Look out Avengers, the X-Men are back in a big way this summer with X-Men: First Class. Telling the story of the origins for both Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) along with a depiction of the first mission of the X-Men, this newest movie directed by Matthew Vaughn stays very true to the first two X-Men movies. The movie even starts off just like the first X-Men movie with a young Magneto in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II.
The basic plot for this one involves an evil mutant named Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) bent on causing a war between the United States and the Soviet Union by instigating a little crisis known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. To combat this new menace and the threat of mutants in general, the CIA is forced to turn to a young expert in mutations, Charles Xavier who puts together a team of his own mutants including one Eric Lehnsherr, aka Magneto.
Both James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender do a brilliant job playing younger versions of the characters originally played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Although I initially wasn’t thrilled with the choice of characters for the first X-Men team, I must say the group pulls it off pretty well. As the team solidifies, Vaughn does a good job balancing the sense of loneliness felt by the mutants with the delight in their powers as they find acceptance. Bacon does a great job with the villain role for this one and, January Jones is convincing as Emma Frost. The movie also provides some nice easter egg moments including a special surprise guest-appearance. Although there are a few continuity potholes with the other X-Men movies (mainly with things established in X-Men Origins: Wolverine), it’s not enough to ruin your enjoyment of this film.
For those who panned the original X-Men movies for not being true enough to the comic book source material, you probably still will not be happy with this one, but if you were a fan of X-Men 1 and 2, I think are really going to enjoy this one.
Grade: B+