X-Men: First Class (2011)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hrs 12 mins
Let me just start this out by saying that I use to have a very extensive knowledge of X-Men based off of watching the cartoon back in the 90’s. That knowledge is no longer quite as extensive unfortunately. While I know that there were three movies since the cartoon ended I couldn’t have been bothered with any of them. So I went into this movie excited to see it and refresh all of my memory. I must admit all of my memory wasn’t refreshed but I did have some flashbacks. I will warn you now that there will be some spoilers after this point. If you still haven’t seen it then you should probably stop reading now and just go watch the movie and come back to me later.
From what I was told by my fiancé, who saw this with me, the beginning of the movie was a shot for shot remake of the first movie. Apparently a very well done remake. He was impressed. This is saying a lot for those of you who do not know him. I was impressed. This taught me something about Magneto and how he came to be. This was something I had missed in the cartoon. From then on we are shown Professor X and the soon to be called Mystique and how they meet. We go back and forth between their lives as they are older and how they use their abilities. It was quite refreshing to see Prof. X walking around. I almost forgot for a minute that he wasn’t always paralyzed.
Now I won’t bore you with a scene by scene blow by blow. That isn’t what this review will be, even though it’s what I’m known for around here. To sum up the movie neatly you watch as Sebastian Shaw, played very well by Kevin Bacon, tries to take over the world, so to speak. The U.S. government tries to stop what he has put into place (they are claiming that he set up the Bay of Pigs incident between USA & Russia) first with a recruitment of other people who have “abilities.” They scrap that idea and go about it militarily but those abilitied people just won’t quit, and go against Shaw ultimately defeating him. There were also some fun cameos from Hugh Jackman, as Wolverine who turns down Magneto and Prof. X to join the group with a subtle expletive, and Rebecca Romijn, as Mystique for a few brief seconds.
“X-Men: First Class” was entertaining and thrilling. It had amazing effects. The writing wasn’t even that bad, which is tough to find in comic book based movies. It is either hokey and dumb or too dry for the audience to appreciate. The acting in this movie was fantastic. All of these guys were perfect for their roles. I fell in love with Michael Fassbender all over again. I loved him in “Inglourious Basterds,” and he was brilliant in this. The story hit all the right points for a reboot of this franchise. While I am told that some of things in the movie do differ from the way it was in the comic book, we will all just have to get over that. There is a thing called creative license and unfortunately all of us puritans out there will just have to live with it. All of the racial undertones were still there. The point that Stan Lee & Jack Kirby made when they wrote the X-Men comic back in the sixties came through brilliantly. Now I have read some reviews that think the point was completely missed. They argue over who in the sixties we should be comparing Magneto and Prof. X to. I won’t do that. I will just give a nod to Stan & Jack and how they wrote a great story about racial and societal tensions that is still apt today.
I have heard some people saying that “X-Men: First Class” wasn’t good. To each their own. For what it is worth I really enjoyed it. I was never big into comic books. I was never that big into comic book related cartoons and movies, except for Batman. This however brought me back around to the side of the comic book. It took me back to when I was a kid and watching the X-Men cartoon and being fully enthralled in it. I look forward to the next installment of this reboot. It has also made me interested in such movies as “The Green Lantern,” which comes out June 17th.
I highly endorse this movie and give it 4.5 frames. (There is always room for improvement.)
Here is the trailer for you to enjoy:
Until next time kids, this has been Hava.
