Even if it is right there in X-Men: First Class’s title.
As far as prequels/reboots go, it wasn’t bad. Since I never read more than a few of the comic books growing up (to my unending shame, I assure you), I didn’t recognize all of the mutants featured, but those that I did were mostly well portrayed.
It was interesting seeing Xavier and Erik’s friendship in their youth, but they did seem to try to cram a few too many origin stories into the film; like my friend Ryan said, if they’d focused on a couple in this film, and then a few more in a sequel, they could’ve gotten two good movies out of it without being as rushed.
That said, it was enjoyable. I’ve seen far worse comic book movies (Hulk, Daredevil, Elektra, both Fantastic Four films (I could go on and on, really)), and it’s really a credit to Marvel’s film studio that we can complain that the X-Men reboot isn’t as good as the Avengers film series is shaping up to be. Instead of whining about how bad the adaption is, we get to whine about how it’s not as good as their other properties!
I will agree with the Gormogons’ Czar of Muscovy; it was nice seeing the US as a force for good (mostly).
The movie makes good use of the single f-bomb allowed (it is rated PG-13, after all), and that line ties with one Erik (Magneto) utters at the climax of the film for the best line (and it really cuts to the heart of why Magneto does what he does, why he believes what he believes, and the lengths to which is he is prepared to go to achieve his goals).
