying it will blow your mind, nor do I think it will change your outlook on film, but a a summer popcorn film, it is one of the best of it's kind.
My favourite Marvel film was probably Spider-man 2, but now, good god does this give it a run for it's money.
I hope Marvel will carry on to make movies of this high an entertainment value.
I love this film, it's a big exciting summer blockbuster, definitely the best of the year so far, with lots of action and lots of thrills that ultimately boils down to a character study on race, Human relations, and a friendship tragically falling apart under conflicting ideals.
9/10