More Early Reviews In For X-Men: First Class

Much or the reviews are slightly spoilery so if you want to read the whole thing, click on the links back to the sites. Here are some highlights from the final paragraph summations..

Like The Dark Knight before it, the film has far-reaching ambitions outside of the normal comic book world, and by Vaughn insisting on making sure the very human and entirely relatable interplay between characters is allowed to breathe, and more importantly, develop in amongst some impressive action beats, the audience is fully engaged right through to the huge (yet somehow intimate) ending, which delivers a devastating and emotional punch seldom seen in films of this nature.

Easily up there with the second feature, X-Men: First Class should hopefully eliminate the nasty, lingering aftertaste of the thoroughly underwhelming third installment (incidentally, a film which Vaughn was mooted to direct at one point) and the anemic Wolverine spin-off. Fox are now in the enviable position (like the aforementioned Star Trek) to essentially start afresh and embark on another series. Let’s hope they stick to this template in the future, whether it’s for another X-Men film or any comic book adaptation for that matter.
If the rest of this season’s high-profile superhero features get anywhere close to matching what Vaughn has done here, we could be in for a thoroughly satisfying summer of escapism.

Vaughn has often expressed his desire to make a Bond film, but here he’s gone one better, crafting a superior, exciting, and intelligent comic book movie around an anti-Bond, who’s just as cool, just as calculating and necessarily cruel, but existing in a parallel universe where the fantastic is born from genetic mutation and not Q’s laboratory.

But perhaps Vaughn’s best trick is infusing a real emotional core within X-Men: First Class’s expected stylish action and special effects. Leaving us on a tropical beach with the last vestiges of Erik’s humanity disappearing, like blood running into the sand.

There's a lot of ground to cover to give the gang a chance to stretch their legs (wings, feet, etc), but fortunately Jane Goldman's tight script and Vaughn's zip and pacing (abundantly in his brilliant anti-superhero Kick-Ass, where he also teamed with Goldman) mean the balance between big set-pieces and character business is deftly held.

If First Class doesn't quite achieve the anarchy and irreverence of Kick-Ass it's partly because this is a different beast - not lacking in charm and wit, but occasionally in danger of veering towards broader laughs.

This isn't one for tots, though - carrying the same 12A rating as The Dark Knight, it mirrors Christopher Nolan's unwillingness to shy away from scenes of cruelty too bleak for infants.

"Mutant and proud!" asserts a naked, blue Jennifer Lawrence, in the closest X-Men: First Class gets to a catchphrase. She could be talking about Vaughn's film, which takes DNA from Singer (back in the fold as producer) and Marvel and mixes it with Bond and Batman, bromance and coming-of-age angst to create a cool, character-driven actioner with a social conscience that's something to be proud of. Top class.