X-Men: First Class
User Score
7.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 722 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 654 out of 722
  2. Mixed: 37 out of 722
  3. Negative: 31 out of 722

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  1. Frmz84
    Jun 4, 2011
    4
    Really disappointed. Not b/c it was that bad, but b/c it had so much hype... "the next dark knight".... this was on par w/ the last x men wolverine origins film. There are a handful of sick scenes, but overall was kind of lame. Enjoyed Thor much more.
  2. PeachCobbler
    Jun 5, 2011
    3
    Movies like this make me hesitant to ever visit the theatre again. X-Men: First Class offers viewers a medley of poor acting, haphazardly created characters, and a weak plot line. Decent action sequences provide some consolidation for these facts, but the cliché nature of this film simply left a bad taste in my mouth. Only the most die-hard X-Men fans should risk spending any money on First Class.… Expand
  3. RogerSmith97
    Jun 14, 2011
    4
    This Film Is The Worst In The X Men Series.. The Acting Is So So But The Plot BLUCK! Overall I Score This Movie A 4
  4. NJWolfgang
    Mar 4, 2012
    0
    The only thing about this film that redeemed it was the brief scene with Hugh Jackman where he tells them to well he just does and they should have all listened.
  5. thetiderises
    Jun 17, 2011
    2
    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
  6. MrLonwol
    Jun 16, 2011
    3
    I had high expectations for this movie as others had said it was great.
    I was wrong.
    The movie is rather boring and reminds me of most "prequels". It was rather cliche, and boring. I don't even know why I go to the movies anymore.
  7. melchaios
    Jun 5, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm really puzzled by all the high reviews. To me it looks like every new x-men release is worse than the last. They're more cheessy, inacurate and mediocre with each release; and worse of all, they contradict themselves (do they not watch their own pictures to give some coherence to the story for christ sake?). Xavier is shown on his two feet in wolverine origins, but it turns out he got crippled here?; xavier and mystique are like-siblings and they didn't even say hello to each other in the original films?; xavier and magneto are still shown as buddies when they went looking for the young jean grey, and in this film they already parted ways?; beast and mystique are 60+ f****ing years old in the last movies?. X-men selection is also weak, Havoc is only interesting one but handled poorly, beast and mystique are good but only as sidekicks, they're not good enough to support a central role; banshee is bad choice, pixie too (why did they call her "angel" in the movie anyway?), and who the hell is Darwin and why did they sacrificed him like many other african american sidekicks in movies? (that's just weak and stereotyped scripting, i'm sorry). CGI is adequate at best, shaw, magneto, azazel, diamond ema frost are among the best; kitten beast, banshee's scream, and havoc's ula-ula power among the worst. Some actors keep the movie floating, I liked Kevin Bacon, evil yet charming and speaks german well, Fassbender really surprised me, McAvoy is adequate (although he played a rather gay Xavier). Marvel, give the x-men saga a rest, focus on Avengers, and in a couple of years give x-men a reboot; by now I think it's unlikely you'll raise it again… Expand
  8. Carmen576
    Jun 3, 2011
    0
    Some scenes seem to be missing here obviously. How can a movie have so much mention of Cuba and no Cuban characters. Were they afraid of the politics or what? The training scenes were way too long. Something else must have been left out for much other drawn out scenes. Just not credible. Don't even bother to see the movie, save your money, it's not worth it, nothing like the other X-Men movies, terrible editing job anyway. This movie is going nowhere. The bad PR will surely go viral from day one.… Expand
  9. DallasDog
    Jun 5, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First, wow! They had legions of females in panties and bras in a non R movie, how did they do that? I guess they know their teenage boy audience pretty well. Writing? What writing? The plot was oddly compressed into short flashes of empty action, often repetitive dialog and outright dull in spots. The movie was uninterested in showing important elements in the character's development, most of the powerful moments in each character's life were hinted at for a moment before the plot rolled on. 4 screen writers in the credits -- it shows. The worst? (spoiler) When the young Magneto is urged then tortured by witnessing his mother's death into releasing his powers. How could he not use them against his mother's killer and eliminate him like he killed the guards? Instead he reluctantly bonds, we assume, since its never shown, with his tormentor, or at least passively goes off with him. Sort of set the mood for the rest of the movie's narrative. Mystique shows up naked and blue (at 