Marvel’s second superpowered film this year is out, and I’m here to tell you if it’s worth the price of admission.  Matthew Vaughn, the director of films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Kick-Ass, takes on his second comic book movie, exploring the roots of the X-men.  This story takes place mostly in the 1960’s, with some flashbacks from the 1940’s, but also takes a nod to history by placing it during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The plot starts out with the young Erik Lensherr, later to be known as Magneto, as we are shown (yet again) the traumatic events that lead to the discovery of his powers over magnetism.  When the Nazis witness this power, of course, they try to harness it for themselves, using Erik’s mother as a tool to unlock the power.  This is a good way to start off Erik’s character, which I’ll discuss later in this review.  Elsewhere, a young Charles Xavier runs into an intruder in the form of Raven, or Mystique (taking the form of Charles’ mother), as he welcomes her to his home and allows her to live with him.  It is a bit unusual to see these two meet this way and it raises a few questions, but it works well for the plot. 

Fast forward about twenty years and Erik (now played by Michael Fassbender) is using his powers for revenge, trying to find the men who wronged him during the Holocaust.  At the same time, a female CIA agent, Moira MacTaggert (portrayed by Rose Byrne), goes undercover to spy on a U.S. Army Colonel, under the suspicion that he is working with Communists.  This introduces us to the Hellfire Club, the main antagonists of the film, lead by Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon).  She witnesses the powers of Riptide (Alex Gonzalez), Emma Frost (January Jones), and Azazel (Jason Flemyng), relaying her story to the CIA, of course not believing her story.  She then seeks out an expert on the subject of genetics and mutation, which leads her to England where she meets with the now Professor Charles Xavier (played by James McAvoy).  Eventually, this leads to the CIA and Charles working together to track down the Hellfire Club, which as fate would have it, is the same goal as our friend Erik.  In a failed attempt to take the life of Sebastian Shaw, who we now know is a mutant capable of absorbing energy, Charles and Erik meet for the first time and create an alliance, which begins a great story of friendship between two very strong performances.

The interaction between these two make for some of the best scenes.

Even though much of this film focuses on Charles and Erik, there is also a strong focus on the character of Raven (now played by Jennifer Lawrence).  Her mutation is obviously not very discreet and we get a bit of an explanation as to her choices in life and why she feels the way she does in later films.  “Mutant and proud” is a reoccuring phrase that she often speaks, but it isn’t until she meets with Erik that she truly believes the phrase.  She struggles in life because she has to hide her true appearance from the regular people, even trying to get acceptance from Charles, who tries his hardest to avoid her advances toward him.  She eventually develops a light romance with Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), who would later transform in a freak accident trying to find a cure for her appearance, as well as his own.  The romance is nice here because it isn’t shoved down our throat and it’s between two characters that have a bit of common ground.  Hank meets with the crew and introduces Charles to Cerebro, which allows them to track down several mutants to try and recruit, leading them to Angel Salvadore (played by daughter of Lenny Kravitz, Zoë Kravitz),  Armando Munoz (Edi Gathegi), Alex Summers (Lucas Till),  Sean Cassidy(Caleb Landry Jones), as well as a nice little cameo role.

Pretty good looking for a bunch of mutants don’t you think?

As these characters are introduced, the recruits are all given codenames and we’re introduced to their powers.  Some of the most hilarious moments of the film take place during the recuritment phase and how these characters are introduced, and though these are all interesting characters pulled from all over the X-Men universe, it raises the question as to why these specific mutants were chosen for this team considering their powers.  Of course, it eventually works out for the plot where each mutant (for the most part) has a vital role, but it still raises the question.  Another thing that the introduction of these characters brings is the convulution to the story.  What was once a focus on the friendship between two of the most notable characters of the franchise, now becomes a mix of stories and a blend of character development that creates a bit of a mess, yet it is still handled well.

Not going to spoil too much more of the plot for all of you, so I’ll leave the rest of the review about other aspects of the film.  There’s a lot of nods to fans of the films and comics alike, from cameo appearances to takes on character origins and their development.  A lot of humor was also placed in the film, though this is by no means a comedy.  It’s a very light touch of humor thats enough to gain a few laughs but still place this film as a fun action flick thats more focused on the relationships between the characters.  As I said before, one of the strongest relationships is the one between Erik and Charles, who have opposing views on their goals.  Erik wants a world where mutants don’t have to hide and can live in peace without the fear of humans rising against them.  Charles on the other hand wants a world in peace with the humans, wanting to gain their support as well as their acceptance.  This is a strong dynamic for which the whole series is based and it’s these two contradictory views that create such an interesting friendship.  Charles is able to channel an emotional level of feelings from Erik by reading his mind and accessing his most cherished memories.  The feelings during these scenes is very powerful and it almost makes you wish there were more, though this is a film focused on a team, and therefore these characters lost a bit of the spotlight.  It’s still a spectacle though to watch this friendship evolve and grow stronger, only to mutate and fall apart as their views collide.

The action and special effects of the film are great eye candy and enjoyable to view.  I couldn’t complain about any of the special effects for the most part, with the only real complaint being Emma Frost and her “diamond skin”, which wasn’t bad looking, but as someone that has studied 3D modeling, I could tell that they only had one model for her special power.  Her hair will always be the same in her protective state, despite it being in different styles outside of it.  A minor complaint but it was something I noticed right away.  Other than that, the effects were all good and plenty of action to keep you watching.  The final battle against the seemingly unstoppable Sebastian Shaw is a good example, as final battles should be a spectacle of action sequences.  Speaking of Sebastian Shaw, for a villain, he doesn’t get a lot of screentime, but Kevin Bacon does a good job in the role.

There are a lot of scantily clad women in this movie.

The movie is a bit on the long, being  just over two hours long, but the plot is well done and has good pacing so it won’t feel long unless you realize that something you know will happen hasn’t happened yet.  The film does a good job developing its characters and there really isn’t a bad actor in the film, as every performance is pulled off well and in no way feels forced.  James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are the ones that easily steal the show with their performances, as you can see the two really made the roles their own, giving the audience a clear view of their character’s ideals.  I may even go as far to say they rival Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan as far as their acting goes.  The costume design is appropriately cheesy and it feels right for the time period given how costumes looked on characters around the time, but it’s still modernized in a way that works for the silver screen.

The Master of Magnet(ism).

As far as summer flicks go, X-Men: First Class is definitely among the best so far, and there’s a lot of big names coming this summer.  The film does create a few discrepancies with the other films in the series, mostly due to the appearance of certain characters at contradictory ages, or events that contradict scenes in other films, but all those aside, I can see this turning into a great new X-men trilogy, and I would be happy to see more from Matthew Vaughn.  The newest X-men film gets a solid 8 out of 10.