One of the best prequel films around

Rating: 9/10 (21 May 2014)

After watching the original trilogy i have always loved the connection between Charles and Erik, its always been a compelling relationship which i would have loved to have seen more of and when i first saw the trailer for First Class i knew this was going to be something special. I always loved scenes when the two of them are playing chess and talking about mankind and their different opinions on 'people just following orders'. From the start of the film you know Erik is going to be driven by anger and will ultimately go his separate way to start the Brotherhood. Personally i was a massive fan of the cast, Im a big fan of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, their two of my favourite actors and i cant think of anyone else who could of fitted the roles as Charles and Erik any better. The on-screen chemistry between the both of them really shows how they both effect each overs choices. there is some beautiful scenes with both of them like the submarine sequence and the ending on the beach which really make you believe the characters. I always found Mystique an interesting character and i'm glad they had an actress like Jennifer Lawrence portray her for this film. In the original trilogy she was nearly silence most of the time and was very stealthy and assassin like. I felt she had a much more interesting back story than i thought she would of had and i liked how she started as a good mutant and being a close friend to Charles and how through out the film she is slowly edging towards Erik and ultimately goes off with him. I'm not sure if any of this happens in the comics but for the film its a good way to make Mystique a more central character.There were loads of great characters and actors involved in this film, i could talk about each of them individually but to sum it up, some of the better ones were Kevin Bacon as the villain Sabastian Shaw, Nicholas Hoult as the shy and troubled professor Hank McCoy and Lucas Till who plays Alex Summers, the antisocial thug that gives Hank bit of a rough time but ultimately a good guy, plus there's a sweet cameo during the recruitment scene with i really enjoyed.
There's always some things that fall short in films, there was only small problems i found with this film and for me it was mainly The lack of suspense, Suspense might be the wrong word to use but with a film being a prequel you know that certain characters wont die. Charles, Erik, Mystique, and Beast were all characters that you know even if they get into trouble they cant die since their all in the original trilogy. Plus you know at some point James McAvoy will end up in a wheelchair. I guess that's why they had so many new characters introduced like Darwin, Riptide, Azazel, Angel and Banshee so they could kill off some people and you know at some point Mystique will side with Erik. So with these things all looming over i kind of felt like it took away a certain climax at the end of the film.
Ultimately this is one of the best superhero films iv seen and one of my favourite Marvel films to date. The film balances the action, the emotion and the character development is amazing. I would highly recommend this film to anyone looking for a good superhero film.