A Reinvigorated Franchise

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 2011)

When I first heard another origin story was being crafted for the X-Men franchise I instantly felt weary. It has only been 2 years since Wolverine got a chance at his very own prequel and it failed for me on many different levels. Leaving a profound feeling of an ailing franchise refusing to let itself and a business looking to suck every last dollar out of the consumer's veins before heading the way of Atlantis. It brings great relief to say with the fullest confidence that not only does this movie reinvigorate the X-Men movies with a prequel reboot it also redeems itself on its last two predecessors.
Summary First Class aptly set during the political and social unrest of the 1960's gives director (Vaughn) a chance at showing this era in a very stylish way. Dealings with the real world event that was the October crisis of 1962 ( Cuban Missile crisis) which is used as a visually stunning but at times cheesy rewrite of history. However, this was merely a very cool backdrop for the climax of the movie. Sebastian Shaw (Bacon) is attempting to ignite World War 3 by pushing the sides of both governments (Soviet Union and The United States to make aggressive moves towards one another. Let me state this plainly, this is without doubt the best action in all the five movies , easily and theirs a ton of it to boot!
X-Men franchise begins with the story of two very different people. Charles Xavier(McAvoy)and Eric Lehnsherr (Fassbender). Both destined to be best friends (if you've seen the original trilogy) both destined to be archenemies. With that knowledge already present the movie to succeed for me had to keep the characters interesting and make their progression from who they are to who they will be believable. Thankfully the movie doesn't miss a beat here and the situations that drive these two characters are powerful and outstandingly acted that they alone can carry this film. After two great performances by the young Professor X and Magneto the two other most well developed characters are Raven (Lawrence) and Beast(Hoult) who strive to find normalcy in their looks. This is a great component of the movie because although they start with a common goal their ideals won't remain the same (very similar to the main two characters of the film). The definition of what is beauty is constantly brought up throughout the film by the main four characters and their takes on it.
Unfortunately while these four characters are great it leaves the rest of the films super heroes (and villains!) completely neglected. The films main antagonist Shaw (Bacon) is the only developed baddie in the whole thing everyone else is only cardboard with a superpower and little dialogue. Even Shaw though is merely just a man with the same vision as the soon to be Magneto which leaves him feeling cheap and recycled.
The problems of characters is also prevalent on the heroes side as well. With the exception of the big four I named earlier all the other characters of the X-Men team are only given a scene or two of good characterization, in comparison to the villains though this is a treat (they actually have full sentences!).
Aside from the problem of too many characters for it own good ( same problem as Wolverine Origins) and at times a cheesy plot First Class handles its development of its main four people ( Raven, Eric , Charles, and Hank) skillfully. All these people are brought back in large roles in the later X-Men films which only bolsters the strength of those films as well. The action of the movie is always awesome (Magneto comes to mind for so many reasons) and at times even awe inspiring. The action wasn't in the end the factor that kept me invested in this long movie.
In the end it was the simple story of two men becoming friends who are torn apart by what they believe in desperately trying to change each other to see the world their way , while still holding a mutual respect for each other ( this works especially well when the film reaches its ultimate climax).
If you liked any of the previous X-Men movies you will like this a lot. If you've never seen the others the foreshadowing of this prequel won't have the impact it has on those who have but the movie will still be good entertainment.
Rating 7.8/10