X-men: First Class review

X-men: First Class

A classy review

This particular franchise hasn't been the same since its second installment. When a new director helmed The Last Stand, it soon became apparently clear that there is little hope for the future of the franchise. In one movie, the entire lore was brutalized so severely, that it would take a magician to salvage it. Then came an Origins movie. Well, that would have worked, if it wasn't such an atrocious movie. As predicted, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was a monumental failure across the board. So, when news came of a Magneto and Professor X origins story, we were all a bit iffy about it. 

X-Men: First Class is a 2011 superhero movie, directed by Matthew Vaughn, whose directorial credits include Layer Cake and Kick-Ass. Acting as a prequel to all the live-action movies already made, the movie told the story of how the Brotherhood of Mutants and the X-men began. We follow both Erik Lensherr and Charles Xavier as they find themselves involved in matters that could change the face of the world. 

First Class takes the real world event known as the Cuban Missile Crisis and weaves it seamlessly in to the X-men universe. Providing an intriguing, overall story arc that manages to be both realistic as fiction. Unlike The Last Stand or Origins, this movie actually manages to provide tension all throughout the movie, as you are also immediately engaged in the lives of both our two heroes. 

What is also done quite brilliantly, is that it starts the mindset of Magneto and the mindset of the humans in a non rushed and very paced manner. When the credits start to roll, you understand what everyone went through to get to the point they are at. 

Whilst not all characters are equally as developed, the ones that are feel like actual human beings. Some characters, like Alex Summers and Sean Cassidy, are only in this movie so that there are mutants in the movie X-men movie. This however is greatly compensated by the fantastic development of such characters as Raven Darkholme and Henry McCoy. Sebastian Shaw however ... well, he's a Nazi.

Performancewise, you have your hits, like McAvoy, Fassbender, Bacon and Hoult. And you have your run of the mill performances that actually don't stand out. While actors like Ironside and Platt do their usual performance for short parts.

In the end, this is an X-Men movie. It returns to the level of quality of X2 and takes it one step further in the character development department. This is an Origins story done right, where we see almost all of the characters go through an actual story arc. The actions scenes are spectacular and engaging, always managing to pull you in and never letting you go due to errors or shoddy filming. Plus, we have a story that we actually can care about.

10/10