Movie Review: 'X-Men First Class'

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Starring:  James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon

Watched At: Clearview Cinema 12 in Parsippany, NJ

My Rating: 8/10

For those of you who don't already know, "X-Men: First Class," the latest among several superhero films to come out this summer, is a prequel to the X-men franchise that started in 2000, which included two well-received summer action films ("X-Men" and "X2"), and more recently, two critically panned ones. Thankfully, with this latest installment, director Matthew Vaughn has brought a breath of fresh air to the sagging franchise, and maybe even the superhero genre as a whole. Unlike other superhero films, which seem to focus too much on action, and tell a simple story of good versus evil, "X-Men: First Class" manages to find a great balance between showing off its cool special effects and creating a fairly unique character driven story, albeit with some cheesy and predictable moments.

If you've never seen an X-Men film before, the premise is this: The human race has begun to evolve, with certain individuals called mutants developing superpowers. In the original X-Men films, these individuals are hated and feared by normal humans, but this prequel takes place before humans are aware of their existence. This particular entry in the franchise is set in the 1960s, when The US still feared nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Among the mutants involved are Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), a telepath who wants peaceful coexistence between the humans and mutants, as well as Erik, a Holocaust survivor with the ability to control metal, who's out for revenge against the man who tortured him and killed his mother. To make a long story short, this man, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), happens to be a powerful mutant who hopes to use the US/Soviet tensions to his advantage. Charles and Erik, both after Shaw for different reasons, meet and become allies, despite their conflicting philosophies on whether or not mutants can or should peacefully coexist with humans.

Even if you've never seen an X-men film before, you can still enjoy this one, although you'll miss a few in-jokes, such as a cameo that got the biggest laughs from the audience. All you really need to know is that, in the future installments, Charles is known as Professor X, and he's essentially the Dumbledore of the series, and Erik is known as Magneto, and he's…well, the Voldemort (Ok, it's not a perfect comparison). This is the story of how the two friends ended up on their different paths.

I admit that I'm not all that good at summing up movie plots, so I'll just assure you that it's better than I'm probably making it sound. It helps that the film is very well directed, and as some critics have said, feels more like a James Bond film than a superhero film, style-wise. The writing for the most part is very good, with lots of humor that makes us remember that nobody is taking this film too seriously. However, it also has some very cheesy dialogues, especially when it comes to the side-story of Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), whose super-powers also come with some odd physical attributes. Aside from this, though, the pacing was pretty good, although I felt that it took a little bit of time for the story to really get going. Another positive note is the score, which really helped to create a sense of tension in several scenes.

What I particularly liked about this movie, though, was that compared to most superhero films I've seen, this one felt much more character-driven than plot driven. The action sequences are as fun and exciting as you expect from a summer action film, but they never felt like they were just stuck in there needlessly, and take a back seat to developing the characters Charles and Erik, both played brilliantly by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively. Both actors are relatively well known for their critically-acclaimed dramas ("Atonement," "Jane Eyre"), and they each bring that same talent to the field here, giving some great performances the likes of which we rarely see in big blockbusters these days. Fassbender is especially good, stealing every scene he's in and making us sympathize with Erik as much as we fear him. Although McAvoy may be a little over-shadowed by Fassbender, he is also very fitting for the role of young Charles, bringing out the character's emotion as well as his charm.  Another strength of the script is that it doesn't paint Erik as the clear "bad guy," and leaves it up to you to decide whether he or Charles is really right in the end. As far as the other actors are concerned, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult, who play Raven and Hank tend to have the most cliche dialogues in the film, but they do their best despite this. There are also a handful of other side characters involved in the story, many of whom I would have liked to get to know better. While the movie is already pretty long (a little over two hours), it might not have hurt to develop some of these side characters a little more.

 This is however, a pretty minor complaint, since after all, this is meant to be the story of how Charles and Erik became the Professor X and Magneto we've seen in the original franchise, and the film definitely delivers in this aspect. Considering that this movie was also said to have been rushed into production by the studio, I'm even more impressed by how good it was. I definitely recommend this movie to any fans of the superhero genre, or anyone who likes a good, exciting action movie.

Now, I'm aware that this has already been playing for a couple weeks, so if you've seen it by now, let me know what you thought!