Class Action

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2019)

Prep for "Dark Phoenix" begins with the first of the prequel films for the main X-men series.
Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) discovered his magnetic mutant powers under extreme duress as Sebastian Schmidt (Kevin Bacon) exploits the Nazi's reign of terror to instigate his own experiments. 12 years later, the now renamed Sebastian Shaw is interfering in both the Military and political landscapes in the US and the USSR, which brings him to the attention of the CIA, who contact Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) an expert on genetic mutations to assist them. But Lensherr has not forgotten the terrors of his youth, and is looking for revenge.
It was interesting to watch "First Class" again after all these years. In a few aspects, particularly from a visual standpoint, CGI has moved on quite a lot in just the 8 years since and a few of the effects don't stand up that well. There's no "weight" to a lot of them and a few specific examples, Beast running with Xavier as one, just look awful. Away from those concerns though, the film is pretty solid. It has one of the most straightforward and logical plotlines of film in this series, I understood the motivations for each of character and only really found that Mystique's "accepting who she really is" turnaround came without sufficient motivation. It's got quite a lot of humorous moments and a few references to the wider series, McAvoy talking about losing his fair, the Stryker family making their first appearance, what looks like a young Storm, Cameos from Rebecca Romjin and, of course, Hugh Jackman.
There are issues beyond the CGI. Michael Fassbender's accent wavers throughout and he's very Irish in the scenes towards the end. It's a little odd to see Mystique throw herself at both Beast and Magneto at a couple of points, you feel like they wouldn't make those choices were the film being made today. Minor quibbles in a very entertaining additional to the franchise.