truly, First Class!

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2011)

X-Men: First Class is exactly what every super hero franchise should have; a back-story about the origins of protagonists that builds their moral character for future iterations. Director Michael Vaughn introduces us to young Charles Xavier, whose telepathic abilities would make him a leader of the X-Men in the future and Eric, whose tragic loss in childhood would make him harness his magnetic abilities to overpower greater forces. Their friendship that brought the First Class of mutants together, would eventually see them parting ways to either moral end. The stylized action and class we saw in Vaughn's impressive 'Kick-Ass' is replicated here in a James Bond like epic, set during the cold war with super heroes who save the day.
Kevin Bacon plays the doomsday villain, Sebastian Shaw, whose abilities can harness any energy around him. With the cold war at its highest tension point, he plans nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban missile crisis. Meanwhile, the young Charles has grown up (James McAvoy) with Raven, aka Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), whose mutant abilities can take on any human's appearance and together, they discover fellow mutants with some help from the CIA. Erik's (Michael Fassbender) vengeful pursuit of Shaw brings him in alliance with Charles as they recruit mutants into their team to save mankind from the threat of annihilation in the Cuban seas.
Outstanding performances with the sheer intensity of Michael Fassbender and composed intelligence of James McAvoy delineate the determination and ambition of their younger characters whose friendship will be forced to the other ends of morality when they grow into Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Sir Ian McKellan's Magneto.Even though in shorter roles, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Rose Byrne are impressive. For a super hero movie, the acting is indeed First Class. Not to forget, the visual treat of January Jones as Emma Frost.
Vaughn consistently builds the dramatic tension with the situations between USA and Russia, Shaw and Charles, and finally, between Charles and Erik. The backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis and Shaw's doomsday plan remind us of the Mr.Bond but with the X-Men as heroes, Vaughn brings a truly unique dimension to good v/s evil.
The special effects as the mutants test their powers, are dazzling.The sequences involving Magneto lifting the submarine and then stopping a barrage of missiles are jaw dropping.Vaughn leaves no stone unturned in unleashing action that is visually striking while some exemplary acting keeps one engaged in an intriguing plot. X-Men:First Class is not only a system reboot but it also sets certain standards for super hero films especially this season. Seldom has it been so much fun in going into to the past of our favorite characters and relating every incident and event with who and what they become. Not since the transition of Darth Vader himself, has it even been so pleasing to see a villain proclaiming himself as Magneto did.
The lines of morality are blurry and one cannot take sides too easily in the formation of the X-Men and while being entertained, one can clearly sense the feeling of fulfillment in an almost flawless story that you wouldn't want to see the end of. This is truly, a First Class adventure you don't want to miss....
8.521 on a scale of 1-10.