Some Good Scenes but Overlong and Disjointed

Rating: 6/10 (23 October 2011)

After an OK last X-Men film with some heavy-hitting actors seemingly riding into the sunset, Marvel and a new set of cast and director comes roaring back in a quite long but not altogether dull "reboot" type movie. Especially for the first hour or so of it's runtime, "X-Men First Class" is disjointed and everywhere - it lacks focus and drags out it's introduction too long. However, by the 2nd half, the movie has settled down and the characters have mostly come together. The strength of the cast, like the older movies, is rightfully with it's 2 leads James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, especially McAvoy who seems to faithfully represent a young and dashing Xavier. I enjoyed almost every scene with him present. Unfortunately though Kevin Bacon's antagonist seems more mischievous than truly malevolent so the movie kind of lacks an arch-villain. Anyway, there are both worse and better superhero movies out there.