Here's the what Stuart over at screen jabber had to say on his early thoughts of x-men first class.
I was fortunate on Friday to get an early look at Matthew "Kick Ass" Vaughn's new X-Men film. I'm still under embargo until Wednesday May 25 (full review then), but I can say this ... boy, it's a doozy. If you'll excuse the pun – and I bet I'm not the only one to use it – this X-Men is truly first class.
I loved Vaughn's previous two films, and this completes a terrific trifecta. It's a smart, entertaining and assured piece of work – fast paced but still taking time for character development, and full of gripping human drama.
Performances are generally great, but McAvoy and Fassbender were particularly outstanding. Great casting, too – it's easy to see them both as younger versions of the characters originally played by Stewart and McKellan. For me in particular, McAvoy's Charles Xavier carried the film – he's its heart and soul.
I don't see this as being a comic book film, nor a superhero film. It's a terrific human drama, where a few of the humans just happen to be mutants. To me it was closer in tone, look and feel to Chris Nolan's Batman films (although not quite as dark) than to, say, something like the Fantastic Four.
I'd go as far as to say it's possibly the best of the X-Men films so far.