X-Men: First Class Review

Prequel? Yes. Reboot? I hope so. Bad ass and brilliant? Oh yes. The best film in the bloated franchise? Definitely! I have been a fan of X-Men all my life. I have an adequate knowledge of the comic books. I loved the cartoon series as a kid. X-Men was the first comic book movie of the noughties and I loved it. Then X2 came along and blew my mind. It's a great film. After X2, the franchise lost it's steam. With two components to blame. Fox and Superman, yeah it was Superman Returns that stopped Singer from finishing his trilogy. Fox wouldn't wait and rushed it out. X-Men: The Last Stand directed by Brett Ratner was fun, but just didn't fit into the trilogy. It just wasn't as good. Let's forget Wolverine shall we.

First Class sends X-Men back to it's roots and back to the swinging 60's, as we see the friendship of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender), the formation of the X-Men and the revealing of mutants to the human race. It also takes real life events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and ties them into the X-Men universe. We are introduced to characters such as Raven Darkholme/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), January Jones (Emma Frost), Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne).

Sebastian Shaw and his Hellfire Club are determined to create World War Three with the USA and the Soviet Union at the centre of it. Erik Lensherr is trying to hunt him down and joins forces with Charles Xavier. Throughout the film we see more mutants join one side or the other. First Class builds up to an epic encounter on a Cuban Beach between the US, the Russians and the mutants.

The great thing about First Class is the script and the direction by the brilliant Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass, Layer Cake). The film is just over two hours and zips through a lot of character development and story with a unique style. The film is jam packed full of story and information. There is one particular sequence in which we see the mutants training at the mansion. It could have been around twenty minutes long, but Vaughn finds a way to trim it into a nifty stylish sequence that is very cool. After last years Kick Ass. It's clear that Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman are a great team. I just hope they return for a sequel.

The action in the film is great, its fun and energetic. But this film is a polar opposite to X-Men: The Last Stand and that is why it's brilliant. Last Stand was short and stuffed with pointless action and CGI. First Class is different, it focuses more on story and character, using action and CGI as a tool for good, a tool that moves the engaging plot along swiftly. There are some good action set pieces, but none of them compare to the last sequence of the movie. The last thirty minutes is masterful. The submarine lift is mind blowing and the beach battle is brilliant.

The first third of the movie was slow and hard to get into. It wasn't bad, it was just jumping about to so many places, I found myself sometimes disjointed. But after a while the film gets into it's rhythm It also felt like an audition for Michael Fassbender as James Bond and Matthew Vaughn as director. Every scene involving Erik Lensherr felt like it was straight out of "The Man With The Golden Gun". Not a bad thing, he would be brilliant as the next Bond, but I couldn't help but notice it.

The score is powerfully enthralling and emotionally striking. But I sat there at certain points of the film and couldn't help but think Hans Zimmer's Inception score. Not a bad thing really, but still quite distracting. The score by Henry Jackman is the best score of the franchise. It goes well with the epic nature of the film.

There are a few cameos in the film. I thought all of them were great. Even the Wolverine cameo felt right, it didn't steal any limelight from the film. It was just quick and fun. It will be interesting to see whether Wolverine is brought into the sequels, cause nobody wants a Wolverine sequel. But Fox loves making money. So who knows!

There were a few things I didn't like about X-Men: First Class. The character of Angel (Zoe Kravitz) just felt a bit simple. The power wasn't right for the movie. I would of rather they picked someone else, as she felt pointless as a character. Also, Azazel was underused. I loved Nightcrawler in the second X-Men film, he was fantastic. Azazel was great, but it never felt like he was used as much as he could of been. Hopefully in sequels, he will get more screen time. January Joneses performance felt a bit wooden. A lot of people don't think she's a good actress from her film performances. But I think she's great in AMC's Mad Men.

Boasting intelligent themes about friendship and morality. Acting, narrative, direction and action that is nothing less than magnificent. X-Men: First Class injects some life into the franchise. Standout performances from Fassbender and McAvoy make you forget about the Professor X's and Magneto's of the past and prove that comic book movies are more than just CGI spectacles. With some critics and Vaughn himself, comparing this to the superb Batman Begins. I would agree, it's just as great. But does the X-Men franchise have a Dark Knight in it's future? I hope so!

9/10

Thanks.

Chris.