X-Men: First Class (2011)Release Date: 06/03/2011
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: Not Yet Available
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne
SynopsisSet in the era before Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr became mortal enemies as Professor X and Magneto, respectively, director Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class follows the two former allies as they lead a powerful team of mutants on a mission to save the planet from nuclear annihilation. Charles (James McAvoy) and Erik (Michael Fassbender) were just young men when it began to appear as if the world was careening toward destruction. And as the Doomsday Clock ticks faster toward midnight, the time comes to take action. In the process of saving humanity, however, Charles and Erik clash. In the years that followed, Professor X would lead the X-Men in the fight for good, as Magneto and the Brotherhood spread chaos and destruction throughout the land. Kevin Bacon, Caleb Landry Jones, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones, and Lucas Till star in a film directed by Matthew Vaughn and adapted from a story by Bryan Singer.
What Critics SayMuch as I enjoyed X-Men: First Class, Fox’s exuberant prequel/reboot (preboot?) of the fabled Marvel Comics series, I was a bit disoriented by its opening sequence, in which a Mengele-esque Nazi scientist, played by Kevin Bacon, attempts to coax a terrified young Erik Lensherr, a death camp inmate, into demonstrating his newly discovered mutant powers. As the interaction transpires, the camera does something odd: It remains static, holding its gaze on the characters’ faces, affording us the rare treat of being able to scrutinize their expressions without the distraction of rapid-fire cuts or circling dollies or palsy-cams or any of the other myriad tools preferred by Hollywood’s increasingly ADD-addled action directors.
Restraint? In a comic book film? Strange but true. Even stranger is that it comes courtesy of director Matthew Vaughn, whose previous comic book adaptation, Kick-Ass, was so over-adrenalized it should have come with a complimentary shot of insulin. Here, Vaughn shows greater confidence in his material, his actors, and, most admirably, his audience, letting the story hold sway, unhindered by gimmicky enhancements. First Class is hardly a throwback, mind you – it features all of CGI accoutrements one expects from a proper summer blockbuster – but it has a stylish, retro sensibility to it that is as refreshing as it is unexpected.
In fact, were it not for all of its superhuman characters, one might not be able to tell that it’s based on a comic book. Whilst devising an approach suitable for his film’s early ‘60s Cold War setting, Vaughn, a Brit, clearly found inspiration in his country’s most enduring film franchise. First Class bears far more in common with The Spy Who Loved Me than with any of the previous X-Men installments, or any other comic book flicks, for that matter, and is all the better because of it.
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