Review: X-Men: First Class

Review: X-Men: First Class

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 87%

Audience: 88%

Not having written a review since Feb. 2, I think it's about time that I caught up. My excuse is that I've been working three jobs. I did not, however, use that as an excuse to stop attending movies. I have twelve to review.

I'm starting with the most recent -- X-Men. Saw it yesterday after several weeks of disappointing box office offerings. As you can see by the Rotten Tomatoes average, the film has been well-reviewed and audiences have liked it too. I'll give it a thumbs up, but put it in the "good but not great" category. It has a lot going for it. Terrific special effects, a good story with a tie-in to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, some terrific actors, and good dialog.

What's not to like? I just never found myself engaging emotionally with the characters -- certainly not in the way I did in the first X-Men movie (which was not reviewed as well by critics but is a far superior film). It is telling that the only scene which elicited an emotional reaction from the audience in which I sat was a 10 second cameo by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

I didn't really care much what happened to this bunch of mutants despite some excellent performances (especially Michael Fassbender and Kevin Bacon). James McEvoy is disappointingly miscast. A competent actor, he just doesn't have what it takes to light up a screen. It's impossible to believe he will become the Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) of the first movie. January Jones sleepwalks through her role as Emma Frost, and even Jennifer Lawrence (Raven) and Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert) don't generate much interest.

I do, however, recommend the film for a matinée viewing -- for the special effects and the fun of seeing the early parts of the X-Men story.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it