X-Men: First Class (An Ironically Good First Post)

X-Men: First Class has brought the original trilogy back to the basics…and it has done it with action, style, and zest. A much more character based film than the previous three, it allowed the actors to play off of each other and give great performances all around. James McAvoy as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender give especially outstanding performances and play well off of each other when on screen together.

While technically following X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this movie acts as a prequel and adds a lot to the first three films. For those of us who know the characters of X-Men only from the films it explains Magneto’s anger and rage, Xavier’s reason for being confined to a wheelchair, and the personal divide between the two. The latter being a cause of much of the drama used in the trilogy. The fact that we did not know much about Sebastian Shaw’s (played terrifyingly well by Kevin Bacon) cronies made them characters darker and more mysterious and made the story more compelling. I think the background information given about the original X-Men offset the not knowing about Azazel, Emma Frost, and Riptide.

The movie was not without its’ outstanding female performances either. McAvoy, Fassbender, and Bacon played their characters to a ‘t’, but Jennifer Lawrence, playing the conflicted teenage Mystique and Rose Byrne, the CIA agent hell-bent on uncovering the involvement of a US General in a plot to basically start World War III, knock their roles out of the park. Each coming off of critically acclaimed films: Winter’s Bone and Bridesmaids respectively, they kept the momentum they gained from those films and brought it to X-Men.

Being a more character based movie, X-Men: First Class set itself a part from other comic book/superhero movies. Instead of just focusing on the action like previous X-Men films, it takes you deeper into the story. Many questions I and I'm sure many other fans of the films had were answered through the background information provided. Each character has their shining moments and fans are even provided with a comedic, though brief, cameo by Hugh Jackman. The comedy doesn't end there. If you like a badass character, Magneto's revenge scenes in the beginning of the film are wonderfully entertaining: like watching an underdog come from behind to win, Fassbender provides the character with just the right amount of malice and rage.

The script was surprisingly realistic and in true X-Men fashion uses social issues and history to move its’ story along. X-Men: First Class follows the Cuban Missile Crisis and creates a situation where WWIII nearly begins. Not only does the film use historic events and footage of President Kennedy, but it also includes a few nods to previous war films; a few scenes occur in a room reminiscent of the war room in Dr. Strangelove and the beginning, while a commonly portrayed scene, reminded me of Schindler’s List.

X-Men: First Class surprised me and upheld my high expectations. Not being a die-hard follower of the comic books or cartoons I can say that this movie was a great summer movie and I would definitely recommend the film to fans of the X-Men universe, though it may be helpful to watch the three films before seeing this one. A movie with the ABC’s of a great summer flick: action, betrayal, and comedy. Go see it.

9/10