X-Men goes old school: My review of First Class

In the current climate of movie franchises, the reboot is becoming ever more popular. Chris Nolan proved Batman was not a dormant character, Marc Webb looks set to prove Spider-Man still has the chops to be a worthy hero after a dismal third outing and now Matthew Vaughn, originally slated for X3, is showing (and proving) to us that Kick-Ass was not a one-time deal. No, not at all. X-Men: First Class, despite its origins as a prequel and reboot, proves to be one of the better installments in the franchise, if not the top dog.

So to begin: we are thrown into the action almost immediately. Like the original X-Men, we start at a Nazi concentration camp where young Erik Lensherr (the soon-to-be Magneto) showcases his ability to bend metal with his mind. Through his anger, he is able to manifest an unstoppable force that catches the eye of Sebastian Shaw, head of the Hellfire Club (under the guise of Dr. Schmidt). Schmidt, in order to allow these powers to manifest, murders Lensherr's mother in front of him creating great anger within the young Magneto. This sets up one strand of the storyline where an adult Erik, played fantastically by Michael Fassbender, searches out the Nazis responsible in the hope he finds Shaw and exacts revenge.


Cut to the next storyline: we are introduced to a young Charles Xavier who stumbles upon a young shapeshifter Raven (soon-to-be Mystique) stealing from his kitchen. They form a friendship that lasts into their adult lives where Xavier, played by James McAvoy with a full head of hair and no wheelchair, has been made a Professor and has the ability to read the minds of others. But we know all this already. So what's different?! Well, straight away the context is shifted to the 1960s; a distinctly and vastly different setting to that of the original trilogy. These characters are emerging amidst political turmoil, like the Civil Rights Movement, The Cold War and the Bay of Pigs. These specific moments in history are worked into the film's story and are used as a motive for Shaw's evil plan to take over the world. He plans to use the Cuban Missle Crisis as a means to dominate the world of mutants, riding the world of humans and replacing them as the dominant species. 


With such a serious undertone to the story, much of the action is put on the backseat until the finale so there is a lot of dialogue to listen to. Its not a typical X-Men movie. It could easily be another story in its place; it just so happens the mutants are used as metaphors for outcasts and danger. There is a fantastic scene between Fassbender and McAvoy which questions Erik's anger and how to confront that successfully without giving into the temptation of revenge. Xavier tries throughout the movie to get Lensherr to confront his demons without killing. As we already know, they are destined to be arch-enemies and with this knowledge, the tension is unbearable. Lensherr is such a confused, distraught and angry individual. He is tortured by the memory of his mother but also his powers, which he eventually learns to embrace. Its great storytelling and Vaughn makes sure that these lengthy dialogue scenes never at all seem dull.


But its not all about Xavier and Lensherr. We are treated to the likes of Hank McCoy, who will eventually become the big blue furball Beast and is played surprisingly well by Nicholas Hoult of Skins fame. There is also an introduction for Havoc, the younger brother of X-Men regular Cyclops and Banshee, another X-Men original. There all given decent screentime as well which made me happy since the original trilogy often brushed aside these characters in favour of the Wolverine plotline. Not that wasn't amazing, it just focused on his character rather the X-Men as a whole unit whereas First Class does this and succeeds in giving the audience an introduction for what is sure to be an definate suquel.


The likes of telepath Emma Frost, played by January Jones and Azazel, future father of Nightcrawler, both make an appearance siding with Sebastian Shaw's Hellfire Club. These will all be future players in the next installment and I look forward to seeing how their characters advance. They all have a big role to play in the big world of X-Men.


To conclude, there is lots of fun to be had with this latest installment in the X-Men franchise. It is a necessary move to make because we shed some light on the origins of the team and who they were before Xavier and Lensherr went their seperate ways. The dialogue scenes offer references for the fanboys but enough to satisfy the average cinema-goer and once the action begins, the set pieces showcase what can be done with a relatively low budget. And watch out for a sneaky cameo from a series regular.......it's a good 'un! 


4/5 stars