Where is Wolverine?

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2014)

When Bryan Singer left and made the Superman Returns movie instead of the third X-men film, he suggested Matthew Vaughn, who was then had only made Layer Cake, but Singer still thought there was something to him. It seems that he may have been wrong, Vaughn freaked out over the tight schedule and backed out. Five years later and Fox needed to pull together an x-men movie pronto, otherwise the rights would return to Marvel. The schedule was tighter than before, almost not enough time and the producers had no intention of offering the job to Vaghn who had titled a genius since then. Singer though was determined to see it happen and the director of Kick-Ass didn't back out this time around. Bringing together a production – almost from scratch – that doesn't just set the foundation for the whole series but expands it too is not easy. But with most prequel films, sequels, remakes money and lack of ideas are usually the motivations. Matthew Vaghn set out to make the impossible possible; making a film that at once had a point and also could set the stage for the X-men films already out there, and could also be the first brick in the wall of a new series. It's a two-sided plan and the film was just as two-sided. In 1944, in Poland, the boy Erik Lehnsherr unleashes his magnetic power when his mother is killed. In New York, the wealthy Charles Xavier meets the mutant Raven and invites her to live in his manor. In 1962, the CIA agent Moira MacTaggert and Professor Xavier recruit mutants to work for the USA government to fight the evil Shaw, who Magneto is itching to get revenge for killing his mother. Okay first off the legs it is standing on. When I first heard about the concept of First Class it looked like a semi serious teen flick with humor, love and action. This concept was tossed. Vaugh didn't leave out the teenagers but Bryan Singers story new take on the Kuban missile crisis made it more serious. Superhero movies don't usually like to leave the present – enough money is spent of the effects as is without adding the hardship of making the background look like a different era. First Class sticks with the 60s, and the atmosphere is reminiscent of conspiracy theory thrillers. The choice of actors was perfect. A young Charles Xavier played by James McAvoy and Erik Lehnsherr is played by Michael Fassbender only good things can be said about the two of them. Kevin Bacon is a great baddie, but I can't get over the fact that the film is almost Wolverine free. The problems start with the other characters. If it's not bad enough that there are too many of them, but they are shallow and can only be categorized by their powers and which side they are on. 132 min. at first seems like a lot, but the film has so many characters, that there ends up being no time to know the motivation of a few main characters. The special effects too are a little disappointing, and there really isn't much action in it to begin with. Another painful deficit is the lack of blood, a few scenes are just play ridiculous without it. The whole thing just becomes too sterile. Of course with any prequel, First Class looks to tie itself in with the other films – with a few cheeky jokes that are sometimes funny but are mostly just desperate attempts at humor. With all its mistakes and things its lacking First Class has heart, power and brains, now it just needs some experience and patience to grow up to the level of Singer's classics. So to me it's a little better than average. I'm sure that its biggest problem is that I thing the old series is the etalon. 6/10 Max - https://www.youtube.com/user/silverscreenreviews1