X-Men:First Class Review

So, this makes Six Degrees . . . so much easier for me.

X-Men:First Class is just that; X-Men.  No, I was referring of course to the second part of the title. It is a film that excels at virtually every step of the way and is vastly superior to the two most recent films in the franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men 3: Pretend Brett Ratner Isn’t Directing This One. First Class is an origin story and though Hollywood has become awfully fond of these nowadays, this is one of the best. James McAvoy (Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (Magneto) are the protagonists of the piece and perform their jobs in an expert fasion. Fassbender in particular is exceptional as Magneto and the fact that he is one of the most criminally underused actors in Hollywood is thankfully about to change. Along with the two leads, Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) helps to make First Class what it is in a layered performance that brings her character into a new light. Nothing against Rebecca Romjin, but Lawrence is in a completely different category as an actress. Plus, she is drop-dead gorgeous, so that always helps. Now that Natalie Portman is becoming a mom and I feel weird about finding her attractive, Lawrence might be my new favorite. Another of the highlights for me was both the choice and the depiction of the Hellfire Club as the villains of the film. Kevin Bacon is extraordinary as Sebastian Shaw and January Jones plays Emma Frost quite capably, though she does not have much to do as a character. I had a bit on Rose Byrne as well, but I’m going out on a limb to guess that Professor C will have that covered in better depth.

Matthew Vaughn is developing nicely as a director from Layer Cake to Kick Ass and now to First Class and it is exciting to watch him do so. His casting is always spot-on, his handling of action scenes is excellent and he knows Jennifer Lawrence’s cell phone number. I think that good things are in store for Vaughn, so let’s hope that he does not get bogged down with a sequel to Kick Ass and instead focuses on more original story-lines and perhaps an X-Men sequel worthy of his time.

Overall, X-Men:First Class is not only the best film of the summer to date, it is deserved of a place in the upper echelon of the comic book genre behind Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Spiderman and Spiderman 2. Its gross this past weekend unfortunately did not do it justice (especially when Pirates of the Crappybean is raking in $200 mill), but here’s hoping that the quality will promote repeat business and ultimately undue the quantity of lesser films already released.

Bob’s grade – 88%

Bryan Singer’s 2000 ‘X-Men’ movie caught audiences and critics alike a bit off guard with its cerebral, character-driven take on the super hero comic book movie. While the franchise took some well-deserved hits after Brett Ratner’s putrid ‘X-Men 3’ and the ‘Wolverine’ offshoot, the series is safely back on solid mutant footing with the release of ‘X-Men: First Class.”

Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass), XM:FC (not X-Men Fried Chicken, oddly) plays a little bit with alternate history, namely the Cuban Missle Crisis, in a story that traces the origins of the X-Men team as well as the long-standing difference of mutant philosophy as espoused by Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (a magnetic, yeah I said it, Michael Fassbender).The first third of the film traces the origins of Magneto’s story, from frightened Holocaust survivor with nascent powers who catches the eye of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) who seeks to unleash the child’s immense power within, to the adult Erik Lehnsherr who is out to personally track down the men that made him the Frankenstein’s monster he feels he’s become. Fassbender owns the film here and his internal pain and rage imbues the story with the same magic that inhabited the first two X-Men flicks. It also sets up the inevitable conflict between his character’s idea that mutants are the superior race to Xavier’s more hopeful and inclusive vision for the future of mutant-kind.

Of course it wouldn’t be an X-Men movie without a lot of mutants flying, shapeshifting and teleporting around and we’re introduced to quite a few, notably Jennifer Lawrence as a young Mystique. And oh, hello again, Rose Byrne who plays non-mutant CIA operative Moira McTaggart. There’s a lot of nods to the comic canon and some nice touches as we see early versions of what would become familiar during the first run of X-movies. There’s also a great cameo during the ‘recruitment’ montage that makes perfect use of the PG-13 movie’s one allotted F-bomb.

The film ultimately pits the new X-Men versus Shaw’s Hellfire Club as the latter looks to use the U.S. – Soviet standoff in Cuba as a means to start World War III and bring about an age of mutant superiority.

For a two and half hour movie, there’s a lot going on, yet the time, for me, flew by. Despite plenty of time spent fleshing out character and story, in no way does the film’s momentum suffer for it. I’d easily put XM:FC among the top pantheon of comic book movies, a welcome return to a franchise I am always rooting to do well.

PS. Look for some classic cameos by classic badass character actor Michael Ironside as a Navy ship captain and James Remar, famous for playing Ajax in ‘The Warriors’, as a U.S general. It’s nice to see these two gentlemen still collecting a paycheck in the movie business.

Pete’s grade – 90%

Bobcast Ep. 5: Men or X-Men

C'mon, like you expected something else?

In episode 5, Bob and Pete discuss the movie X-Men:First Class (no spoilers) and where it ranks in the superhero genre. The guys also discuss the news of the wek, including The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s trailer (say that five times fast), square off on the raging debate of Jennifer Lawrence vs. Rose Byrne, and try and decipher Michael Ironsides vs. the Cat in the Hat.

Don’t forget to check us out on iTunes where you can download or subscribe to the ‘cast (http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bobcast/id436702751 ).  Hey, why not do both?

By the by, if you like the podcast, dislike the podcast, or would like to see us talk about something in particular, let us know.  Either comment below or hit us up on Twitter @BobDanger or @PCharbonneau21.  Thanks for listening.