X-Men First Class - A Review

Without a doubt, X-Men First Class is the best superhero movie of the year thus far.  I realize that with the competition in theaters this isn’t an incredible feat, but beyond being the best superhero movie, it may be the movie most worthy of your time and money to see.  Yes, it is a movie with people with powers that allow them to do astonishing things, but at its core it is an origins story of very interesting and flawed people that is very compelling.

The first origin we are introduced to is that of Erik Lehnsherr.  Young Erik was a Jew during World War II in Poland and we are introduced to the character at the time he and his family are being processed in a Nazi concentration camp.  Here young Erik begins to show his powers.  I won’t give away spoilers, but the events that take place in the camp not only define his life, but shape the course of the movie’s universe. 

We are also introduced to a young Charles Xavier, whom is also beginning to use his powers for the first time.  In stark contrast to Erik’s youth, Charles is one of wanting for nothing, except affection and a feeling of belonging perhaps.  It is obvious that Charles’ charmed life instills a sense of naivety and idealism that defines his actions as much as the horrors of Erik’s life define his.

I won’t outline the entire film other than to say it does a wonderful job setting up these two forces of nature and showing us how their paths, while once intertwined, are now very much divergent.  The story isn’t gimmicky as was X-Men Origins Wolverine’s was.  It was done as if it were a period piece with deep respect for the seriousness of the matters at hand, namely the aversion of World War III during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It should be noted that Bryan Singer, whom directed the first two X-Men films in the franchise, was a producer of this film.  I personally thought the stories and issues of the first two films were what made the first films good, not the acting and the effects.  In X-Men First Class, it was definitely the story that makes the movie great.

The choices of mutants for what will be the X-Men and The Brotherhood of Mutants were interesting, it not altogether satisfying.  It felt as though the creative team tried too hard not to use too many of the same characters from the existing films.  If First Class is looked at as a prequel, the mutant selection makes sense, if not in the comic universe but the movies.  I would like to think of First Class as a new take on the universe, completely rebooting the franchise.  But the first films just came out within the last decade you say?  To that I say so what.   X-Men Last Stand and Wolverine killed any desire I had for that universe to continue to exist.  The one we see in First Class is markedly different for the better.  It feels more grown up and genuine.   

I can’t wait for the next X-Men movie to be released as long as it is in this same alternate universe with the same cast.  This movie has made me so excited for the series I would pay $15 right now to see it in theaters.  Until it comes out, I’ll have to wait with First Class reminding me just how cool the X-Men really can be.

Final grade = A