Movie Review: 'X-Men: First Class'

Seen on: May 31, 2011

The players: Director: Matthew Vaughn, Writers: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goodman, Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne

Facts of interest: Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy both appeared in “Band of Brothers.”

The plot: The origin of the superhero team, the X-Men, is told against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Our thoughts: The “X-Men” has been one of the most popular series of comic books in the Marvel cannon for decades. The popularity skyrocketed when Bryan Singer (director of “The Usual Suspects”) turned the comic stories into two of the most successful and highly regarded superhero movies of the past few years.

After a third film and spin-off failed to ignite the same spark of its predecessors, a bold idea to scrap the current storylines and tell an all new “origin” tale was conceived. Did the franchise take the right direction? Can this new reboot reinvigorate what many consider to be a stagnant franchise? The answer to those questions is an emphatic YES!

The year is 1962, and mysterious billionaire Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) is making deals with both the U.S. and Russia setting both countries on a collision course to war. CIA agent Moira MacTaggart (Rose Byrne) enlists the help of Dr. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), an expert on mutation to assemble a team and stop Shaw to avert certain nuclear holocaust.

One word comes to mind: phenomenal! “X-Men: First Class” is one of the best comicbook adaptations to ever grace the big screen! Director Matthew Vaughn ("Kick-Ass") strikes a perfect balance between giving the characters time to establish themselves and giving the audience something to connect to (since this is by all accounts another origin movie). He also managed to thrill the audience with amazing action sequences that look slick and appropriate to the tone and style of this movie. No blatant over use of bad CGI here!

This is a movie that sucks you into the opening scenes and keeps you hooked for its entire two-hour running time. It's a film that has true intelligence and heart under the veneer of a glossy summer “big explosion” action movie.

The performances in this film are fantastic across the board. In taking over the roles of Dr. Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto), James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender truly embody their iconic characters and deftly create a chemistry that speaks volumes of the history these two will share over a period of many years to come.

Jennifer Lawrence, who took the film community by total surprise with her Oscar-nominated turn in “Winter’s Bone," gives the shape-shifting Mystique a tender vulnerability that carries the overriding theme of the film,  which is the yearning for acceptance when you are different. Much like Fassbender and McAvoy, she is fantastic at laying the groundwork for her character as portrayed by Rebecca Romijn in the previous films. There is not a single person in this cast that does not do justice to the world in which they inhabit.

While “First Class" may upset longtime fans of the original comic for its straying from the original storylines, it is the perfect prequel to the films that have preceded it. Almost too good, really. If I had only one complaint (and even then, it’s not a big one), it would be that they included a few to many nods to the original movies in setting up the stories to come.

Much like the opening sequence of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," for example, a few too many things about these characters are explained over the course of what amounts to one mission. But then again, that is hardly a detraction from such an amazing movie.

Freaky quote: "Peace was never an option." - Michael Fassbender

The final word: A damn-near perfect summer movie! Go and see it! Oh, and two more things: No need to stay after the credits;there is nothing there, and don't look at the cast list on IMDb until you see the film.

On the web: http://www.x-menfirstclassmovie.com/

Article by Danny Alves