X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn

Story by Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer

Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Zoë Kravitz, Nicolas Hoult, Álex González, Jason Flemyng, Caleb Landry Jones, Edi Gathegi and Lucas Till

I have been a big fan of the X-Men movies ever since the first movie that came out in 2000. The franchise held different meaning for people that have ever been bullied or judged because they were different. The last two movies The Last Stand and Wolverine were not the best movies, because they jam packed mutants into one movie. They was no room to breathe. It was like the opposite effect with this movie. I wish they had better characters to pull out of the Marvel vault.

Being the comic book geek that I am, I have read the "X-Men First Class" comic series. The original first class dealt with the original X-Men in their early days at the Institute set in not so distant past. But for the big screen adaptation everything is transported to the 1960s where a pre-bald, walking upright Charles Xavier (McAvoy) explains his theory about genetic mutations. Meanwhile, Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender) is on a mission to kill the man that manipulate his magnetic powers in a concentration camp, Sebastian Shaw (Bacon). they what the two men don't realize is that they have common enemy when Shaw wants to bring on World War III.

This movie has its good moments and some of its meh moments. First, I want to say that Fassbender's portrayal of young Magneto was great. I understood why Magneto thinks the way that he does. It was exactly Shaw's way of thinking. I have to say that Shaw in this movie was not evil enough for me. He was like Timothy Olyphant's bad guy in Live Free or Die Hard. I didn't believe it for a second.

I thought the first half of the movie was very solid and engaging. I think when they newly formed X-Men were focusing on Shaw, that's when it went off the rails. Besides, you have these people that nobody knows; Banshee, Havok, Darwin or Angel. Come on. Their powers were really lame. The part that really killed it for me was the ending. It had to wrap up everything in a new little package for the other movies to exist in continuity. The movie did ret-con a couple of characters and situations that had me scratching my head.

Lastly, there were two memorable cameos that had me laughing out loud with I saw them. You have to see it to get my mentioning of that.

My Rating: