I was pretty pumped to see this movie. Everything I'd heard about it had been pretty negative, but having been a big fan of the X-Men as a kid, young adult, normal adult, and almost old young adult person, I was still excited to see it and felt it would probably be worth a dollar.
Recently I had a conversation about these guys where it was agreed on that the best part of X-Men, is X-Men downtime. The parts that are really good in the comics is when they're just kind of hanging out. Like people are practicing in the danger room but maybe the scenario is a little too intense, then Kitty phases through something she shouldn't have and it breaks. Gambit's hitting on Rogue, Scott and Jean Grey are going through some martial troubles, everyone is jawin' about how they're tired of Wolverine's bad attitude, that's the really good stuff. When they actually go out into the field and coalesce as a team while fighting the Shi'ar or whatever, it can be kind of a snooze.
This is true of the film too, which while not a good movie by any means, tends to shine in it's demented take on X-Men downtime. Stuff like a scene where Beast and Mystique share a tender moment over a bowl of twinkies is way out of line with what I consider normal X-Men behavior. There's also a Training Montage where they're wearing matching grey sweat suits, which climaxes with Magneto crying while using his power to rotate a satellite dish. This is also what I consider pretty abnormal X-Men behavior. And dude, it takes some serious outside of the box thinking to have Professor X say "groovy" like Austin Powers in a movie supposedly, about the X-Men. The only explanation for this is, that this movie is about the moments the X-Men don't really want anyone to see. A part of the X-Men that they were afraid to show the public cause they were worried we'd think they were weenies or something. Which, if true, would make this an extraordinarily brave film. I mean, even the X-Men getting discriminated against (common X-Men trope) has a real odd feel in this movie. Kind of a heavy jocks vs. nerds vibe.
All the action parts are pretty whatever. Nothing comes close to the opening Nightcrawler scene in X2, or anything in that movie, really. Magneto goes rogue a bunch and that's cool, but overall nothing too amazing happens. A big part of the film concerns their behind the scenes role in the Cuban missile crisis, which it turns out Kevin Bacon masterminded. There's a cool part where his head splits in half and then it reforms into normal Kevin Bacon face and you go "Whoa. Kevin Bacon is kind of a weird looking guy." He also wears Magnetos helmet for part of the movie, and the shape of it does something weird with his nose. His nose is already a little weird to begin with so this' pretty cool.
So Kevin Bacons in it, and it's set in the early 60s but IMO there's kind of a lot of missed opportunities, at least as far as period is concerned. DO NOT go to this movie cause you heard about an X-Men movie set in the 60s and you figured it'd have a part where Professor X has a psychedelic awakening while listening to Dylan, or you think that maybe there'll be a scene where Beast plays the bongos while hangin' with beatniks. Also, no Kitty Pride protesting the war in Vietnam. Doesn't happen. So if that's your idea of an ideal X-Men movie set in the 60s, you should probably just pretend this one doesn't exist 'cause you will be disappointed. There are a couple of little nods to it's period though, like the black guy dying first, and lots of mini skirts. Also, Cerebro uses a bunch of reel to reels.
Since it is a back to the beginning, origin film, it takes the time to answer a bunch of kinda banal questions viewers may or may not have had. When I figured out that this was how it was going to go down I started hoping for a really intense, dramatic scene where I learn why Professor X is bald but sadly, no dice. Instead they talk about why they're called the X-Men and other boring bullshit no one cares about.
In conclusion, X-Men First Class not so great, but it makes some truly weird decisions sometimes, and there is a short Wolverine cameo that Jacob said by itself was worth 25 cents, a statement with which I agree, so I would say it was worth two dollars. Also when I was leaving the theatre I saw a poster for an upcoming remake of Straw Dogs and that blew my fucking mind.
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