Exhilarating action, formidable foes, well written, and highly entertaining throughout! I love Matthew Vaughn films or least most of them he's very good at his craft. Kevin Bacon is always great at villain roles along with the rest of the cast is so good. Part of me remembers seeing this in the theater that was fun especially then I had people to go with, in the last several years I mostly go by myself I hope that changes eventually either way X: First Class is exactly what you want it to be!

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS is a film that aims to breathe new life into a somewhat tired franchise (so far consisting of the original trilogy and two stand-alone Wolverine stories) by telling the back story of the Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen characters from the original movies. Thus we're handed a bright young cast of up-and-comers who engage in their own superhero adventures.

The setting is the early '60s, at the height of the Cold War. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, playing the early versions of Stewart and McKellen respectively, recruit some familiar and not-so familiar mutants to help them wage a war against generic bad guy Kevin Bacon. What follows is watchable but overlong and fairly underwhelming, offering exactly the kind of CGI-heavy spectacle as the other films in the series while failing to engage the brain properly at any time.

It goes without saying that McAvoy and Fassbender - particularly the latter - are by far the best things in this movie. The rest of the cast, including Jennifer Lawrence, are lacklustre and some of them, such as Nicholas Hoult playing a goofy boffin, are downright embarrassing. Bacon's on autopilot, while Rose Byrne gives one of the most excruciatingly wooden turns I've seen in recent months, a surprise given she was pretty good in previous movies like SUNSHINE and 28 WEEKS LATER.

Like the STAR WARS prequels, this film was conceived of a way of starting afresh while at the same time bringing back some old and much-loved characters who are a guaranteed box-office draw. But the film rings fairly hollow, and while it works as a bit of spectacle, it's one of those movies you forget about straight after. It says something that the most excitement I had was seeing one of my favourite character actors, Michael Ironside, in a role amounting to little more than a cameo as a ship's captain. I find Matthew Vaughn a hit and miss director and this is more miss than hit, unfortunately.

I liked this movie a great deal, while not as good as the first two movies it is an improvement on Wolverine. It is not among my favourite superhero movie but I can think of worse. It is not perfect by all means, while it was good to start with with a touch of atmosphere some of the music later on became rather generic and Jennifer Lawrence I had mixed feelings on, great looks and personality but sometimes forced delivery and her character being not as well developed as the rest. The visuals however are spectacular, with imaginative photography and editing and first-class special effects, costumes, lighting and settings. The story is mostly compelling with the action/thriller based moments genuinely intense and cracking while making way for some nuances on the social and political side of things. The script is well written too with some memorable lines, the film is well paced generally and Matthew Vaughan's direction is what makes the film so fresh. The acting is fine mostly, Kevin Bacon is a good and charismatic villain but James McAvoy and especially Michael Fassbender are terrific. Overall, very good and fresh. 8/10 Bethany Cox