Review
The general rule of franchises tends to be that the more you do the weaker the product becomes.There are exceptions, but this is generally what happens. X-Men is no different really. The first two were great, solid films, the third went off track a little and the Wolverine Origins story was a major disappointment. What X-Men needed was someone who could bring something different to proceedings, bring stability yet something wholly new to the table. Matthew Vaughan stepped up and admirably succeeded.
First Class is the origins story of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnserr, you may know them better as Proffessor X and Magneto respectively. Right from the outset We're shown just how different these two characters are, one a rich boy safe and sound in his massive mansion left alone to acknowledge his growing power, the other thrown to the Nazi's and forced to develop his by the evil Sebastian Shaw. This is done purposely to give you an idea of just how perturbed this relationship is going to be.
We see how Charles grows and becomes a respected professor whereas Erik becomes a harbinger of death, hell bent on getting revenge for what happen in the concentration camp. Its no surprise that when both their paths cross, Xavier sees the torment inside Lehnserr and offers him an alliance that he accepts, but with ulterior motives.
Its at this point that the film slightly slips into the formulaic from its confident, sexy start. We get the mutant recruitment drive, the switching of allegiances, the training montage and the big finish. That's not to say its done poorly, it done magnificently, its just a slight disappointment after the great opening hour.
And what an opening hour it was. Set against the back drop of the swinging sixties, it plays out like one of the best retro Bond movies ever made. The style and tone of the the film is pitch perfect, The fashion is stop on, and the hedonistic feeling is rife throughout. It obviously couldn't carry on that way for the full running time but it set the bar very high for the rest of the film to follow.
So we now know that the style and story of the film are confidently portrayed but how do the actors cope with all this substance. The answer is in the senior players of the film. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Xavier and Lehnserr are excellent, both adding additional layers to the characters that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen laid down originally. They eat up the scenes they're in and have a naturally, relaxed chemistry that works a treat. Kevin Bacon as the big bad Sebastian Shaw is additionally brilliant, but then Bacon always is, and its no surprise to see him loving every minute of screen time he gets. He makes a interesting bad guy, intelligent yet utterly bonkers, and at no time becomes a parody of himself.
The problem I had with the rest of the younger cast was that they just seemed like moody teens. Mystique was annoying and needed a slap, Beast similarly so. Havok was the typical angry teen whereas Banshee was the "I want to be liked by everyone so they'll all be my friends' one, essentially the boring one. It seemed they were the 'emo' teens of today rather than the free loving teens of the sixties. A slight flaw but that's not to say they do they what they're told to do badly.
There are also two henchman to Bacon's Shaw but these are criminally underused and, it would seem, mute. Another shame as they seemed quite interesting. Azazel who can teleport and Riptide who can control the weather, are both without any lines and are given no real reason for being with Shaw. It's a little odd since they obviously have a reason for choosing the side they chose as is blatantly shown near the end.
Still apart from a few slight, and they are slight, flaws this film ticks all the boxes it should. Its enjoyable, has a real world feel to it, some confident leads and a director with a swagger that he translates to the screen. Its good to see the X-Men back on track - Oh and watch out for a nice little cameo who drops the only F-bomb in the film.
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