A fine origins story

Rating: 8/10 (23 September 2015)

This prequel shows us the origins of the X-Men. It opens in the same place as the original film as Erik Lensherr, a young boy in a Nazi concentration camp, is separated from his mother and somehow bends the metal gates with his mind. This is witnessed by scientist Dr. Klaus Schmidt who decides to research the boy's powers. Across the Atlantic another meeting is taking place; young telepath Charles Xavier finds a shapeshifter, named Raven, stealing food from his kitchen; rather than alerting anybody he is happy to meet somebody else with powers and befriends her.
The action then moves forward to 1962 and Erik is searching for Schmidt while Xavier is receiving his doctorate in Oxford. Schmidt, now calling himself Sebastian Shaw, is trying to engineer a war between the United States and the Soviet Union with the help of three mutants. One of his meetings is witnessed by CIA agent Moira MacTaggert; her report about mutants is disregarded and she sets about finding an expert in the field Xavier. Once on board he sets about finding and recruiting other mutants, including Erik, to stop Shaw. It emerges that Shaw is also a mutant who believes that non-mutant humans must be eliminated. Once Xavier has found a group of young mutants he sets about helping them get the best of their abilities will it be enough to stop Shaw and prevent a nuclear war?
I must admit when I started watching this I wasn't expecting anything special as prequels often fail to live up to the original films; largely because we know that main characters must survive thankfully I was wrong. While we knew certain characters would survive that didn't weaken the story; there were plenty we didn't know about and what we learn about the early lives of familiar characters is interesting. The cast does a great job with Michael Fassbender being particularly effective as Erik the troubled man destined to become Magneto, James McAvoy does a fine job as Xavier and Jennifer Lawrence delightfully portrays Raven as she comes to terms with her differences and becomes Mystique. The story is exciting and nicely incorporates real life events, namely the Cuban missile crisis. The special effects are top notch making the impossible look believable. Overall a fine origins story that fans of the original and people new to the franchise can enjoy.