Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 722 Ratings

  • Starring: James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Michael Fassbender
  • Summary: X-Men: First Class, following the classic Marvel mythology, charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men. (20th Century Fox)
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 38
  2. Negative: 2 out of 38
  1. Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    May 30, 2011
    90
    After undergoing some unfortunate mutations in recent years, a beleaguered Marvel movie property gets the smart, stylish prequel it deserves in X-Men: First Class.
  2. Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    Jun 3, 2011
    80
    It's not the artistry of X-Men: First Class that's particularly striking; though it's finely crafted, the film feels less the product of a visionary director than of the Marvel movies machine working at maximum efficiency.
  3. Reviewed by: Ben Sachs
    Jun 2, 2011
    60
    Like Bryan Singer's X2 (2003), this fifth entry in the X-Men franchise is noteworthy for its gay-rights subtext and for its noted actors delivering comic book dialogue with Shakespearean portent. Otherwise it's indistinguishable from most other recent blockbusters.
  4. Reviewed by: Jaime N. Christley
    Jun 1, 2011
    38
    Despite his apparent comfort with F/X-heavy projects, the obligations of duty to the brand are too much for Matthew Vaughn's strange, singular voice, which rarely has the chance to shape the film unmolested by a curiously bland script.

See all 38 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 12 out of 237
  1. really the best X-men movie to date and I'm glad that the franchise will keep rolling. Micheal Fassbender does an incredible job playing Magneto, to bad he will never have to glory of being Magneto and Gandalf lol. the rest of the cast is great as well. Expand
  2. I had my doubts but it was the best movie of the franchise. To be honest, I never really found Prof X and Magneto to be interesting in the previous movies, But Matt Vaughn managed to make them very interesting and intriguing characters. The emotional core of First Class is surprisingly deep for an action flick, the friendships, the insecurities of being different and wanting to be accepted into society is really a solid backbone of the movie. I just wished that more of the running time of the movie would be devoted to the friendship between Xavier and Eric, I wanted it to develop and be explored more than what was given to us. The stand-out performance is by Michael Fassbender, he made Eric into such a likable person that we root for and sympathize with. He's just so good, ever since Inglorious Basterds. I hope the rumors are true and that when Daniel Craig steps down, this is the man who's going to be the next James Bond. But take nothing away from James McAvoy, he was perfect for the role of the smooth-talking highly charismatic Xavier. These two guys really made the movie what it is and it's all credit to Matt Vaughn for perfect casting. Favorite scene: surprise cameo by a mutant who shall not be named with the funniest line in the movie. Expand
  3. its not a bad x-men film far better then 3 thats for sure. the story is pretty good . the acting is pretty solid, the action and effects look pretty good. what kind of wrecks the film is the bunch of lame ass x-men they came up with . proffersor x , magneto , beast , raven , frost , and who ever kevin bacon is suppose to be are great. the rest how ever are just lame . if your a fan of the other 3 films you will probubly like this one as well. over all i enjoyed most of it. Expand
  4. If I go the rest of my life without seeing another movie as bad as this one, I'll die happy. This was atrocious. McAvoy and Fassbender were fine. Good, in fact. But the rest of the movie is so unbelievably terrible in almost every way that it's a near comedy by the end of the movie. The script fell out of a cliche tree and tried as hard as it could to hit every branch, bounce back up, and hit them all again. It was cheesy, trite, and on par with a second grader's writing. The rest of the cast is wooden and stale, with the always charming (*sarcasm*) January Jones at the forefront. The pacing is bad, the editing is worse, music ill-timed...I'm telling you--as a huge fan of the X-Men, there are no words for my disappointment. Worst of all, it's one thing to put your own spin on a film series and make it your own with a different story. It's another thing altogether to completely crap on the series canon in almost every conceivable fashion. Rename Erik Lensherr and Charles Xavier and take them out of their yellow and blue, and it's unintelligible as an X-Men product due to the complete warping of the series' canon. This movie was bad. Just plain bad. Expand

See all 237 User Reviews

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