11, pushing the exposure boundaries again) expelled from her previous life, which goes unseen and undescribed. Later, when other mutants are recruited then trained hurriedly, it feels forced and unimaginative, like the writers knew they had to include this to make any sense of the later movie but weren't worried about making it either interesting, funny, or believable. The worst tech effects were in the submarine, which seems more like a Hugh Hefner playboy palace underwater where crew members are casually clicking at crew stations, like they're waiting for dinner, not interested in the massive mayhem they intend to unleash. The Atomic power plant was absurd, nuff said. Finally, I have to vote Kevin Bacon the nicest, heartless, cruel bad guy in the movies. He has no electricity as an evil genius and his sudden acquisition of a mutant power feels like they'd shot the first half of the movie, then had a writer's conference and decided he needed one as well. All in all, shoddy work, showing how little respect Hollywood has for its customers and their ability to discern a quick and dirty script from a decent, well thought out one. Who's giving these people all this money? I do however, hope they keep stuffing in more hot ladies in bra and panties in these teen angst/super hero movies -- perhaps teen aged girls soon, sweaty and chattering as they change out of their skimpy cheerleader outfits -- a trend I feel most puberty wracked males have hoped for since their voices cracked and the girls around them began scowling at their lame, pimply, smiling attempts to hook up.… Expand
  10. thanos
    Jun 6, 2011
    0
    This was the worst movie of the series hands down. Can't anyone just read any of the millions of Xmen comics and get their history straight just once?? Instead of adapting the history of the Xmen to fit circumstances in the real world why not just Xmen vs anybody. Its been 4-5 films and we've yet to see the actual Xmen(Beast,cyclops,angel,jean grey, ice man) together!!! As usual the directors try to cover 20 issues worth of storyline in two hours. Half of the characters in this 60's movie weren't even introduced to Marvel comics til the 80's, 90's and beyond. Charles Xavier was never just a few years older than the Xmen. The beast did not work for the CIA and create Cerebro and the X Plane. Where are Cyclops, Angel and jean grey? Xavier discovers mystique in his kitchen!!! The movie just got dumber and dumber with reject characters like Banshee, Havok doing the hula, Darwin, and the acid spitting Angel. The final scene was so cheesey that it was embarrassing to watch. Marvel needs to go back to the drawing board and do like DC did with the Dark Knight. Find some of the grittier Xmen stories and make a movie based on them.… Expand
  11. MBlovestocook
    Jun 13, 2011
    1
    You know that it's not a good sign when your looking at your watch 30 minutes into the movie to see how much more there is. I was hoping for much more out of this. Instead, I got mediocre everything, at best. The plot was weak and everything seemed thrown together. The acting left a lot to be desired. Even Kevin Bacon, who normally chooses his movies wisely, seemed to be going through the motions. Save your money and time. I wish I had.… Expand
  12. pruneauxyz
    Jun 14, 2011
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. ... I'd rather not recommend it for amateurs ( real ones, i mean!). Given the number of gross errors directly related to the basics of the subject ( people who are born with paranormal powers and/or physiological abnormalities, and their difficulties to live into a society that rejects them). No fan of the original concept can be satisfied with this... Hu! Movie, let's say...
    Mystic, Darwin and Emma are morphing THEIR CLOTHES as well as their bodys!! Zero out of ten, Mr Singer: this is not Harry Potter!
    What Shaw wants to do to promote the mutant race...! That's so stupid, it speaks for itself!
    Hank is an aviation technician, a biochemeist and he can buil you a Cerebro in a few weeks... That's reed Richard with blue hairs!
    Magneto is full of hatred for humanity because Shaw killed his mommy ( opening scene easy and highly touted!): if it is not simplistic -even insulting!... But Lucas ( Georges!) already done the same to explain Anakin's choice of The Dark Side of The Force. Never silly enough for the masses.
    And what about the immediate disappearance of the ONLY representant of a certain minority in the whole cast? And the instant turnaround ( no more explanations than that!) of that certain character wich seems to have a more marginal life than the others?! If it is not a message as eavy as reactionary, i wonder what it means...
    Finally, note also the total absence of any form of esthetism: just compare the graphic effect of Havock's blasts of energy in the comic and that poor pathetic hulla-hoop performance here. the "queer" looks of the Beast ( he's wearing lipsticks!) and the cheap rendering of Angel's wings ( and flight!)... and i don't even mension Emma's grotesque wardrobe! Oops! Too late, i did!
