X-Men: First Class (2011)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: James McAvoy, Laurence Belcher, Michael Fassbender, Bill Milner, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Beth Goddard, Morgan Lily, Oliver Platt, Alex Gonzalez, Jason Flemyng, Zoe Kravitz, January Jones

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Before he was Professor X, he was Charles. Before he was Magneto, he was Erik. Before they were enemies, they were allies.

Plot: Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.

I dug it.  It's flawed but it's got some nice things going for it like most of the casting.  McAvoy and Fassbender are terrific as is Bacon.  I wasn't sold on Jones as Frost but it's not a deal-killer.  I liked the music and the attempt at making this set in the early 60s.  For the most part that worked.  The story did, too.  I was down with it but there's something about the picture that felt emptier than the rest.  It's like eating a good meal but still feeling hungry for something, as if you got everything but the steak.  I definitely want to give this one another go sometime.  Oh, and the cameo by a certain someone got one of the biggest laughs I've had in a long time.  That brief scene alone is worth seeing this picture.  It's THAT good.