After the critical and commercial success of Thor worldwide and the upcoming Captain America I was wondering how this prequel to the insanely successful X-Men trilogy would turn out. Sandwiched right between two of Marvel's tentpole characters and right before DC unleashes Green Lantern out into the wild.
I'm extremely pleased to say that this film more than lives up to both it's name and expectations. This really is a first class production. New to the franchise and following his wildly successful take on Mark Millar's 'Kick-Ass' Matthew Vaughn helms this cold war spy thriller with aplomb. One part Bond film, one part war drama and two parts superhero adventure this movie feels British in the greatest possible way harking back to the greatest Elstree output of the sixties and seventies.
Working from a script that has been through four different passes and writers and finally ending up with the ever wonderful Jane Goldman I was worried about how the film would feel tonally but within the first 10 minutes these doubts were swept away.
This really truly felt like a prequel to the other three movies, beginning with a replay of the concentration camp scene from X2 and moving through the sixties following Erik Lensherr's revenge mission against his former captors which in turn leads to the first meeting of minds between Lensherr and Charles Xavier played with a definite edge by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy respectively
This is really where the film takes off as Charles helps Erik come to terms with his past and to control his powers aiding the American government in a bid to stop the escalation of nuclear war between the USA and Russia masterminded by the evil genius Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) aided by his right hand woman Emma Frost (January Jones).
Kevin Bacon is really fantastic is this movie chewing up the scenery in an astounding way as a world dominating egomaniac in the grand tradition of the early Bond villans seeming to relish the all round 'evilness' of his character.
The ties to the previous three movies are all here showing the creation and use of Cerebro, the beginnings of the cracks between the two friends over their respective ideaologies, the same effects and sound cues used for the mutant powers that we've seen before, a cameo appearance from a familar face and young mutants being shown how to revel in and harness the powers that they have been given.
It is these young mutants that provide a lot of the lighter moments of the film. The interplay between Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee and the rest of the cast is a really cool thing to see and whilst the pairing of Nicholas Hoult as Beast and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique should have worked it just seemed to fizzle out. This was really my only criticism of the casting.
As well as some great performances from the cast throughout the film special mention must go to the costume and make-up departments who have really truly delivered a retrofitted look from taking the comic costumes from the period and meshing them with the look of the X-Men from the first trilogy leading to a very pleasing assemblage of looks immediately reminiscent of the characters.
The practical make-up work on Beast must be singled out as one of the high points of the movies look but I'm going to leave it there for you spoilerphobes out there.
That's not however to say that the CG work on the movie is sub-par, far from it, but it is nice to see more practical effects being carried out apart from when absolutely necessary. One of the best uses of the CG in the movie was the way that they handled the scream of the Banshee really taking cues from the way it is seen in the comics.
The film climaxes with one of the most exciting sequences I've seen committed to film in a long-time, the face-off between the two-sides of the cold war with added mutant action. This is literally First Class action with the mutant powers properly unleashed and executed as we've never seen them before. I really hope that Zack Snyder is watching the flight chase to see how it can be done.
The final beachfront confrontation between the former allies is really well handled and in the hands of a lesser Director could have been a clunky mess (Brett Ratner I'm looking at you) and the final tragic moment leading us nicely to the status quo that we know from the original trilogy.
Overall though this film belongs fully to Michael Fassbender who absolutely nails every scene he is in, the early rage and pain giving forth to cold revenge and finally to acceptance and disgust. I really, truly hope that this is the start of a second trilogy for the X-Men and the Brotherhood as I'd love to see what else Fassbender can do with Magneto.
I'll certainly be hoping to see this movie again during it's run in the cinemas but until then it's (First) Class dismissed.
PS - Rose Byrne stripped down to her lingerie in the Hellfire Club...worth the price of the cinema ticket alone.
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