The X-Men movies have been a big success. The original X-Men movie grossed 296 million dollars worldwide, X2 made 407 million and The Last Stand and even higher 459 million, despite the critics being more negative about it. People love the characters and movies, so making an origins story was a no brainer. Professor X wasn’t always known by that name and the same goes for Magneto. Does X-Men: First Class provide an interesting history lesson or is it a class you’d rather skip?
When it comes to summer blockbusters, this is the type of movie I think of. I imagine big set pieces, interesting characters, a great story and lots of action. X-Men: First Class gets a high score on all of these. I really liked the fact that this is set during historical events (like the second world war and the missile crisis in Cuba) and that it actually twists them around and uses them to rewrite history. Some people might not like this (like the end of Inglorious Basterds), but I don’t mind this at all. It plays with your knowledge and because of it you have no idea what’s going to happen. I also liked the fact that it really injects a lot of emotion into its story making you care for the main characters.
As an origin story X-Men: First Class just works. Besides Professor X and Magneto several other mutants are introduced, but this really is the story of these two. Both James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are excellent in their roles. Special mention goes to Kevin Bacon who seems to really have enjoyed playing the almost James Bond like bad guy (his layer is a very stylishly decorated submarine), Sebastian Shaw.
X-Men: First Class is well worth watching. It offers an interesting story, explaining how Professor X and Magneto came into existence and manages to show lots of action along the way that will satisfy a lot of movie fans. It’s one of the better blockbusters this year and one you should check out.
Score: 8
I don’t normally like prequels but this was a real surprise. With this and Rise of the Planet of the Apes both turning out well, maybe my perception on prequels is starting to shift.
I totally enjoyed it and thought McAvoy and Fassbender were brilliant.
Yeah, it was a real surprise to me as well, has a good time watching it. I’m now hoping that The Thing prequel is worth watching as well.
Yeah, the trailer looks very Alien Vs Predator to me though (oh dear), but am willing to be proven wrong
I almost never watch trailers, so I have no idea what it looks like. It will probably won’t be as good as the Kurt Russell one….
Hi Nostra, it is I Custard I am just starting to use my real name now.
I haven’t seen this film yet so I have not read your review fully and only looked at your score. Seems like I will like this one!! I look forward to it now that I know you like it matey!
Alright, any reason to start using your name? Going for stardom? 😉 Just kidding.
I think you will like this a lot. I’m sure I will read about it 🙂
I thoroughly enjoyed First Class too. I had wondered whether Fassbender and McEvoy would be overshadowed by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, but they were both excellent. Prequels annoy me far less than remakes. I haven’t seen ROTPOTA yet but I am intrigued; but I have zero expectations of The Thing, which doesn’t even look like a prequel, rather a direct copy.
I completely forget about Stewart and McKellan while watching this. Will go and see ROTPOTA this friday and looking forward to it.
You’re right about the remakes, there are not a lot which I think are better than the original…
I’m not a big fan of prequels but this one was surprisingly very well done because of the cast (especially Fassbender) but also because it was just fun the whole way through without ever getting too predictable and cliched. Good Review!
Thanks. Prequels could turn out really bad (first thing I can think of was that horrible Dumb and Dumber prequel), but if they make another one I’m sure I will watch it.
Fassbender stood out more because of his character as he had so much anger and was really an unguided projectile because of his past.
I wanted this to focus a lot more on Erik and Xavier. Their relationship was by far the most compelling aspect of the movie and the rest of it was quite bland to me.
I felt they were the focus and that the bits with the other characters were just to set up the next big set piece. Maybe they could have spent a bit more time on them, but it would have probably taken a bit of speed out of the movie.
I thought Bacon was a bit lame here actually, he’s done bad better before!
Nice write-up.
You did? Yeah, there are some roles where he did bad better, but thought he was excellent here. His role could have been a bit bigger though…
Nice review. I enjoyed this a lot too, and thought it really gave a nice new spin on the X-Men franchise.
Agree and I hope they do more prequels if they have the same quality as this one…