"Peace Was Never An Option" My X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Movie Review

"Peace was never an option"

The last X-Men movie I saw, if you can call it that, was X-Men Origins: Wolverine; and it was horrible. It sadly set the franchise back a few millennia. For a while there it seemed that all hope was lost and we might never see another good X-Men movie again. Around the same time that X-Men Origins: Wolverine was being prepped there was another origins movie being prepared; Magneto's. The return of Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn saw idea of expanding Magneto's solo origin story into an origin story of both Erik Lensherr and Charles Xavier.

There are a few recognizable mutants in this story but I was delighted to see that there were no "name" mutants. No Cyclops, No Storm, No Iceman. While I see the appeal to have these mutants in an X-Men movie, given that they are such staples by this point, it would purely be to sell tickets and make money. First Class, is a story about Magneto and Professor X.

Michael Fassbender (HUNGER, Inglorious Basterds) has the meatiest character arc as Erik Lensherr a.k.a Magneto. His journey from lethal bounty hunter to one of the most powerful mutants of all time is truly a great sight to behold. Also many of his journeys are very reminiscent of James Bond movies, being that the movie is set in the 60's its actually very fitting.

I put my vote in for Michael Fassbender as James Bond when Daniel Craig retires from the role; Make it happen HOLLYWOOD!

James McAvoy (WANTED, Atonementt) brings a breath of fresh air to the younger version of Charles Xavier; most notably using his intelligence and the explanation of the evolution of Mutants as a pick up line to loose women in bars; I like this Xavier. Fassbender and McAvoy's characters are simply defined by the iconic chess games they have together throughout the film. They make their characters more relatable and down to earth in addition to paying homage to the older versions of the characters already established by Sir Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart.

Another duo story line I was pleased with was the story between Dr. Hank McCoy a.k.a BEAST and Raven Darkholme a.k.a Mystique. Hank McCoy is played by Nicholas Hoult who was most recently in Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man. Raven is played with great dimension by Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Lawrence, who was last seen in Winter's Bone and will soon be see in the big screen adaption of The Hunger Games; she plays Katniss. Their relationship is what truly defines the yearn to be accepted that is so universal in the X-Men series. We got a taste of it with Anna Paquin's Rogue in the original series, but it aside from Erik and Charles, its nice to see two younger characters battle with their own acceptance together.

I have to give credit to Kevin Bacon, whose played villain Sebastian Shaw very cool. It could have been very easy to see him "twisting his mustache" in every scene but Bacon held a great balance of villain and "freedom fighter".

Bryan Singer returns to his comic book roots to co-write and produce this origin story. Director Matthew Vaughn finally gets his crack at a Marvel film after X3 and THOR fell through for him. What Vaughn brings to this story that didn't even show up in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a sense of the time period. For all of you who are reading this, did you know that X-Men Origins: Wolverine takes place in the late 70's? Yea that's right THE 'EFFIN 70'S!!! Sure doesn't feel like it right?

First Class puts the 60's right in your face! The Wardrobe, the music, the score, and the dialogue. The dialogue at times seemed a little corny but then you had to check yourself and say "wait, this is how they talked in the 60's". Matthew Vaughn got to make is Marvel Comics X-Men movie and James Bond movie all in one. Massive credit and thanks to Matthew Vaughn for giving us an actually period piece superhero movie.

X-Men First Class is a really intelligent comic book movie, that aims to show us the TRUE ORIGINS of Mutants during the 1960's during the Kennedy era and also gives some background to the "hidden" reasons that sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis. This I feel is the most mature of all the X-Men movies. X2 is still number one in my book, but X-Men First Class is right underneath it. The James Bond-like globe trotting, the involvement of the CIA, the politics, the betrayal and world being in peril, gives this series the jolt of lighting it needed to become relevant again!

Deuces!
StuntmanBob