X-Men: First Class

My Grade:  A+

Big budget, big thrills… and big stakes:  nuclear war.  This film is the perfect summer flick to chew your popcorn to.  It’s an action packed thrill ride and, more importantly to Hollywood, it’s another installment in an established franchise.  And oh, what a welcome installment it is.  Easily the best of the X-Men films, First Class rises to the top with strong writing (which you hope for with a team of writers), stylish directing (which you expect from Vaughn, director of Kick-Ass), and most of all an outstanding young cast (and Kevin Bacon).

          

The way the story ties in with the Cuban Missile Crisis is as believable as it can be with mutants involved.  For a moment I thought Kevin Bacon actually caused the Crisis, then I saw Angel fly and spit fire balls and I snapped back to reality.  The real gem in the story, however, is the strained relationship between friends-turned-foes Professor X and Magneto.  This film takes advantage of the audience’s knowledge of their future conflict and has you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what the turning point will be that transforms these “brothers” into mortal enemies.  One of my problems with the film, though, is that there is no Storm, Cyclops, or Jean Grey.  It would have been nice to see how they fit into the history (I guess that’s why there will be more Origins films), but focusing on Xavier and Magneto doesn’t leave a lot of room for others.

          

It’s no secret that Kick-Ass has some of the most stylish action scenes that we have ever seen on the big screen.  Vaughn delivers similarly in First Class.  The special effects are great (most of the time) and the pacing is perfect.  Each action sequence is packed to the brim with tension and, most importantly, we care whether the characters survive.  It’s a tough thing in a prequel to keep that tension going when we know that Professor X survives and so forth; however, more is at stake here than our mutants:  mankind is.  

          

The film does so many things, but one of the biggest is that it proves James McAvoy is one of the best young actors in Hollywood and we will be seeing a lot more of him.  Yeah, he shined in Wanted despite having Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freemen to compete with, but he proves in First Class that he can carry a blockbuster.  His co-star, Michael Fassbender, is great as well, but he is out-shined by McAvoy.  The entire young cast is fantastic and Kevin Bacon delivers as one of the greatest bad guys of the summer.

          

It’s not all good, though.  There are some cheesy lines and at least one scene that serves no purpose (when Frost mentions that in war, both sides must have an equal chance of winning).  And don’t worry, that is not a spoiler because it doesn’t really matter in the slightest.  One spoiler, however, is obvious from the trailer where we see Beast as a furry blue… well, beast.  Guess what:  he doesn’t start out that way.  But when the scene comes along in which he has a big decision to make, we all know what is going to happen and it loses all of its punch.  Let’s all say “thank you” to whomever edited the trailer.

Sidenote:  when you watch it, see if you don’t get a distinct Star Wars VI:  Revenge of the Sith vibe.  Think Prof X is Obi Wan and Magneto is Anikin… it’s there, complete with the sith ideal of “strike him down and join the dark side.”