Very entertaining and very well done

Rating: 8/10 (4 June 2011)

This latest installment in the X-Men franchise—technically a prequel, another "origins" story—features lots of action and thrills. Not only is it a worthy addition to the series, but it also manages to transcend many of the clichés that often hamper prequels. Many directors of prequels try to cut corners, assuming that the audience already knows the characters and just wants another story featuring those familiar characters. And although we do know most of the major players in this film—well, if you've seen the original X-Men films, you know them—we don't know how their relationships started and how the dynamics among them developed. "X-Men: First Class" is a genuine comic book action adventure film—and, considering that it's over two hours long, it moves at a very brisk pace—but it's also the story of how a community of "others" began, how they developed their identities, how they related to each other, and how they ultimately became divided into the opposing factions we've come to know. If you detect sociocultural metaphors within the story, that's all well and good, but the director is not interested in conveying some profound cultural message here. He's interested in making a fun-filled action movie, and he succeeds very impressively. The performances are top-notch, especially Michael Fassbender as the young Magneto and the always-solid James McAvoy as the young Charles Xavier. And be on the lookout for Hugh Jackman's brief but highly amusing cameo as Wolverine.