X-Men: Erste Entscheidung

Beginning with a crime-thriller and a fantasy film on his directorial résumé, it is safe to say that Matthew Vaughn may have already found his niche genre in the super-hero field despite only directing four films in seven years. His first super-hero project, 'Kick Ass,' opened in 2010 to solid critical acclaim and a finalized gross of three times the film's ordinary $30 million dollar budget. And after only two years, Vaughn returns with 'X-Men: First Class,' an origins story to accompany the Bryan Singer/Brett Ratner X-Men trilogy released between 2000 and 2006. It's intelligent, enthralling, well-acted, stylishly directed, and most importantly by focusing heavily upon the relationship between the two central protagonists, it does not feel like a conventional super-hero film.

Set within the political context of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960's, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is an up-and-coming Professor whose life is drastically altered when he is introduced to the other members of society who also share the same mutant gene as himself that supplies them with super-human abilities and traits. After stumbling upon the shape-shifting Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) within his mansion, the telepathic Xavier then encounters Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), the son of Jewish parents who were murdered during the holocaust by the narcissistic former Nazi scientist, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). Erik, who can manipulate all metal objects around himself, wants retribution and nothing more from Sebastian who is now a successful and evil underground figurehead who commands a team of mutants (Azazel, Emma Frost and Riptide) to do his bidding for him. But, once his plan for world domination is revealed, they find that it far exceeds the constraints of humanity, and Xavier, Erik and a rag-tag band of young, hide-away mutants (Havok, Beast, Darwin, Angel and Banshee) who were discovered by Charles, must combine their powers in one last attempt to stop Shaw from destroying the planet and humanity as a whole.

Instantly where 'X-Men: First Class' works is in regards to its two central characters; Charles Xavier played by an incredibly affluently sounding James McAvoy and a rage-fuelled Erik Lehnsherr played by a stern-faced Michael Fassbender. Their instant on-screen chemistry provides the drive and ammunition for the plot to carry itself forward. Both characters have differing ideologies and their constant clashes due to this aspect allow the script to be brought to life. Instead of simply infusing their relationship with formulaic violent clashes, Vaughn has instead opted for more articulated verbal battles between the two characters regarding their stance within the society they are now becoming a part of. Xavier is an intellectual being who believes that humans will eventually be accepted within society as equals alongside humans, while Lenhsherr believes that mutants will always be hunted and unable to live peacefully side-by-side with the human race, his evidence for this resides in the anti-Semitism and hatred he received at the hands of the Nazi party during the holocaust. This heavy-set contradiction in ideologies allows their relationship to be imbued with pessimism, while they may be shown as friends and fighting together initially, fans of the comic books and films in general know this does eventually turn into a bitter rivalry and it's this development which drives the plot forward.

Aside from the script, it would also be rude to not praise the action-sequences which take place within the confines of the 1960's X-Men universe. With a modest running time at two hours and ten minutes, there are more than a few well-choreographed action sequences that would adequately satisfy any of comic-book-to-film aficionado's wishing to see this film. Each character's power or ability is at some point represented in a destructive or defensive capacity, taking full advantage of the fact that while many super-hero movies tend to concentrate on the aesthetic nature of the artillery characters can be seen to withstand from governmental agencies or blindsided human opponents, here it is shown and constantly emphasized that human reaction would be futile due to the overwhelming power the mutants possess. These scenes also allow the less important characters to show their physical presence on-screen. For example, during the climactic fight sequence at the conclusion of the film, every mutant character that is identified to the audience is finally shown using their abilities to full capacity, most notably the henchmen of Shaw and the rag-tag team of Xavier and Lehnsherr. This therefore accounts slightly for the lack of depth that has been attempted in these secondary characters due to the time and story constraints.

While it is a very good and accessible comic-book/super-hero movie, 'X-Men' does also contain two central flaws. The first is superseded in a way by the strength of both McAvoy and Fassbenders performances, as Kevin Bacon is constantly overshadowed as the one-dimensional antagonist of the piece. His plot to ultimately destroy humanity becomes second fiddle to the ever intricate complex relationship between Xavier and Lehnsherr, and his appearance seems too modelled upon that of a James Bond villain. He has the slick hair, the beautiful women and the villainous underground Club to boot, but Bacon unfortunately doesn't have the charisma to be accepted as a worthy opponent to the protagonists. The other flaw has to do with a minor aspect of the production itself, as the non-diegetic music, most notably during the action sequences, begins to diminish in its impact as the film carries on, leading to it eventually becoming the generic, genre-related fanfare associated with the conventional comic-book films.

