X-Men: First Class

I guess I shouldn't have listened to the hype, because this one didn't quite stand up. Just too many things that didn't work, or could have/should have been done better.....
- Magneto hates the man who "created him" and everything he stood for. Has to kill him to avenge his mother's death, yet turns out to be almost exactly like him. Same seeming loathing of humans, same ego, very similar eventual goals.
- Mystique was welcomed, the way she was and basically raised as an actual sibling, by Charles. Yet the first chance she gets, as her brother lay crippled, she abandons him because he once told her to put clothes on and would not date her.
- They realize they have to go to war against dangerous, unknown mutants who appear to have full control over their powers... so they recruit a bunch of "kids who aren't ready", instead of seeking out more experienced, capable mutants.
- Some of the dialogue was just cheap and felt thrown in there, it made some of the characters hard to like. The casting was questionable... January Jones, Zoe Kravitz, completely horrible. And Kevin Bacon as a supreme villain... not buying it.
- Although I do realize this was a reboot of sorts, the continuity of it and where it relates to the rest of the X-Men franchise was just about as bad as it could possibly be, with little or no effort given to make it "clean" and plausible or believable.

Now, having said all that... I still quite enjoyed this movie. The characters that were allowed to develop were good, and the relationships between them were also good. Watching the story develop was fun, and then... about an hour in, for about 15 minutes, I kept glancing at the Fast Forward button. But that passed, and the rest was very watchable. James McAvoy, no surprise, was outstanding. Michael Fassbender wasn't bad at all (pun optional). Jennifer Lawrence was gorgeous and great, and I really wanted to see more of her, au naturale (blue). Rose Byrne was beautiful and capable, as she always is. This is a movie that I will definitely watch again, and maybe find fewer faults, and enjoy it more, with each new viewing. Definitely one of the better entries in the comic-turned-movie genre, I would recommend it. 7 1/2 out of 10.

**waits for comic movie buffs to shred this review**