X-Men: First Class
It’s almost ironic that the best film in the X-Men Franchise would also be the fifth in the series, moreso because it serves as a prequel that would have been most appropriate as the first entry instead, if not for the producers deciding to go for a modern day story and bringing in established stars such as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. It’s interesting to note how much the series has evolved in its own right, going from the bland gay allegory of the first two Bryan Singer films to the anything goes nature of Part 3 to the complex character development of the Wolverine Origins movie and now this, the official cinematic backstory of the Professor X and Magneto characters, directed with a sense of style by Matthew (Kick Ass) Vaughn and utilizing an excellent, airtight script that stays focused while still being epic. In the two leads, we get James McAvoy as Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr, now transformed from McKellen’s barely menacing old man to something more resembling a sleek action hero, and both men certainly earn their paychecks here, as we explore the friendship they had that was only hinted at in the previous films, seeing them work together on the same team while at the same time working out their fundamental differences in philosophy, and if anything, the story of their relationship of good friends who later become bitter enemies is more interesting and involving than what we saw between Wolverine and Sabretooth in the last movie. Best of all though, is when one makes a superhero movie, one must always have a worthy supervillain, and here we get it in the form of Kevin Bacon kicking ass and taking names as Sebastian Shaw, a mutant with the power to absorb energy and use it at his will, with his master plan being to manipulate both Russia and The United States into the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 in order to set off a worldwide nuclear war, which by his logic means that all humans will be destroyed and the mutants will survive to thrive and rebuild society, not to mention that while under the earlier guise of a Nazi scientist he was also directly responsible for the murder of Lensherr’s mother which is Magneto’s primary motive for working with Xavier so that he may have his revenge. The only drawback is the lack of and / or poor character development for some of the lesser mutant roles here, ranging from a stripper who has the ability to sprout wings, to an unappealing teenager who can destroy things by screaming, to a guy who can make tornados appear, to a black cab driver who can adapt to any environment (and doesn’t last long), along with a teleporter who resembles Beelzebub, and a midway scene where the younger mutants hang out like a bunch of goofy teens and show off their powers helps to underscore this weakness. However, we do have one guy that can throw laser beams (Havoc) who comes off pretty well, January Jones is ice cold (rightfully so) as evil telepath Emma Frost, the character of Beast (played by Kelsey Grammer in the earlier films and here portrayed by Nicholas Hoult) starts off as an annoying nerd but once he transforms into his true self is pretty badass, and best of all is Jennifer Lawrence as the young Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique: first introduced as Xavier’s childhood friend whom he adopted into his household, Lawrence’s Mystique succeeds at being both adorable and vulnerable as she comes to terms with what she is, causing the viewer to both fall in love with her and also ponder the very real possibility that she may be even more appealing and charismatic than the earlier films’ Rebecca Romijn. In short, she becomes a star of the first order, and just to add a cherry on top, we get Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine stealing the movie (with just one line of dialogue) in a brief but awesome cameo. As for the pacing and action scenes, Vaughn lovingly sets up his character arcs in the first half along with some destructive bits, before getting into his real setpieces later on with some cool mutant fights and brawls, and the final confrontation between Magneto and Shaw perhaps carrying the most resonance of any in the series. Overall, a smashing, entertaining, action-packed success, directed by a guy who would probably be well-suited to helm pretty much any comic book movie from now on…
9/10