Friday, June 10, 2011

X men : First Class review


X men has always been one of my favorite movie series from comic books/Cartoons next to Spider Man. The final climax where Wolverine stabs Jean after professing his love for her in the X men : The last stand, is one of the most memorable romantic scenes , though its a tragedy. In this prequel, the movie takes us back to old days to reveal the lives of Professor X and Magneto before they were adorned with the titles . The movie starts the with same scene as the X men first movie in a second old war camp , where the young Erik’s  (aka Magneto) Mom is being dragged way , resulting in him revealing his ability to control metal. What follows is intriguing scene that sets the tone for the rest of movie between Shaw who wants to use the young boy’s ability through any means and Erik.


James McAvoy who plays the young  Charles Xavier does it with panache and humor. Whether his geeky scientific pick up lines on the coeds or the training camp scenes for young mutants , he brings chuckle to your face. Especially the scene where he tries to recruit Wolverine for the Mutant team. Fast forward from Second Old war , you have Shaw and his evil mutants  trying to make the Cold war into an actual war  at the height of Cuban Missile crisis.  This plan is discovered by Moira, an CIA agent who enlists Charles’s help .  Charles , along with Raven try to capture Shaw , though futile in his attempt but in the process ends up saving the life of Erik , who is out to avenge his Mother’s death.  With a common enemy in the form of Shaw working with Soviets ,Charles and his new found friend Erik join the covert CIA camp to discover and train young Mutants to fight against Shaw's evil plans .

Mean while , Shaw after convincing  American General to deploy Nuclear Missiles in Turkey , forces the Russian General to order an deployment of Russian Missiles in Cuba. What follows through next in the movie is good example of mixing real life events with fiction with clips of Nikita Khruschev and Kennedy’s speech thrown in to show the American Naval Blockade on Cuba daring the Russians to break it. However , the Russian Ship trying to break the Blockade is rogue one  controlled by Shaw. The final sequences of the movie is well done whether its the young Magneto lifting an entire submarine out of the ocean or stopping the barrage of incoming Missiles But what adds thrill to riveting climax will they or wont they question of Missile being launched resulting in third World war. The movie morphs from the now over used theme of Americans vs the Soviets into darker Humans vs Mutants battle in the second half. Whether its showing Erik falling from grace into the now evil Magneto or the battle of minds between Charles and Magneto or the rather brutal sequences between Shaw and Erik at the start and the end, the film rarely lets down the tempo . All in all , a worthy successor to the X Men series in season of summer sequels where others(Pirates of Caribbean and Hangover) have been a let down. With X men : First Class , the director Matthew Vaughn has indeed delivered a First Class movie.

Rating: 3.5/5

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Solid film making,okay adaptation as far as writing, but man there's almost nothing going on of interest.

I gave it another shot because it's been so long since I last watched it, plus with the new one out (which is pretty entertaining but kind of silly and noobish), I had to see if this first one was as boring as I remembered it to be, and it was.

Concentration camp, Washington D.C., Canada, the school, a hideout, halls of the school, train, Liberty Island, plastic prison, end credits. I know that is an abridged version of locations from the film, but I'm sure the whole movie just flashed before your eyes as you read it.

This movie should have had more going on: characters, action, history, powers, etc. Just nowhere near the scope that this source material deserves and can offer.

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