X-Men:First Class

As always to experience the ultimate in luxury I recommend Ultraluxe Cinemas in the Anaheim Garden Walk. With new releases being shown on their 65 foot screen with unparalleled sound, It does not get any better.

X-Men: First Class
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones
Rated PG-13
Director: Mathew Vaughn

Amidst the backdrop of the cold war, Charles Xavier creates the first school for mutants including his future nemesis Magneto

Erik Lensherr/Magneto(Michael Fassbender) is in search of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) the man who helped unleash his powers through anger during his time as a young man in a German concentration camp. Soon he befriends Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and together they recruit more mutants to train and to help take down Shaw before Nuclear War is started.

Director Mathew Vaughns take on the X-
Men franchise insures that First Class is a long way from Wolverine in terms of Acting, Tone and special effects. More closely resembling the original X-Men film, rather than Brett Ratners take onthe universe in X-Men 3 or that of the overly ridiculous and completely abysmal Wolverine.

First Class is an origin tale of how the X-Men came together while, Comic purists might not like the liberties taken in the story overall, to the laymen it does a solid job of laying the foundation. For all of the great acting (for a superhero film), there seems to be something missing from the film and that falls directly to Profesor Xavier and the lesser known mutants in the film. McAvoy is great but how many times can you watch him put his finger to his temple and try to read someone’s mind. Xavier success has been as the brains behind the operation with the more popular X-Men doing the dirty work. First Class brings together some lesser known mutants in the franchise including Banshee(Caleb Landry Jones), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Havok (Lucas Till) and Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz) Not exactly the most famous or popular group of X-Men. On Shaws team we have Emma Frost (January Jones perfectly cast as she is completely icy and devoid of personality) along with Riptide(Alex Gonzalez) and Azazel (Jason Flemying virtually unrecognizable sporting long hair and red skin). Jennifer Lawrence proves she is far from a one hit wonder as Mystique however her love triangle with Beast ( Nicholas Hoult) and Magneto and her inner turmoil seemed rushed and forced.
You might be asking who are these people and why should I care about them and that’s the problem you don’t. The only real players in the film are
Xavier and Magneto and that is what keeps the story moving particularly Fassbenders take on Magneto conveying and inner turmoil and emotion that is a level higher than your standard super hero fare. There is a lot going on but not a lot you will care about. On a side note as much as anybody likes Kevin Bacon he doesn’t come across as scary or threatening, just a guy who you know is going to lose in the end.

X-Men ultimately is a movie that substitutes Mutants for any minority which feels oppressed and how they decide to fit into mainstream society, in that aspect it handles weightier issues than just saving the world, Sadly First Class is a bit underwhelming. In a world filled with mutants I would like to be wowed or awed, but more often than not I found myself putting my hand to my temple like Professor X wondering where the magic was.

Grade- 80