Review: X-Men: First Class

X-Men:  First Class

6/8/11

Carmike Cinema 10

Medium Mr. Pibb

Appropriate A/C

Another week, another sequel:  the 5^th entry into the X-Men movie cannon.  And like most franchises, the movies followed pretty much the same pattern:  1^st was great, 2^nd was okay, 3^rd was awful then they reset and tried a new angle, the stand alone “Wolverine” movie.  I’ve seen it a few times and it was alright, nothing spectacular.  Now comes the natural next step in a franchise:  the prequel. 

Let me start by saying that I didn’t get into comic books much as a kid.  Just wasn’t my bag.  As I’ve gotten older I’ve enjoyed seeing comics brought to the big screen and given life.  Whenever the movies are released, I’ve learned more about the books themselves.  Marvel vs. DC, The Avengers, Stan Lee, etc.  Plus, one of my best college buddies, Jimmy Marsden played Cyclops in the first three X-Men movies so I followed them closely.  I loved the Spider Man and the Iron Man movies, Thor was okay, 1^st Hulk was terrible, reboot was alright.    

So, X-Men:  First Class brings us to the origin story of Professor X and Magneto.  James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender play the two old friends, respectively and both bring some recent credibility to the roles.  McAvoy is most recognized from “Wanted” and Fassbender from “Inglorious Basterds”, both decent movies.  The casting of the movie was part of what makes it great.  Kevin Bacon as the bad guy was brilliant and January Jones does a great job as one of his evil sidekicks.  There’s even a cameo by one of our favorite X-Men that you’ll love seeing. 

Bryan Singer, who directed the first two movies wrote the story for this one and you can tell that it has the quality and feel of those two, the best of the films in my opinion.  The story centers around the Cuban Missile Crisis and the role that the mutants played in staving off World War III in this re-imagined staging of those events.  Mutants are just starting to find each other and begin to understand one another.  The movie does a great job of setting the stage for the “should we try to blend in and work with humans” vs. the “we are the superior race and humans must be eradicated” camps that Professor X and Magneto later espouse. 

Bottom line:  I was pleasantly surprised.  I REALLY liked this movie.  You don’t even need to have seen the 1^st movies or really know much about the story to enjoy it.  It’s appropriate for most ages but there is quite a bit of violence.  Probably wouldn’t take the 5 year old but 13 year olds would like it.

My review: 

3/4, B, See it in the theater