'X-Men: First Class,' is not your typical comic-book movie, it may contain certain elements associated with the comic-book genre, but by placing a heavy emphasis upon the strength of the plot and the script at the film's core instead of the action-set-pieces taking place, Vaughn has intended, and succeeded, in transcending the stereotypical conventions of the genre and has created a film which will appeal to a wide range of audience members.

With Matthew Vaughn at the helm, X-Men: First Class is a classy, fun time that brings the best out of it's strong cast. The action scenes and dialogue pop with a ferocity, and breaths life into a incredibly engaging storyline.

What stands out in this movie (besides the look of some of the mutants), is the clever way in which all the pieces fall into place as a prequel which cements the backdrop and tone for the previous X-men offers. This one however, stands above them though for the consideration and tact that has gone into developing these understandably complex characters. Resulting in a more complete movie experience.

The leading cast do a brilliant job in giving you a sense of their conflict with ingredients such as prejudice, ignorance, a sense of belonging and bitter revenge giving the film a more humane feel than a lot of dramas allowing you to connect with the characters more easily.

The special effects- lets not forget, are top notch as expected, but surprisingly very in-keeping with the film and doesn't take away from the other elements of it. The violence is clean but present, pitched right between a young and adult audience. There's also a decent amount of ironic humour thrown in, which, considering the party tricks on offer (by that I mean the powers and peculiarities of the mutants), just comes and goes naturally without feeling forced as like a lot of comedy moments in films of late.

Bottom-line, this is a well-constructed, well acted Marvel film. I wasn't totally convinced beforehand, casting James McAvoy as the young Xavier, a full head of hair and northern accent doesn't seem the best fit after all. I can say that he fully realised that role and showed his range in playing a more commanding lead. Michael Fassbender has great screen presence and does a good shift as the Magneto to-be and Mr Bacon adds another interesting element to the story. All the supporting cast give a solid performance with everyone focused on the exciting job at hand and no weak links.

Easily worth the cinema admission and thank god they didn't make it in hit-and-miss 3d, there's just no need! The best of the X-men franchise.

Xmen: First Class is simply fantastic. Strong emotion and explosive action. The acting is top notch. Delivery from every actor is at it's best, more so from Mystique, Beast, Xavier and Magneto.

The story is more character based than action, however the action sequences are still superb. Personally i'd have liked to of seen it being a 15 and have a more adult but it wasn't a big issue. Also some more background story from the bad super's would have been good but again this wasn't too much of an issue and would leave some nice room for upcoming xmen movies.

I don't want to say too much but to break it down... Go see this film no matter what you are into. There is something for everyone. 9/10 easy

The biggest problem of these prequels is it's kind of messy to the original X-Men movies. Well, the filmmakers said this is a reboot but there are some references to the original X-Men series. Anyways, "X-Men: First Class" is fun and had a lot of great action. It's the biggest X-Men movie ever made and it's better than the last two X-Men movies.

The filmmakers stated that this movie is a reboot but things from the old X-Men movies had an appearance to this movie. The problem of giving reference from the old X-Men movies to this reboot is it doesn't make this movie stand alone. Maybe the references only made for the laughs but if this is a prequel then it'll be a total mess.

The best parts goes to the action(obviously). Matthew Vaughn knows how to make big and awesome action scenes. The best parts also goes to the scenes of Michael Fassbender. He really steals the show. He made Erik/Magneto more dangerous than ever. It's fun and intense to see him do something menacing. The rest of the cast is also pretty good. James McAvoy gave a lot of heart to his role. Him and Fassbender had good chemistry.

Overall, "X-Men First Class" is good especially if you are looking for large scale action. I guess large scale is one thing that's missing to the first four X-Men films. X3 had a large scale action that left us hanging in the end. This one has the action finale that is intense and really big. Maybe the reference of the old X-Men movies is only made for the laughs. By the way this is Matthew Vaughn's thing. There's action plus comedy.