“Undone by a frustrating mire of multiple plots, overreaching special effects, leaden ancillary players and world-ending military standoffs that have all the tension of a water balloon fight.”—Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

“X-Men: First Class? More like coach, actually.”—Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

“When this youth brigade takes the forefront, turning a secret CIA base into a romper room, the movie might as well be called X-Men: Little Rascals.”—Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm

“I don’t necessarily want to be the guy who tries to hang a discount-store T.S. Eliot essay about the Death of Culture on yet another mediocre Hollywood sequel, but there’s something a little depressing about all the hype and excitement surrounding X-Men: First Class.” —Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

“The best acting in X-Men: First Class is by President John F. Kennedy, who in his Thanksgiving 1962 message to the nation, expresses gratitude for the successful end of the Cuban Missile Crisis while suppressing what he surely must know, that American and Soviet missiles spent a great deal of time flying back and forth while mentally controlled by the awesome powers of mutants.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Read our review of X-Men: First Class