X-Men First Class Review

X-Men First Class Review

By Jose

Plot:

In 1962, Charles Xavier starts up a school and later a team, for humans with superhuman abilities. Among them is Erik Lehnsherr, his best friend... and future archenemy.

Main Cast:

James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto), Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw), Rose Byrne (Moria MacTaggert), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Jason Flemyng (Azazel), January Jones (Emma Frost), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy/Beast), Caleb Landry Jones (Sean Cassidy/Banshee), Edi Gathegi (Darwin), Lucas Till (Alex Summers/Havok), Alex Gonzalez (Riptide), Zoë Kravitz, Angel Salvadore)

Review:

This is how you make an X- Men movie. Mathew Vaughn created what I feel is the best X-men movie yet, beating out Singer’s X2. Hell we even get a longer and much better look at a young Magneto/Erik at a Nazi concentration camp. Even a look at what drives his powers, Sebastian Shaw (Bacon). Shaw wants young Erik to move a coin with is powers and when he can’t brings in and threatens his mother, which Shaw kills unleashing Erik’s rage and power. We then get flung years later in the sixties with and older Erik (Fassbender) hunting down the where about of Sebastian Shaw. Soon this is intertwined with the CIA and Moira and then soon connecting with Charles Xavier, soon after becoming a professor and Mystique. I loved the brother/sister connection they gave Xavier and Mystique. It makes what happens later much better emotionally.

The movie itself is a torrent of non stop action and great story. I would have liked a longer look at the young mutants testing and practicing using their powers and abilities a bit more and getting to learn some more of their pasts. But other wise we get everything thrown at us and it still manages to make sense and flow properly. I really liked the codename scene and the showing off the powers scene in the movie. Having the young mutants show off to one another with their powers and abilities and then picking codenames. Oh and Hula Hoop Havok was hilarious.

The characterizations of Xavier and Erik was great. Giving Erik a feeling of a mutant powered spy and Xavier his telepathic, suave, ladies man partner. Mystique was uncomfortable in her own blue skin and stayed “normal” looking throughout the movie. With Magneto/Erik telling her that she should be proud of how she looks and stop hiding behind normal human skin. Nicholas Hoult was great playing Hank McCoy. Quiet and shy and ashamed of his huge beastly feet and who he is. He played the closet case really well and you felt bad for him throughout the movie. Lucas Till as Havok/Alex Summers, although a small role, was featured a lot and was pretty much the cocky leader in training. Caleb Jones as Banshee looked the part and was one of the three favorites of the young mutants. I really liked seeing how they dealt with his powers and flight ability in the movie. And now Kevin Bacon. His portrayal of Sebastian Shaw worked really well. The badass yet primp and proper villain. They changed his powers a bit from the actual comic character but I liked that they made him a lot more dangerous.

Noticeably I left some characters out because I honestly didn’t see them fitting in or not working for me. Zoë as the stripper mutant Angel, did nothing but appear then disappear then appear at the end where she actually did some action. Darwin was a waste of a character, yet they left it open for him to return in a possible sequel. January Jones as Emma Frost. I liked her portrayal of the character but there was something about Jones herself that seemed off to me. I would have liked someone else cast as Emma Frost. Jones seemed bland and was just going through the motions.

The effects were great. No problems with me at all. All the powers were shown and created wonderfully. Which brings be back to Beast. From the trailers we saw a small glimpse of Beast in his blue fur form and I had a feeling we would get a all CGI version. We didn’t. Which I was so so happy to see. I loved the way Beast looked like. And I liked that they kept a feel and look of the classic Beast look from the comics. Not the current cat like look). And you clearly see Hoult in there too.

What I also liked about the movie is the sense of being accepted and proud of being what you are. It is shown greatly through Mystique and Beast. With Xavier telling her to be a mutant and proud, yet wanting her to stay in a normal looking state. It took Magneto to tell her that she should be herself and that she is beautiful as she was. The same with Hank/Beast. He was ashamed of being a mutant and wanted desperately to find a cure to his and Mystique’s physical mutation. While it backfired on Hank and turned him into an actual blue Beast. The team, (Havok, Banshee, Mystique, Magneto, and Xavier) all were shocked yet accepting of his new look and even Havok gave him his Beat name.

Final Thoughts:

Now I know my review went a bit everywhere about the movie but that is how excited I was to see X-Men First Class. It was a great movie and such a delight to see that with the right people the Marvel movies not made by Marvel itself can be great and fun movies.
Now obviously there will be some talk about the characters used. One the first class of X-Men was Beast, Angel, Marvel Girl, Cyclops and Iceman. Not Havok, Banshee, Mystique, and bug Angel. But would that have changed the movie any? I do not know but I don’t care. Because it worked well within the movie and it’s universe. Also will say how we have Emma Frost here and then a younger version in Wolverine. Well it has been said from the film creators and some other sources that X-Men First Class is within the same line of movies as X-Men and X2, while ignoring Wolverine and X-Men 3. And speaking of Wolverine, a blink and you would miss cameo in the movie was rather funny. Also look out for Rebecca Romijn as an older Mystique and small glimpses of Scott Summers/Cyclops and Storm.

Ratings: 5 out of 5