X-Men: First Class is, to me, the epitome of a good but not great movie. It hits the right notes but it almost never seems inspired. The action scenes are fine but there was never a moment that made you sit up in your seat. Yes, the film does have the unenviable task of trying to live up to the opening scene in X2 (Nightcrawler in the White House), which is arguably one of the best action scenes in comic book movie history and it also is measured against Matthew Vaughn's last film, Kick Ass, and there's nothing in the film that comes close to matching Hit Girl.

Still, it's a good movie. It has the right amount of laughs, some solid action scenes, and great interactions between Professor X and Magneto. The stuff with the younger X-Men isn't as strong as some of the personal moments are hokey and the character development is mostly through static dialogue scenes. Those problems aren't enough to derail the film so I'd recommend it to most filmgoers and especially anyone who enjoyed the early X-Men film. If you aren't interested in comic book movies or X-Men, the film doesn't do anything to change your mind; it's not the kind of film that will convert the non-believers. It's a film that will keep the believers happy.

I do have to say though that this film had one of the most awkward close-ups I've seen in a very long time. At one point, a character utters the words, "Do you want to be ENSLAVED..." and the film cuts to a close up of the only dark skinned African-American character in the film. Making it even worse, the look on the guys face is kind of like, "Seriously, NOW is when you're giving me my close-up?!" It's one of those moments that takes you out of the film and there was audible chatter immediately after it from the audience in the theater I saw the film in.