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| X-MEN: FIRST CLASS |
Movie
review by EDF
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon, Jason Flemyng
Director: Matthew Vaughn
More
details
Sequels could be becoming a thing of the past, maybe,
thanks to the number of prequels that are scheduled to come out.
STAR TREK proved that you can take something that has a core
audience and make it into something that a wider audience could
embrace, without upsetting its fans. The opposite can be said of the
STAR WARS prequel trilogy which fans of the original trilogy found a
bit lacking. With other prequels set to hit the big screen soon such
as a reboot of the PLANET OF THE APES and the ALIENS saga, we should
not be too surprised that after the WOLVERINE origin story that an
X-MEN one would soon follow.
This origin story starts off with something that is not that
original, and that is how young Erik Lehnsherr first used his powers
while in a Nazi prison camp, exactly as seen in the first X-MEN
movie. We follow what happened to Erik after he is knocked out by
the prison guards. His power attracts the Nazi scientist Sebestian
Shaw (Kevin Bacon) who forces Erik into a dire situation to use his
power again. Years later, Erik (Michael Fassbender) seeking revenge
to find Shaw, will go to any lengths to use his powers to hunt and
kill him.
Meanwhile, a young Charles Xavier adopts a young girl called Raven
who breaks into his house. They grow up together as best friends
even though Raven is looking for something more. Xavier (James
McAvoy) who is now a professor is approached by Moira MacTaggert
(Rose Byrne) to help the government out with an investigation. While
out in the field, they come across Erik who risks his life to get
back at Shaw but Xavier manages to save Erik’s life. Together they
join forces to stop Shaw.
It might surprise some people that Bryan Singer is one of the
co-writers of this tale. With Jane Goodman on co-scriptwriting
duties and Matthew Vaughn directing, both fresh from the success of
KICK-ASS, there is a high expectation of this X-MEN movie.
Especially since X-MEN 3 and WOLVERINE did not impress fans of the
first two movies, FIRST CLASS does impress with an engaging
storyline and fine performances. Being set in the 1960’s, one of
the many plots of this movie is X-Men vs The Cold War which is a
very intriguing premise but here, the action takes a back seat of
sorts to character development.
The most enjoyable character to watch is Erik / Magneto as Michael
Fassbender has produced a compelling performance that lends sympathy
to Erik’s character. Alongside James McAvoy’s Xavier, the strong
bond between them is quite believable. The young supporting cast is
also impressive and so are the cameo appearances of genre actors. As
for the story, it is truly an epic tale that, by the end, has ticked
all the correct boxes. Yet again, the bar has been raised for the
superhero movie and for all prequels too.
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