X-Men: First Class -- The Beginning of a Superior Race

Rating: 8/10 --> Actually worth the $10 and some popcorn

Source: http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news/24262/New_Men_First_Class_Poster_Pushes_The_Limits_7th_Grade_Photoshop_Skills_1303222043.jpg

This summer is filled with blockbusters I want to see.  This summer is filled with comic book movies that I want to see.  This summer started with Thor, which was a fantastic piece of entertainment, and so I had pretty high expectations for X-Men: First Class. 

Here’s the thing, I know a lot about X-Men.  I don’t know as much as one of my buddies who has read over 20 years worth of X-Men comics from the beginning, but it’s definitely enough that I can pick out a lot of wrong things with any of the movies.  I could provide you with a laundry list of things that are wrong with First Class, but I’m not gonna do that.  I’m here to tell you why it is worth the $10 to go see X-Men: First Class.

So the basic story for those of you who aren’t a geek like me: Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) start a school for gifted youngsters (mutants), and must aid the US in preventing WWIII and the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The purpose of the movie: to provide an origin for Professor X and Magneto, and how the team came to be. 

If X-Men is any indication of how Green Lantern and Captain American: The First Avenger will be, then this summer will be filled with kick-ass, action packed, entertaining comic book movies.  Director Matthew Vaughn did a great job with a large cast of actors, a lot of who are much younger and inexperienced.  He made great choices in many aspects of the film.  For instance, the fight sequences were fantastic.  Every now and then a fight scene can move too quickly, making it hard to follow and somewhat nauseating, especially in super hero movies with a lot of CG (*cough*Spider-Man*cough).  Vaughn didn’t do that though. His fight scenes kept you on the edge of your sheet, incorporating a nice amount of mutant powers and physical fighting. 

The writing was good.  The story started off extremely strong, but in the middle it seemed rushed a little bit.  Great job with tying themes together, such as Xavier talking to Hank McCoy about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who then pulls a Dr. Jekyll and turns himself into Beast.  Overall it got the job done, with some cliché lines here and there (but that’s comic books for ya).

One thing that cannot go without mention is the amazing casting for this movie.  James McAvoy (Professor X) and Micahel Fassbender (Magneto) did an outstanding job.  They played their individual roles convincingly, and had great chemistry together.  One really touching moment is when Xavier tries to help Erik move a gigantic satellite, and in order to do so Xavier goes into Erik’s memories and pulls one of him and his mother.  Xavier tells Erik that, “True focus lies between rage and serenity,” and BOOM, Erik moves the entire satellite.  It was a really touching moment, and highlighted the actors’ great performance.

The other actors chosen in X-Men were surprisingly exceptional.  The most memorable of the supporting cast was Jennifer Lawrence.  She’s the same age as me (21 in August) and absolutely gorgeous.  It always gets me when I see people my age acting in movies, winning Olympic golds, and etc… I could be doing that… Anyway not only was she strikingly beautiful, but she played a young Mystique very well.  She did an awesome job of providing an outlet for the ideals of Xavier and Magneto, and how they differed.  She has a bright future and I expect we’ll be hearing a lot about her in years to come.

Kevin Bacon. Enough said.  Bacon was the bad guy, Sebastian Shaw, and it worked really well.  His first time on camera he’s speaking German, and you’re thinking, “who is that I know that guy?” then you realize it’s Kevin Bacon! I was pleasantly surprised with his role.

The other supporting X-Men: Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Lucas Till (Havok), and Caleb Landry Jones (Banshee) played the characters really well. 

January Jones (Emma Frost) on the other hand… wow… she absolutely sucked.  I love Mad Men, but she always annoys me on the show, and I figured it was just her character Betty’s personality.  I was wrong; she’s just a terrible actress.  She is a total smokeshow, but cannot act for her life. 

Usually in these big budget movies cinematography is really nothing special.  Although, X-Men won’t win the Oscar for best cinematography, I did notice that Vaughn and his cinematographer took certain opportunities to use nicely composed shots (with rack focus).  These were typically when Xavier and Magneto were having intimate conversations about human-mutant relations, and I appreciated the somewhat artsy touch to these few shots. 

Bottom line:  This movie was extremely entertaining.  You don’t need to know anything about X-Men  There are plenty of great special fx, fighting, things blowing up, attractive women (and men for the female persuasion), good writing, and great acting, except January Jones.  Go see this movie, you won’t be disappointed… unless you don’t have a soul… or you just are a complete jerk… to go see it.