X-Men: First Class
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: June 3, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyJustin ChangMay 30, 2011
After undergoing some unfortunate mutations in recent years, a beleaguered Marvel movie property gets the smart, stylish prequel it deserves in X-Men: First Class. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 2, 2011
In this cheerfully perverse origin tale of Magneto, Professor X and their mutant team, Vaughn delivers a fireworks display of action, smarts and fun, plus a touch of class from actors who can really act. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJun 2, 2011
Most of the actors live their roles, and Fassbender (Rochester in the last "Jane Eyre") is superb as the wolflike, undisciplined assassin. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJun 2, 2011
McAvoy and Fassbender are a casting triumph. These two have, yes, real star magnetism, both individually and together: They're both cool and intense, suave and unaffected, playful and dead serious about their grand comic-book work. Read full review
80
NPRScott TobiasJun 3, 2011
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. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 2, 2011
This prequel draws new energy from supersmart casting, plus the shrewd notion of setting the beginnings of the X-Men saga in the early 1960s. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 30, 2011
Audacious, confident and fueled by youthful energy. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 3, 2011
At least Erik/Magneto, as played by Michael Fassbender, is, well, magnetic. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJun 2, 2011
That's partly why X-Men: First Class is such fanboy fun, as the script departs from official Marvel lore to invent a whole new "origin story" for the mutant ensemble. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 2, 2011
This X- Men is indeed first class: an exciting, bold and thoroughly enjoyable summer blockbuster. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 2, 2011
First Class happily delivers on the escapism and rich narrative texture the best of its predecessors have promised. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellJun 2, 2011
Fassbender plays Magneto as a supercool assassin with a completely understandable set of beefs. I spent most of the movie rooting for him, and would watch a "Magneto, 1960s Nazi Hunter" sequel in a second. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonJun 2, 2011
Another crowd-pleasing comic-book film designed to bring in new fans while gratifying the old ones. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 2, 2011
An uncommonly polished and sophisticated superhero movie. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJun 2, 2011
Director Matthew Vaughn, who did last year's delightful "Kick-Ass," doesn't do witty this time around, but he does keep up a spiffing pace while making the action blaze. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 1, 2011
Perfectly fine summer folderol, epic enough on its own terms if not quite big enough to expand beyond its genre and matter to people who find it difficult to care about characters who spit gobs of flaming phlegm. I realize there are fewer and fewer of us, but we're a hardy band and stubborn. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreMay 31, 2011
X-Men: First Class still sings the praises of Marvel Studios' marvelous quality control of comic book movies. It's good, clean summer movie fun where the money they spend is up on the screen - with actors and effects - so that we won't mind spending our money on it. Read full review
70
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJun 2, 2011
So while X-Men: First Class at first takes its source material with just the right amount of self-deprecating seriousness, it founders in the second half, when it becomes overburdened with squirrelly plot mechanics and an excess of self-evident dialogue. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 2, 2011
With its spy-on-spy globetrotting, old-fashioned villains, flirty but prematurely swinging minis and fan-boy bits (look for an eye-blink-fast tribute to "Basic Instinct" and a cameo from the cult actor Michael Ironside), the whole enterprise has an agreeable lightness, no small thing, given its rapidly moving parts. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJun 1, 2011
X-Men: First Class isn't anywhere close to being a genre classic like "Spider-Man 2" or "The Dark Knight," but it is good enough to rejuvenate a franchise stuck on idle. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazineTodd GilchristMay 26, 2011
What the film does well, however, is grasp the tone and rhythm of the original comic books. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJun 9, 2011
It's all vastly superior to Brett Ratner's scorched-earth "X-Men: The Last Stand," of course. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 3, 2011
The easiest way to summarize my reaction to X-Men: First Class is with a shrug. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 3, 2011
X-Men: First Class is a mutant movie, half fun and half fearsome. For those who have developed an immunity to fanboy hype, the contradictory traits may seem to weaken rather than strengthen this beast, but readers of the "X-Men" comics will hail an origin story as satisfying as "Thor." Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 2, 2011
An elaborate origins story with more datelines than an issue of Condé Nast Traveler (Oxford! Miami! Argentina! Poland!), X-Men: First Class has some fun trying to explain how Professor X, Magneto, and all those mopey mutants came to be. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJun 2, 2011
X-Men: First Class is competent weekend entertainment. It is not a great comic book movie, like "Spider-Man 2," or a bad one, like "Thor." It is not in 3-D, which is a mercy. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 2, 2011
Still, the deadliest single element in this film can be traced not to Bacon's character, but to composer Henry Jackson, whose music seems determined to kill us all with waves of dramatic nothingness. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderBen SachsJun 2, 2011
Like Bryan Singer's X2 (2003), this fifth entry in the X-Men franchise is noteworthy for its gay-rights subtext and for its noted actors delivering comic book dialogue with Shakespearean portent. Otherwise it's indistinguishable from most other recent blockbusters. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJun 2, 2011
It's big, bright, savvy, and so expansive you'll undoubtedly leave feeling you got your money's worth. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinMay 28, 2011
All you'd expect from an X-Men film (or spin-off, or prequel), but not all you'd hope for. It smacks of rush and compromise, but there's thankfully enough to make you feel optimistic about the series' future once more. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliJun 2, 2011
Uneven, occasionally silly, true, but it's also an improvement over 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand." Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensJun 2, 2011
These ludicrous but endearing moments of bro-bonding are all that sets this otherwise stock-issue superhero movie apart from its mass-produced brethren. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 2, 2011
I was startled to look up the running time and discover that X-Men: First Class is only 104 minutes; the second half is so clunky it feels much longer. Read full review
40
TimeRichard CorlissJun 2, 2011
Too bad that First Class torpedoes its lofty intentions with flights of idiocy so wrongheaded as to be almost endearing. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 2, 2011
It's just another franchise nonstarter to toss in the superstore superhero deal bin. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJun 2, 2011
A tedious two-plus hours. There were such possibilities in the origins idea. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyJun 1, 2011
Despite his apparent comfort with F/X-heavy projects, the obligations of duty to the brand are too much for Matthew Vaughn's strange, singular voice, which rarely has the chance to shape the film unmolested by a curiously bland script. Read full review
30
Village VoiceKarina LongworthJun 3, 2011
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. Read full review
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