So another prequel / origin story arrives on the big screen. Yawn I hear some of you say. Well, wake the hell up because X-Men First Class is turned up, all the way to 11.
If you cast your mind back to January, Matthew Vaughan was under pressure in an interview with the LA Times“I’m at that stage where I feel like a boxer against the ropes,” the director said as his crew prepared for the next shot on a location set in Long Beach. “I’m just throwing punches and taking them as they come and making sure I don’t hit the canvas.” The Kick-Ass director went on to say that he has never been under so much time pressure. “The good thing about the independent world is I never even knew if I was going to get distribution. I’m used to finishing a film and then crossing your fingers that someone is going to like it. This is totally doing it the other way around. We’ve definitely got a release date and we’ve got to make it.”
I’m damn glad to say that all that sweat, blood and boxing has paid off because Matthew “Kick-Ass” Vaughan has delivered one of the better movies of the year, and I don’t care what else 2011 has in store. But it needs to be pretty damn good to take on this.
Essentially a story that set’s up the entire X-Men franchise, First Class catalogues the rise to power of Professor-X, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr. Set in the 60’s and around the Cuban missile crisis this is something very different compared to the other X-Men flicks. Mutants are an unknown quantity and Lehnsherr thinks he’s the only one with mystical powers, as does Xavier. Eventually the 2 big wig mutants meet up and discover, that quite the number of mutants are alive on the planet. So they round a bunch and form the first draft of the X-Men. Intertwined with the missile crisis and a few rogue mutants, First Class hits the ground running and doesn’t stop until the credits roll.
For a movie that is 132 minutes long, the pacing here is fast and furious. Even in the slower scenes, you’re never kept waiting around as not only is the dialogue engaging but the sets themselves are bursting with detail. So much so, a second viewing should be in order to take it all in. Besides the pacing being on the button, the way the entire movie connects in with the “newer” flicks is pretty impressive too. Even the most lack lustre X-Men fans will be able to connect the dots as you spend most of the movie going “Ahhh, so thats why / how” etc. And for the hard-core fanatics, will this is just one giant wet dream. There’s enough here for somebody who has no idea what the X-Men are. As a movie that’s not part of a franchise (imagine it’s not), it stands on its own merits quite well.
The set pieces are tightly shot and, while on occasion some of the effects (particularly the fire stuff) don’t hit the mark and look a little bit fake, the whole thing has some really impressive scenes. In particular anything Magneto decides he’s going to bend more than spoons.
The cast here a spot on. McAvoy pulls off a very believable Xavier, and is pretty faultless. But for me, Michael Fassbender is absolutely mind-blowing. Oozing with charisma and likeability, he lights up the screen every time he appears. The rest of the cast, including Kevin Bacon all do the movie justice. Speaking of the casts, watch out for this years funniest and best cameo!
While I’m not a big X-men fan, X-Men First class has me wanting to load up the blu-rays and watch all the movies again. Overall, this really delivers and the whole movie is truly First Class! A must watch!
