MyRating: YYYYYDirector: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Lucas Till, Caleb Landry Jones, Edi Gathegi, Jason Flemyng, Álex González, Oliver Platt, Ray Wise
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some sexual content including brief partial nudity and language
Telling the beginning story of an already popular movie series is not always easy to do. Sometimes it's also a risk to take, as not all people are really interested to know what happened in the beginning, especially if you have known the outcomes of the story, on what will happen to this character or what that character will finally become. Also, not all audiences like to see one or more of their favorite characters, played and popularized by certain actors before, are being replaced by some new guys. Not saying if one or more of the most famous characters will not appear as part of the story (in this case Wolverine). However, this is not the case for X-Men: First Class. This movie not only could cast aside all doubts and doubters, but also proof that storytelling and characterization are the keys to a great movie.
X-Men: First Class is the prequel to the X-Men trilogy, with the story set before the time of the original X-Men. The story about young Professor X and Magneto, before they discover their extraordinary powers for the first time. One boy, Erik Lehnsherr (later adult played by Michael Fassbender) finds his power at a German concentration camp in Poland in 1944, where he is forced by Dr. Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) to unleash his magnetic power through bursting anger. While another boy, Charles Xavier (adult played by James McAvoy), is raised in a wealthy family in New York. He knows he is 'different' from others, as he has a gift to read other people's mind. A born telepath. The young Xavier meets with a homeless young shape-shifting mutant named Raven (who later will become Mystique and played by Jennifer Lawrence), whom he invites to live with his family at his mansion and they become best friends.
The story then moves to 1962, following the journey of the grown-up Lehnsherr, who is now full of hatred and looking for Shaw to take revenge. While Xavier, who is now a professor with his popular thesis on 'mutation' subject, is invited to join the CIA by an agent named Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) to help the government, as the world is threatened by Shaw and his mutants, who has the intention of starting a nuclear war. Xavier's task is to find and recruit mutants into the CIA's secret "Division X" facility for training, and to lead them to stop Shaw. Fate brings Xavier to meet with Lehnsherr, and as they can relate and understand each other, their friendship slowly binds them to become best buddies. They team up to recruit a group of young mutants with various raw and unique powers. And together, they have to work hand in hand and complete each other in order to stop the world from destruction by the evil Shaw and his mutants.
What makes this movie great and standout from other superhero movies? I have to answer that the clever and very well-written story is one of the reasons to 'blame'. High praises should be given to the team of writers, who could write such a fresh, gripping and highly enjoyable script (The director Matthew Vaughn was also acted as one of the four screenwriters of this movie). The story was solidly told and flowed smoothly, with a perfect composition and timing between action and drama. Never a bore moment, even though the movie took its time to develop the story and the characters. And the more we went into the story, the more we were captivated by it. As for the special effects, they were good and effective, even though the movie didn't seem to pour itself with lots of fancy special effects.
A great story is never complete without great characterizations, and this movie has it. The characters were very well developed, especially the two main characters Charles Xavier (who will later on become Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (who will become Magneto), with great performances given by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, who somehow could escape from the shadows of the same characters played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen before, as they made their own versions of young Professor X and Magneto. McAvoy as the good-hearted leader with a sense of humor and likeable personality, while Fassbender played a 'gray' character with a dark past, an angry man inside whose motives were unpredictable, which was also the most compelling character in this movie. How Xavier and Lehnsherr build their friendship is interesting to watch, as we also want to know how they will eventually become enemies at the end. One will become the founder of the X-Men and the other will become the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants. The great chemistry between the two made every appearance of McAvoy and Fassbender on screen together was a fun to watch. 
As fresh as the story, the supporting casts were also turned out to be very fresh. Kevin Bacon was perfect as the cynical and cruel villain. The movie also has enough beauties, such as Jennifer Lawrence, who was interesting to watch as the young Mystique, with the ability to turn herself into a blue and scaly body to scare you away, January Jones as the sexy Emma Frost, who can change her body into diamond, and Rose Byrne as the human CIA agent. The other supporting casts worth to mention here were Nicholas Hoult as Dr. Hank McCoy, the former scientist with big simian-like feet, Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore, a lady mutant with dragonfly wings and acidic saliva, Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee, a mutant capable of ultrasonic screaming, and Lucas Till as Havok, a mutant with the ability to absorb energy and discharge it into blasts. Even though there were so many characters, Matthew Vaughn successfully managed to give each of the important supporting characters a proper introduction, enough character development, and fairly screen time. The training scenes where one by one of the young mutants learned how to best use and control their powers were funny and exciting. Also watch for the evolution of one character to become Beast. And watch for the surprising cameo appearance of Hugh Jackman as the arrogant Wolverine.
The final battle between the good mutants and the bad mutants was fantastic, intensified by the confrontation at sea between the United States and the Soviet Union fleets in the brink of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that may lead to World War III. A jaw-dropping moment that hit you just at the right time. And when you see some of the supporting characters getting their time to shine in the battle, such as Banshee, Havok and Beast, you will hold your fists and shout in cheers. Such a brilliant and perfect timing of culmination. It was the reward for building your characters well, even the supporting ones, so as the audience will care as these characters finally step up. The final drama will show you what you've been waiting for, on how Charles Xavier will become like 'this' and how Erik Lehnsherr will become like 'that'. And will Lehnsherr finally embrace his dark side? Full stop.
The movie did end well, but with an open ending to a sequel, as if we did not actually finish watching the movie yet and it was just a beginning. What Matthew Vaughn did with this prequel of the X-Men franchise, on how he cooked and served it as a fine dish with delicious meal, just showed what a talented director he is (this movie was his fourth movie after Layer Cake, Stardust and Kick-Ass). This is an excellent job with an excellent result. And Vaughn has put himself in the line of good promising young directors whose next projects are worth to be waited for.
I liked the first X-Men movie (2000), loved the second one, X2: X-Men United (2003), which was also the best of the original trilogy, and I hated the third one, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) for its bad and boring storytelling. While X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) has placed itself as a mediocre and underwhelming spin-off. However, from all the movies in the X-Men series, I genuinely think that X-Men: First Class (2011) is the best of them all and the one that I loved the most. It didn't have the greatest special effects, but it certainly has the greatest story. A wonderful movie that will make you want for more. It deserves a sequel. Definitely one of the very best movies of this Summer. (MJ)
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