- Warning! This review has been written for the people who have seen the X-Men movies (If you haven’t seen X-Men movies, there might be spoilers)
X-Men: First Class is the prequel to the X-Men series. We go a couple of decades back, to a time when Magneto was Erik (Michael Fassbender), and Professor X was Charles (James McAvoy), and he could walk… We get to see how the mutants were recruited by Charles to help save the humans from the common enemy Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a man with a couple of mutants in his charge. Shaw is trying to destroy as many humans as he can because this makes him stronger, and Erik cares more about taking his revenge than helping others.
Here is how the story starts:
1940s
– The smart and telepathic Charles is born to rich but absent parents. He is living in a mansion when he meets Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), the girl who would later become Mystique. Raven had occasionally planned to hide her true (blue) colors, but Charles reveals his secret, as well as hers, befriends her and keeps treating her like a sister as they grow up.
– Erik loses both parents to concentration camps, and is kept alive by Shaw for his ability to control and move metal, an ability that surfaces when he feels extremely upset and angry. When Shaw kills Erik’s mother to guarantee the necessary amount of rage, he gains a very powerful enemy.
– Fast forward over a decade. Charles becomes a professor whose specialty is mutation, a specialty he uses to pick up girls. However, he becomes aware of the common enemy, and the existence of not-so-friendly mutants when CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) pays him a visit, demanding an explanation about mutants. While most of the CIA isn’t that cooperative and understanding, an agent played by Oliver Platt takes Charles to the special unit he has built, where Charles and Raven get to meet the mutant Hank (Nicholas Hoult) and start recruiting other mutants to help America, and Russia against Shaw. Will they be able to prevent a nuclear war and stop Shaw? What will break Charles and Erik’s bond? And how will each of the mutants feel about conformity or individuality and uniqueness?
**
X-Men First Class is indeed a first-class prequel. It carries the right amount of emotion and character development (for the main characters), the glorious kind of action and terrific acting on all parties. To be honest, I wasn’t really excited to see it after seeing the trailer. But I am so glad that I did. The movie works so well on so many levels that the trailer just doesn’t do it justice. The movie also has fun references to the X-men movies, as well as 2 great cameos* (read below to spoil the surprise a little) from the X-Men cast.
*Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine/Logan, is sitting in a bar when Erik and Charles show up, trying to introduce themselves. The other mutants have been interested, whereas Logan replies “Fuck Off! “ And orders another drink.
*Erik is drawn to Raven, but he finds her too young. When he sees her in his bed, he says “Maybe in a few years…” That is when Raven turns herself to Rebecca Romjin- who has played Mystique in the series.
*
The bottom line is: See this movie! It has a great cast, a great story and great effects. The cameos, and the other fun references to the X-Men movies are just bonuses!
Currently rated at 8.3 on IMDB.com. A heartfelt 9 from me. Can’t wait to see it again. It also made me want to re-watch the X-men movies.
Fun Notes:
– X-Men first class was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who also directed Stardust, Layer Cake and Kick-Ass.
– One of the co-writers & co-producers is Bryan who directed the first two X-Men films.
**
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