I finally watched the movie.
Well I can say, it's amazing. Not better than X2, but that's because I'm biased since I love most of the characters in X2 and I don't much care about mostly anyone in First Class. But the film is definitely better than all the other X-Men movies bar X2.
Let me start by saying having Shaw was such an amazing idea. I simply had not seen a mutant with so much threatening power in any of the other movies. Nope, not even Phoenix. Somehow I knew she would be killed by Logan anyway, so it diminished her power to me. But Sebastian is a true threat. I caught myself wondering throughout the whole movie "damn how are they going to tackle this guy?".
The death of Darwin was truly amazing, in a "great movie moment" way. I was shocked to see him gone so soon, but it worked very well.
Emma Frost wasn't the Emma I expected, but as soon as I saw the actress in the trailers, I knew she would be way too soft. The script Emma is marvelous, but she was very poorly translated by the actress. But I have to say, it's nice to finally have someone confront Xavier in the mind department (Jean never did until she became that atrocity). I can't wait for more battles and her abilities being used to help villiains. Telepath villains are so much cooler than hero telepaths. I also thought they did a great job using this power in the movie.
Another thing that impressed me was the scope of the action. Somehow, in the first trilogy, the X-Men seemed a bit...weak. The power displays, even the marvelous ones (like Storm's) felt very contrived in a sense. I felt like everyone went all out this time, maybe except for Mystique but i'm waiting for the sequels.
Magneto was a show all by himself. The submarine scene in the beginning gave me goosebumps, and any time he was on screen, he shone. His friendship with Xavier was flawlessly portrayed, as was hi soverall personality. Let me dare say he was a much more sorted Magneto, maybe because it focused on him this time.
Mystique was amazing. Hopefully we'll get to see the transition into a merciless assassin throughout the new trilogy. I hoped for more action (she got none?), but that's okay.
OH and Wolverine's absence is so so so welcome. For all I care, he can continue doing those 3 seconds cameo, but the lack of focus on him truly made the movie an X-Men movie, maybe for the first time ever.
So yeah, here are my highlights: Sebastian Shaw (perfect), Emma in action, Magneto, Mystique.
BUT I'm really intrigued in the whole "just one more character" thing? how is that possible? The Brotherhood has 6 members, the X-Men has 4 coutning Charles. Please add Storm, Jean and Cyclops. And maybe get rid of Beast, he was cool, but I wasn't too impressed.