Man, these movies are weird. One minute, you’ll be watching an okay movie. Then you’ll be watching a really good one! After that, you’ll watch one of the most terrible super hero movies you could find. It’s a rollercoaster!
Anyways, First Class is awesome.
In the 1960s, Mutant extremist Klaus Schmidt is preparing to heat up the Cold War. One of his previous victims, Erik Lehnsherr, uses his magnetic powers to hunt him down for revenge. Meanwhile, Charles Xavier joins up with the CIA in order to stop Schmidt and protect Mutant kind. Both Charles and Erik are set on a collision course, one which will result in the first class of X-Men. But will their friendship last?
If you try to think of this movie as a prequel to the original X-Men trilogy, you’re going to hurt your brain really bad. The details just don’t line up. Such as Mystique being Charles’ adopted sister, as opposed to what she was in the originals, which was just a shape-changing lady who did karate for Magneto. Personally, I prefer to think of this movie as a reboot. It just makes more sense that way.
The characters are definitely the strongest part of this movie. It’s got a fairly large ensemble cast, and everyone in there has a fun and distinct personality, with differing objectives and beliefs. Gone are the days of flat characters meant just to fill out the roster, like the first few movies.
One of my favorite examples of characterization is in the beer scene. First, we see Erik in a bar, drinking a beer and killing nazis. Then we cut to Charles in a bar, surrounded by people who like him, cheering him on. It’s a neat, subtle way of showing how similar these two characters are, and how they could have easily ended up in each other’s shoes if their lives were just a little different.
The actors escalate this material even further. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are INCREDIBLE as Charles and Erik respectively. The two have so much chemistry in every scene they share together. They could have made a scene where they got coffee together gripping!
Also, the Wolverine cameo is amazing. Especially when you learn that the dialogue was improvised by Hugh Jackman, and the director just kept it in.
Visually speaking, this is definitely one of the strongest X-Men movies. It’s got some really stylistic cinematography and editing, especially in the montage sequences. Even the special effects look pretty good, even by today’s standards. It’s a good looking film.
We also finally get yellow jumpsuits. And it looks great. All of the costumes do.
Except for Magneto’s at the end of the movie. That was just… so bad.
Honestly, I don’t have much else to say about this one. It’s a really solid X-Men movie, through and through. If the first trilogy was a cheesy action story, than this one was a solid character drama. If you’re only going to watch one X-Men movie, it should be this one.
Though if I’m being honest, I’m a bit partial to the next one.
Unfortunately, we need to get past another Wolverine movie first.
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