X-Men First Class Review 2011

The X Men are back with another episode within the series. This is an action packed film featuring the creation of the Xaviers Men, and how they came to be. The move is well constructed, and full of action. It is a must see for any X-men enthusiast and those of a lesser degree.

The beginning of the movie brings us back to World War II, depicting Magneto’s (Michael Fassbender) childhood life in a Nazi concentration camp based in Poland, 1944. We gain our first glimpse of the plot when the Nazis try to control of Magneto’s power. Following that, the movie is moved to Westchester New York, 1944. This is where we view the life of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), and the blue bodied Raven also known as Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) who befriends one another in the kitchen of Charles’ house. As time progresses into the Cuban missile crisis, the X-Men are faced with their first challenge yet.

Further along into the movie the viewers are introduced to new and old characters from the previous movies. You are then forced to figure out their roles in the film, and if they are the younger versions of characters from the previous films. This alone takes up the first quarter of the movie, and this frustration had changed my first initial judgment. Also, there seems to be a poor transition in-between the actors of the previous films, and the newest one. Their personalities seem out of context with each other, but, this might be that the characters had wised within the aging of their lives.

Once you have deciphered a majority of the roles, the movie begins to slow down as the plot becomes more intricate. As a result, the movie can appear much longer than it should by half way through. Fortunately, it does pick back up before you decide to fall asleep. But this time, with a clearer understanding for the characters and their roles in the film.

The acting in the film was great. You almost feel as if you have been brought back to 1960, and are living within the Cold War. The tension between the Americans, Russians, and mutants is so great that at any moment you feel as if the world as we know is about to crumble. The movie clearly highlights James McAvoy’s abilities as an actor. His achievements just don’t stop here, he has been seen in 36 television shows as well as movies such as; The Chronicles of Narnia as Mr. Tumnus, Atonement, as Robbie Turner , and Band of Brothers as Pvt. James W. Miller. I believe we can all agree that this is one of his best films, and another notch to add to the entertainment world.

The movie is somewhat like Star Wars on how it is set up. The series simply jumps around the years; it is not very progressive in that sense. It can almost leave the viewer confused, and mostly uninterested. Luckily, the director (Mathew Vaughn) had done a good job at linking the story from the separate films; this detoured from the typical Star Wars confusion where the story jumps around different time frames. Even so, Star Wars is one of the greatest sagas ever created by man. But, it would have been better if the producers had learned from Star Wars and created X-Men First Class first, then progress to the previous movies. There seems to have been more effort put into this film than the other Marvel movies. Perhaps the reason behind that is because it is a sequel to other movies. Iron Man was good but in my personal opinion lacked the same intensity as the X-Men films portrayed.

The production company (Bad Hat Harry/Donner’s Company) brought in Logan, better known as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) for a quick scene, which created a good connection to the previous movies. We also get to see how Magneto’s helmet comes about within the saga. For those of you that don’t know, the helmet protects against mind readers like Charles Xavier. Finally, we see the revealing mystery of how Professor Xavier becomes a paraplegic.

Like all of the other X-Men movies, the action was intense. Computer generated graphics otherwise known as CGI largely contributed to the action in the film. The action ranged from lasers to explosives. Events as simple as the crushing of soldier’s helmets became a mind blowing experience. The movie has the ability to go far beyond what we see in our daily lives because of the use of mutants. The movie isn’t held down by reality and therefore has more capabilities than a movie playing by the laws of science.

Overall, the movie was good; it had great action, and acting. I would suggest only those that have seen the rest of the saga to watch it, yet those that haven’t seen any else may benefit from watching X-Men First Class before the rest of the others. I have never been a big comic book reader, but those who do read comics may dislike the movie. Like all movies that follow books, they seem to lack the same detail that a book may go into.