X-Men First Class: A 'First Class' Reboot for the Franchise

X-Men: First Class has sort of soared below the radar when it comes to this summer's superhero adaptations. With "Thor," "Green Lantern" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" taking most of the headlines, Matthew Vaughn's new installment of the classic Marvel franchise may take people by surprise. And it really does! A Huge Huge surprise indeed!
With "Kick-Ass," Vaughn already showed that he has a keen eye for the comic book genre and with the vintage 1960's setting, in the middle of the most popular worldwide events the human race has ever seen, “First Class” could really be the best superhero film released all summer. Through a story that sets up the the yin-and-yang between the mutant population’s two most influential personalities, on the one hand we’ve got Charles Xavier (played by James McAvoy, in the role Patrick Stewart made famous in original “X-Men” trilogy), who takes his doctorate from Oxford willing to help mutants like himself and his blue-skinned shape-shifter best friend Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) seek acceptance from non-mutant humans. On the other hand is the metal manipulator Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender, flawlessly brooding as a young Ian McKellen), who’s bent on razing the former Nazi doctor (Kevin Bacon) , now a businessman named Sebastian Shaw, responsible for murdering his mother in the Warsaw ghetto in 1944. But Sebastian has assembled his team of mutant, including the telepathic Emma Frost (January Jones), and sets out to provoke a U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict that will thin the ranks of ordinary humans. Recruited by the CIA for a "Division of Mutant Powers" aimed at countering the threat, Xavier and Erik put together a mutant army of their own, mainly stocked with young, unrefined talent — mutants we'll come to know.

# While manages the neat trick of staying true to the legendary source material, this film also crafting something excitingly fresh and gratifying character study.

# Vaughn’s direction is resourceful and attractive, even the essential recruitment and schooling montages look exciting under his realm. Despite a bit of noticeably weak side characters, his balancing of multiple character arcs work really well.

# Vaughn also preserves the intricate globe-hopping story going fluidly, flavored with sequences of good humor, admirable drama and retro 1960s style.

# Considering it was created by six people (including director Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman who penned Vaughn’s 2010 hit “Kick-Ass” and producer Bryan Singer), the script is surprisingly coherent even allowed each Marvel star’s genesis legroom without distracting the plot flow.

# Take the superpowers away of the story and we will have a surprisingly good foundation for a Bond or Mission:Impossible storyline. And that’s a somewhat ground-breaking scheme for a comic book niche.

# This also cleverly incorporates the X-Men into a shadow history of the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis.

# Collaborated with special-effects expert John Dykstra (who worked on the original “Star Wars”), Vaughn gives the mutants superpowers that are as wide-ranging and genuine as the characters.

# it is in the qualified character drama between Charles and Erik where “First Class” reaches its supreme payoff. For the witty interaction between the two, some of the best lines in the script are reserved especially in their thought-provoking arguments for and against war and peacekeeping.

# McAvoy and Fassbender also provide great chemistry, and their outstanding performances - one the striking yet perilous personage and the other the charismatic and intellectual fellow - allow the friendship between their characters to be the rightful emotional heart of the story.

# McAvoy prudently avoids impersonating the presentation of the franchise's original Prof. X. Lending a much needed gravitas to an anchor rol, he has playful energy and unshakable nobility in his performance.

# Fassbender makes the most out of his angry-man Magneto role, simmering with rage ever chance he gets also displayed a talent for finding the vulnerable side of fierce character.

# The opening scene is a repeat of the dramatic death-camp intro from Singer’s first X-Men movie - but this time we get to see what really happens to the young Erik.

# Jennifer Lawrence prove her acting chops superbly. She’s right in tune at depicting the war inside Raven/Mystique soul, her loyalty to Charles at odds with her desire to stand beside Erik.

# Rose Byrne gives another good performance and brings a welcome touch of humanism as the rare human to accept the extraordinaire.

# January Jones is stunning in her skin-tight Bond girl-style outfits and she adopts a suitably icy demeanor.

# Kevin Bacon doing vile quite well but it’s often hard to take his performance seriously. He attempts to look sinister but it can come across as laughable.

# The great editing of the film complements the visuals brilliantly. In addition, some of the effects stuff is done with mixtures of “real” footage and CG that is smart and freeing and stunning.

# There are bags of hints sprinkled throughout about the future for the familiar mutants that we've already seen and also some perfect cameos which had everyone talking about it on the way out.

# The filmmakers clearly plotting a prequel trilogy as they leave plenty of loose ends to tie up and a lot of room to introduce more X-Men mutants down the line.

Overall Score: 9/10 (This completely exciting entry has without doubt revitalised the franchise)