    Using real facts ( and even archival documents!) to try to make the story more authentic falls into the water facing the pile of illogical facts that dot this blockbuster. Besides, rewriting history IS WRONG! You'll see they'll show the same lack of respect in the sequel and JFK will be their next victim.
    Bold reaction, yes, but i'm sure many fans will live their disappointement as hard as i do for X-Men First Class is a betrayal of everything the comic ever promoted. Please, do yourself a favor and read again the 70's/80's era.
    In addition, it is badly installed ( as skits!), poorly played ( Moïra, Magneto and Emma are terrible!) and without any kind of atmosphere. Nothing to save here but Banshee, flying like a madman in the air, and this beautiful picture of the Blackbird and the submarine, magically suspended between the sky and the sea... Still, it's a bit light for a subject that rich of possibilities.    … Expand
  13. STLGuy
    Aug 1, 2011
    2
    I did not think it was possible to make an X-men movie worse than X-men 3...well, they did. The fact that they have over 50 years of stories and other source material and they made an action movie that made me fall asleep (I really did), is inexcusable! Please 20th C.Fox, sell the X-men properties back to Marvel so they can do it right like the others (Iron Man, Thor, Capt. America).

    Don't waste your time and money!… Expand
  14. hidanian
    Aug 7, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers. I was very excited when I saw they were making a reboot of the x-men franchise. The movie started of very promising, with good action sequences. But after 30 minutes it started to go downhill. The story line was very weak, the acting was poor and the entire movie was actually no more than a selection of some scenes put together. Also the abilities were dull. There was one with big feet, another one is able to fly by yelling really loud and an ugly girl with stupid wings. This was the most disappointing movie experience I've had in quite a while. If you have too much money and 2 hours to waste, I suggest you go watch this movie, but I suggest you go to Super 8 instead.… Collapse
  15. TehYetti
    Oct 10, 2011
    0
    This is one of the most unintentionally hilarious movies I have ever seen. I don't know what was worse, the destruction of the X-Men cannon, the terrible A.D.D. ridden script, the horrible costume choices, the laughable makeup, the ungodly characterization, the clunky acting, the barely used period setting, or the terrifying editing choices making it impossible to take this movie seriously. James McAvoy sounds like he's going to mutate into Shakespeare's Hamlet at any moment, and there is so little time between flitting from set piece to set piece that Michael Fassbender's wonderful portrayal of young Magneto is swept aside and shoehorned in at odd moments. The other mutants are barely given names let alone any distinguishable personality traits. And we are told to care about them after we've seen only one scene of them together "experiencing prejudice", which is essentially two jerks slightly bothering them. Not to mention this movie rolls out the ret-cons like it is going out of style. All in all this movie is much worse than X-Men 3, I at least knew those characters and cared about what happened to them, they were played by actors competent enough to make me give a damn even when the script was bad. This was just another sad addition to a series already circling the drain.… Expand
  16. brusselsprout
    Dec 12, 2011
    4
    This movie is pretty not great. Stylistically inconsistent (the production went through five DP's), oddly edited, most of the acting (save for Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, McAvoy [who was alright, I guess] and Rose Byrne [although useless in this film] is terrible. That being said there are some really spectacular moments usually between Magneto and Prof X which is a real loving relationship. I personally found Magneto's storyline and character the most compelling, perhaps because of the masterful Fassbender. That being said I didn't not enjoy this film. It was entertaining and fluff and pretty much what I wanted, but what I wanted was something not good.… Expand
  17. Palenoire
    Oct 13, 2012
    3
    This film is so stupid. The dialogue is stupid, scenes are stupid, even Magneto. I see what they tried to do here, but the ways they use in this movie are just stupid and dumb. It could be a good movie if the script was stronger

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
65 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 38
  3. Negative: 2 out of 38
  1. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    Jun 9, 2011
    67
    It's all vastly superior to Brett Ratner's scorched-earth "X-Men: The Last Stand," of course.
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  2. NPR
    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.
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  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Karina Longworth
    Jun 3, 2011
    30
    A cameo from an old-school X-Man only serves to remind how stylish and witty the first installment was a decade ago. Lacking a single memorable joke or striking image, First Class is as perfunctory and passionless as would-be franchise resurrections get.
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