I won't call myself a X-Men officiando. I've seen some of the movies before this one and enjoyed the fairly recent Wolverine origins movie. But I have an issue with origin movies. I know how they end. The same could be said for most movies, since the good guys usually win, but that is the only thing you can almost totally expect going into a movie. With origins or prequels, a viewer who has seen other movies in the franchise knows exactly what state the characters will end the movie in. It's like going to see Romeo and Juliet. Everyone knows they die in the end, but yet we still watch it. We watch movies (and plays) where we know the outcome because it's how the movie gets to the known ending, not the finale itself. If you have seen any of the previous X-Men movies, (spoiler alert) you most likely know that Charles Xavier ends up in a wheel chair. I certainly didn't know HOW he ended up in one, but now I do, thanks to X-Men First Class.
Overall, it was an enjoyable movie.It was fun sitting in the theater trying to put the pieces of the character's past together. The actors who played Erik/Magneto and Charles/Professor X did a REALLY good job. Especially Michael Fassbender, who played the deeply angry Holocaust survivor, Erik. He was the best actor in the movie by far. Kevin Bacon was a very poor choice for the villain. He did all of this really evil stuff, but all he seemed to be was power hungry (literally and figuratively). TO get away from the negative, there was that moment when the good guys did something clever/unexpected to win a battle, which, along with some humor sprinkled within the serious plot line, made the movie fun. I recommend it to anyone who likes morals mixed in with their mutants.
The X-Men are different from your average superhero because, instead of just one man or woman living a double life with secret identities and the rest, it's hundreds of people trying to blend in with society despite their obvious differences from the average joe. Every character already has issues because of their misfit status. Which gets boring. Not everyone has to be troubled, ya know. Which brings me to my next point. Of the x-men, very few have strong personalities. You've got Professor X and Magneto (and Wolverine, who wasn't featured in this film) and that's about it. The rest are just angsty for various reasons ALL. THE. TIME. This is because their mutations/superpowers have become their personalities(and to be truthful, some of the mutations are REALLY LAME- just sayin). Flaws with the franchise and prequels aside, X-Men First Class may not be your average superhero movie, but it is an enjoyable one.
PS- there is nothing at the very end of the credits.
3 and a half out of 5 lame mutations
