Is it top marks for Xavier's first class?

Rating: 9/10 (13 August 2011)

Another year another X men film in the summer blockbuster pipeline but is this latest mutant outing worth getting your adamantium claws into after the recent disappointments that was the character cluttered X men Last stand and the unnecessary X men origins Wolverine? X men first class tells the origins of how the x men came to be with Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) recruiting other super powered mutants to find and locate Mutant bad guy Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) who believes that Mutant power is a gift and should be used to wipe out humanity. In Xavier's pursuit to recruit other mutants to join his cause Xavier encounters Erik lehnsherr he has his own personal vendetta for taking down Shaw. The core of the plot focuses on Xavier and Erik's strenuous relationship with their 2 conflicting ideologies clashing throughout the movie however what makes it interesting is the gentlemen like manner their arguments have making this an interesting character dynamic with the hero respecting the Villains decisions and vies versa. This makes the audience somewhat sympathise with Magneto with his suffering at the hands of humanity and Shaw.
Along with the relationship between Xavier and Erik there are a vast amount of side characters which all get their chance to shine with the training montage which shows the audience how these characters grow and the relationship between each other with Hank and Havoc having a ladish and competitive relationship and the blossoming romance between Hank and Raven. These relationships between the vast amounts of characters aren't explored in great detail but it does provide a sense of unification between the X men. X men first class is also embedded into historical context with the cold war offering a backdrop to the civil conflict between the mutants. This heightens the tension with the looming threat of the cold war contributing to the pacing of the film with the Cuban missile crisis leading to the climax of the film and an explosive finale which wraps everything together. Other memorable scenes such as the training montage and recruiting the mutants provided with some interesting camera work and unforgettable words of wisdom from Xavier. The overall the film's strengths would be the struggle the characters go through and how mutants are shunned by society especially the ones with physical indifferences such as Mystique/Raven and Hank/Beast (perhaps echoing the intolerance of homophobia) and how the mutants confront it. It is also interesting to see the youthfulness of Xavier by chatting up ladies this shows a different aspect of the character from the X men trilogy. The relationship between Xavier and Magneto as mentioned before is the films basic core with both these characters having similar and different agendas and creates a moral dilemma for the audience. The pacing is also handled very well with the looming threat of war gradually building up throughout the film in which the X men prepare for. The action scenes in the film are also stellar with the mutant's powers which are cleverly handled in the action scenes. Despite the interesting character dynamics of Xavier and Erik some characters aren't developed as well an example would be the villain Sebastian Shaw despite his lust for power he doesn't have a clear motive apart from to exterminate all the humans this makes his agenda (got to stop using that word) very cliché. It is interesting however that the character of Shaw foreshadows Magneto's own agenda but unlike Shaw, Erik has been a victim of humanities cruelty. Some of the dialogue between characters is also very obvious and isn't needed with scenes like this in need of some tweaking. Another criticism would be the lack of continuity between the other X men films. This comes across as confusing with First class being a Reboot and a prequel. The film is also left open for a sequel which might be a risky move because the film stands better on its own.
Although it's not in 3D X men first class has all the right pickings for a summer blockbuster. Brilliant characters combined with brilliant action gives X men first class full marks from the mutant Ofsted inspection. 