X Men First Class
Rating: 6/10
Cast: James McAvoy, January Jones, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Oliver Platt, Nicholas Hoult
Director: Matthew Vaughn
So once more back into the X Men breach - and a third attempt at an origins film.
This time though it's from the minds who brought us the truly wonderful Kick Ass.
James McAvoy stars as Charles Xavier, a gifted young man whose life is decided by the altruistic path he forges in nurturing mutant kind and uttering the word "Groovy" as the 1960s progress.
Directly idealogically opposite him is Erik Lehnsherr (a brilliant Michael Fassbender) whose youth is defined by his tortuous treatment as a Jew in the Nazi concentration camps at the hands of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon).
So Erik sets out to hunt Shaw down and kill him - but when Shaw threatens to bring the world to its knees via nuclear war, Erik and Xavier join forces - along with other newly discovered mutants to try to avert a potential world war three.
What to say about X Men First Class?
Well it's better than some of the more recent entrants into the
franchise but it's no massive progression for the series to be
frank.
It's more a case of the film once again attempting to restart and
reboot the franchise and managing to do so in a somewhat at
times limp way - so fanboys of this particular genre be
aware...
However, there are some truly impressive things within this latest mutant outing.
Firstly Kevin Bacon's Shaw is startlingly good - Bacon's really
delivered the acting goods here with menace mixed with charm as
well as incredible screen presence. His is the stand out
performance of the film without a shadow of a doubt.
Fassbender and McAvoy also deliver the goods but it's Fassbender
who is the better actor bringing a dash of danger to the future
Magneto as he heads off on his Bond like quest of vengeance;
McAvoy's performance is crippled a little by his character's
penchant for spouting pompous dialogue and putting two fingers to
his forehead every time he uses his telepathy. In fact it's when
these two's relationship is explored on screen you get the better
film as you know what's to transpire further down the
line.
But some impressive effects are hobbled by virtue of the fact
there are more shonky ones on display and on this front the film's
somewhat let down.
Jennifer Lawrence impresses as the young Mystique and just about
manages to convince us of the inner turmoil her character faces
before going bad; Nicholas Hoult brings a tenderness to the
character known as Beast but January Jones is simply there as
eye candy and to do a slight twitching of the face a la Samantha
from Bewitched when her telepath Emma Frost does her thing.
The Cuban missile crisis setting adds little to the plot and, like some of the film itself, is a missed opportunity
Overall, X Men First Class may impress some with its fine acting but fans of the X genre will be disappointed nothing radical is done (aside from some great fanboy pleasing cameos); the rest of us may feel it's time to give the X Men a rest - even though this is rumoured to be the start of a new trilogy. It's not a bad film as it goes and doesn't lag despite its 2 and a quarter hour running time but it's not exactly what you'd expect - or hope for - from a fifth outing from this particular genre.
Watch the X Men First Class trailer here.
