Release Date: June 1st 2011
In 1962, the United States government enlists the help of Mutants with superhuman abilities to stop a malicious dictator who is determined to start world war III.
Director: Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Stardust, Layer Cake)
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult
Instead of choosing to go forward from The Last Stand and Origins, Matthew Vaughn and the Marvel team take X-Men universe right back to the beginning. All the favourites are there (albeit a prominent character, who turns up in what could be one of the best cameos ever) and it also introduces a few others that will be known by the comic fans.
The focus of First Class is mainly on Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (it doesn't take a brainiac to work out it's Magneto, played by Michael Fassbender) and how their relationship slowly burns. Their conflicting personalities bode unwell from the start.
Other mutants grow to who we know well from the previous films. Raven/Mystique, acted out by an admirable Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult as Hank/Beast, calm and collective hold the best back stories apart from the main two. The baddies are neglected and are not treated in the same way.
This story puts all the pieces of the puzzle together is done expertly. In the mix of this is evil mutant Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), who Erik has a personal vendetta against. Shaw is an ex-nazi who's using the Cuban missile crisis to wage war on the humans.
Fassbender and Bacon really stand out with their performances. Fassbender's uncontrolled anger is at it's best before he's even met Xavier. One moment he's in an Argentinian bar laughing and toasting, the next torturing some helpless souls.
McAvoy's Professor holds a love/hate fluctuation from start to finish. He's very self-righteous, to the point where it becomes an annoyance and drifts far from Patrick Stewart's Prof. X.
For all the money pumped in XMFC (around $160m), the CGI is sparse for such an epic film. The finale holds some of the worst of it, with a submarine smashing into the coast standing out. Hopefully imagination will trump awkward use of technology!
Overview: Far superior than the last two X-Men films, it packs a punch that most will believe 20th Century Fox have redeemed themselves.
Great film! When you put it like that, and if I remember rightly, it's really Magneto's story, Since Xavier remains a posh, arrogant twat throughout and it's only at the end - we he pops a bullet in the spine (sorry for spoiling) - that we assume he'll learn some humility.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope! Magneto definitely has more impact overall. It'll be interesting to see what Bryan Singer does with all the characters in Days of Future Past.
ReplyDelete