It's been a long (short) and tough road for
X-Men: First Class. Rushed production, rumored problems between the cast and director, etc...For a film with our favorite mutants, and this time the story takes place in the 60s, it is a known fact that this big production needed to be finished in a very short amount of time. So, is Matthew Vaughn's new X-Men worth all the praise? More below.
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS unveils the epic beginning of the X-Men saga – and a secret history of the Cold War and our world at the brink of nuclear Armageddon. As the first class discovers, harnesses, and comes to terms with their formidable powers, alliances are formed that will shape the eternal war between the heroes and villains of the X-Men universe.
THE GOOD:
As always, I am going to start with direction. Matthew Vaughn directed three films so far, and every one of them was good and got mostly positive reviews. I have been a fan of Vaughn's work since
Layer Cake, starring Daniel Craig, and he quickly became one of the best directors working today. His unique style for telling the story always brings something new and fresh to each of the films.
X-Men: First Class is no is no exception. With the length of over two hours, films doesn't have boring parts and it everything moves forward fast, but you have enough time to understand the story and characters and it keeps you entertained through the whole thing.
X-Men: First Class has two main characters, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. Everyone else is the supporting part of the cast. James McAvoy plays a very interesting take on Professor X, and her really gives an amazing performance. From being funny, smart and of course serious, McAvoy managed to give this character much more depth which made the relationship between him and Erik simple and complicated at the same time. Which brings me to Michael Fassbender as Magneto...I know that we like to say a perfect casting a lot of time, but trust me, Fassbender is perfect as Erik. The very first scene we see Erik, you can tell by looking at him how emotional, angry and vulnerable character he is. Fassbender's portrayal of Magneto is just amazing. The way he keeps this character enjoyable and very much relatable is truly great to watch. As for the rest of the cast, they were all good. Kevin Bacon plays Sebastian Shaw. This character is evil and cold, and Bacon does a great job playing a villain. January Jones was OK as Emma Frost, I love what they did with her powers and of course, her clothes. :)
Caleb Landry Jones and Nicholas Hoult were also one my favorites. Playing Banshee and Beast, both actors delievered a good performance and I am looking forward of seeing a little bit more character development in the sequel. Same goes for Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique. She was very, very good and brings a different approach to the character than what we saw in the previous films, but I thought this time they made Mystique much better. Havok is also there, played by Lucas Till and he did a good job. It was really great seeing all these characters on screen. And in this film, we finally get to see team work, something that was missing in previous installments. Next up, the visual part of the film. I have to say, I was surprised by how awesome the visual effects were. From the trailers it looked OK, but to make all that CGI look that great in a short amount of time is just amazing. From Emma Frost's diamond form, Magneto bending metal to rather unique Beast transformation and Banshee flying. Everything was really good. Maybe a minor bad CG shot here and there, like in every film of this scale. The music was a perfect fit with almost every scene, the camera work and cinematography is truly outstanding, and the editing was even better. You will definitely recognize some of the editing techniques that were used in
Kick-Ass.
THE BAD:
I can't think of anything big that ruined the film for me, but like I mentioned above more character development wouldn't hurt. But since this is all about Charles and Erik, and we definitely got a lot from both McAvoy and Fassbender, we can expect much more in the sequel. We definitely need to see more of Azazel and Riptide. Plus, I didn't really like Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore, she was pretty much a one dimensional character and an uninteresting one.
With great actors, director and characters used in the film, this is definitely the best X-Men film so far and one of best comic book films ever made. It's worthy of all the praise and hopefully a sequel will move forward as soon as possble. As for now, go see this film!
Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jason Flemyng, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon, Caleb Landry Jones, Lucas Till, Jennifer Lawrence and January Jones,
X-Men: First Class is in theatres now!
RATING: 9.5/10