⇒ X-Men First Class review

Mostly spoiler free.
Wow. Like JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot, this film brings back familiar and not so familiar characters in a fresh and exciting way.

I really enjoyed myself, in spite of the early positive words, campaign and clip oversaturation (usually kiss of death for anything I'm interested in), terrible early posters, and hype.

Hits:
Shockingly deep character development.
Excellent action.
Strong, strong leads (McAvoy, Fassbender, Hoult, Lawrence, Byrne & Bacon). Bacon excels a playing creepy weirdos who lord a power over you (this, Sleepers, Hollow Man & White Water Summer)
Mutant powers (Shaw!!! Magneto).
Events surrounding bay of pigs.
Light hearted moments and nods to character lore (Charles' hair jokes).
Deeper threads through the movie (tolerance, acceptance, morality of being god-like).
Backstory on Magneto's survival.
Origins of the names.
A very sharp, proactive Xavier as opposed to the passive one we've seen before.
Surprising relationships between Erik, Charles, Raven & Hank.
Good throwdowns at the end.
Great cameos (which stayed secret until I saw it!).
Raven & Hank and Mystique & Beast.
That guy playing Stryker even has the acne scarring down!
I love the blue-yellow jumpsuits.
Now dat's how you design a fucking Magneto helmet! From now on, dat's how you design Magneto's helmet! (The blue one with silver accents).
SPOILER ALERT! SELECT TO READ WRECK. YO. SHIP, SHAW!
SPOILER ALERT! SELECT TO READ Charles and Erik meet more than their match in Frost/Shaw.


Misses:
Jason Flemyng criminally underused!
Emma Frost (her acting didn't really do it for me), though she had some good scenes.
Some CG felt rushed and looked cheap, particularly the 'ice' scene.
Havok's goofy fucken power. Laser hula hoops? Don't hip thrust me to death, bro!
Riptide--is that his name? Say something, hombre!
Dialogue sometimes weak or too obvious.
You can get away with 'go fuck yourself' but can't show blood? After people get shot/stabbed, they tend to bleed. Alot.

Other:
montage felt a little strange--the comic book panels; where the heck did that come from?
Azazel's teleporting didn't feel as exciting as Nightcrawler's, in spite of added fire and brimstone effect...why?
I know this is their origin/coming of age chapter, but still thought Magneto should've been more God-like in his levitating pose at the end (see some Alex Ross).
Recurring story elements, while good, could've fit into dialogue better--felt a bit hamfisted.

SPOILER ALERT
How did SPOILER ALERT! SELECT TO READ Shaw die? I mean I saw the coin through the head thing, but if he absorbs energy, everything has energy or is a form of energy (stored, potential, kinetic). So, uh, explain how?!?! Also, doesn't he have reality warping/telepathic powers of his own?

In short, alot of praise from me. It's won the year in movies for me (thus far). I enjoyed Thor, but this is another level.

I think it's the best of the X-Men movies now. Very well balanced, refreshing and exciting. Tension was great. I'll have to see it more than once at cinema, and that's rare.

random: that kid that was Magneto in first X-men movie should be old enough to actually play Magneto now.
useless factoid: they were originally called the C-Men. Say it out loud and figure why.

♥♣♦♠