With the X-Men film franchise already having three consecutive films and a spin off, prequel spin off 'First Class' would find it extremely difficult to cover any new ground.

The comic-book to feature-film conversions which have boomed over the last decade leave much to be desired in terms of originality within the genre.

This is why I was quite sceptical about seeing the film, the genre in itself just doesn't really cut the mustard for me when there is so much more great cinema out there.

Unfortunately, 'First Class' doesn't do anything any other recent sci-fi/comic book/action film of late hasn't.

It follows the formative years of Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), on a mission to stop crazy mutant Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) from waging war on the non-mutant world and introduces characters we already know and a few we don't.

Sure it has some good special effects, a good v evil central theme, clichéd 'want of acceptance' sub plots... nothing that isn't in Spiderman... or Iron Man... or even Fantastic Four for that matter...

What this leaves is a reasonably enjoyable few hours of fantasy escapism, with a strong cast, a few laughs, bit of a love story and even a bit of flawed history in the form of the Cuban missile crisis, all on a nicely filmed nicely designed background and with some nice performances.

Which is great if you like big budget special effect block busters, or comic book conversions, or just aren't really that fussy or snobbish about what you go see on your weekly two-for-one outing.