X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class while at first look First Class seems to be a prequel related to the original trilogy, however after seeing First Class it is truly a film that stands not only on its own, but is really not even truly tied to the original trilogy. Just like it states in the first trailer for this movie it tells of the story of Professor X and Magneto when they were simply known as Charles and Erik. Being brought together as they both begin to understand their own powers they become friends who while fighting for mutant rights begin to see the vast differences in the roads they believe they should go down for the rights of all mutants. First Class was very interesting to see the origins of some of the mutants that we have never known how they came about to be.

While it was definitely not the same to not have Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan in the roles of Professor X and Magneto, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender perform admirably in the roles. McAvoy and Fassbender come across as being very believable as the younger versions of the roles that Stewart and McKellan have played so strongly. The surprise for me that I thought I would probably never see in a comic/superhero movie was that of Kevin Bacon in it. Kevin Bacon plays the villainous role of Sebastian Shaw and is truly hateable throughout the movie. The supporting cast was strong enough for the movie but it is truly carried by Bacon, McAvoy and Fassbender. The part of the movie that I would have liked to see more of was to receive more of a back story on the origins of the bad mutants and how they came about, the backstorys for all the other main characters were very poignant and gave a great understanding of each mutant.

While most summer blockbusters are more action based then story, First Class focuses on telling the story with a little action. Matthew Vaughn's directing is strong as his pacing makes the movie continue forward which can especially be difficult in a summer blockbuster when action is so greatly expected. Because of this desire for such action when they actually try to tell the story it becomes completely bogged down. Yet it is important to remember that while the action is not exactly explosive it is still superb and one of the coolest scenes of all is when Erik pulls the submarine out of the water and suspends it. The makeup effects in the movie are also pretty amazing. I am sure it took a lot of time every day for the actors to sit and be put in so much makeup. With the makeup my personal favorite is that of Azazel, now part of this feeling for him being a favorite from this movie may simply be that I have always been partial to Nightcrawler and Azazel is his father.

X-Men: First Class is a strong reboot film. While there are some obvious differences from the X-Men storyline, at least more of these were differences that I was able to easily overlook because of the strength of the acting and carrying on between the different characters. Kevin Bacon was obviously the biggest surprise in this movie. The back story particularly for Charles and Erik really were very interesting and gave the movie exactly what you might expect. Also there is a cameo within the movie that while it is only seconds long it is enjoyable to see. I am giving X-Men: First Class three buckets of popcorn out of five. This is definitely a film worth watching and is one that will probably be added to the DVD collection in the future.

-The Movie Man