X-Men: First Class

Rating: 7/10 (7 September 2011)

As most summer blockbusters have lost its credibility and novelty in recent years, this 120 minutes prequel gratifies me with its intricacy of different characters and the visual thumps (Magneto Vs. submarine scene is expressly phenomenal notwithstanding that it had been seen in the trailer).
The overwhelming bromance between Professor X and Magneto has meshed well with the gay trend and indeed the film can be introduced as a mutants version of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN without too much toil (taking account of the overtone of the similar social situation between gay and mutant), plus nearly all female characters are curbed as wallflowers (Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence) or stereotyped femmes fatales (January Jones, Zoe Kravitz). It's a man's world, even for mutants.
A major merit is that the film magnificently applies the Cuban missile crisis into and plot and subsequently maneuvers a credible Cold War milieu, which according to the director Matthew Vaughn, he got the inspiration from earlier James Bond films.
About the cast, James McAvoy plays a brainy-over-brawny hoot with ease while Michael Fassbender exudes a menacing characteristic which could widen his remit into an unprecedented area (2011 dooms to be his year, JANE EYRE, A DANGEROUS METHOD and SHAME, I bet at an Oscar nomination is unquestionably within his reach). The mutual attraction between them is mesmerizingly fruitful. But the villain Kevin Bacon is pigeonholed as a shallow badass which falls into the so-called Hollywood miscreant's formula, although his language versatility is the only saving grace.
Still the film cannot or dare not to be a true alien from its kins or to be distinguished from other Marvel pics, hackneyed tactics are ubiquitous (compared with Vaughn's groundbreaking previous work KICK-ASS 2010), and some parts are tedious enough to bring about a tad repellence (notably the invincible Kevin Bacon Vs. human soldiers, and the assault on the mutant base, the slaughtering is purely annoying and corny).
Now it is not clearly whether the film will reignite a further sequel since its the box office transcript is well underperformed. It's a pity that it is much more entertaining than THOR and the newest installment of the Caribbean pirates.