I’ll admit, I feared the worst coming into this movie. I didn’t have any hope for it all after the last few X-Men movies. Wolverine was atrocious, and X-3: United was awful. And then the franchise comes up with “First Class” and totally redeems itself!
Maybe not totally. But it does an excellent job of keeping me entertained by story and action. This is the best X-Men, in all honesty.
Forget the flashy chrome designs and super shiny special effects seen in the first few films. Shiny and pretty spinning tech and flashy sets are not present during the Cuban Missile Crisis. First Class is the grittiest X-Men. This film finally embraces the characters from the comic books. Not just tackling their mutant differences, but their differences amongst themselves.
James McAvoy is a phenomenal Professor X. He is optimistic, and truly embodies the natural born leader seen by Patrick Stewart’s Xavier. Only this one has more human faults. Subtle, but it makes him real enough to enjoy.
Opposite is the pessimistic and destructive Erik Lehnsherr, who becomes Magneto. Played by Michael Fassbender, he hasn’t truly gone over the edge as the villain seen in the other movies. But he is on a one-man warpath. Trying to turn Erik’s tortured soul is Xavier, who quickly become an odd sort of friends.
They team together with other mutants to stop Kevin Bacon. Well not Kevin Bacon himself. But his villainous character, Sebastian Shaw. There is not a second’s doubt how evil he is, even if slightly subtle. Strangely, he takes on the same task Magneto tried in the earlier movies. Oh? No spoilers? Okay, go see the movie then. Kevin Bacon makes a great bad guy.
Though I feel I am owed compensation for seeing X3 and Wolverine, I’ll still go out and buy X-Men First Class. It’s a great movie. I enjoyed it. And I’ll happily see it again. Yes, there is a cameo from the other X-Men movies in this one; won’t say who. And no, there is nothing at the end of the credits.
