Cut To The Chase Reviews from The City of Films are spoiler free ‘Reviews Abridged For Your Pleasure’. Quick, concise, and sometimes entertaining opinions on the go!
X-Men: First Class is the definitive follow up to the original X-Men film released 11 years ago. With superb action and fast paced storytelling the 2 hours and 20 minutes that this flick runs will fly right by. Centered around the origins of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr’s (Magneto) discovery of their mutant powers, they are pitted together against a common foe.
Taking place during the Cold War era, X-Men: First Class offers a dark and dramatic mood, while at the same time appearing lighthearted and filled with comic relief at moments. It does not shy away from telling the ugly side of some of Marvel’s most favorite antagonists and protagonists in a time when the whole world was on edge. Beyond the main cast that we are all aware of from the trailers for this movie, there are several mutants from Marvel lore who pop up throughout the film; sorry no Juggernaut. (Link has semi NSFW language oddly enough) Which turn out to be good tributes to previous incarnations of X-Men, both from the comics and from the small and big screen.
While there are a few moments of dialogue that may have you cringe, and some awkward split screen camera shots straight out of an old school 80′s montage, X-Men: First Class is a hit. By and large when you compare this to all of the other super hero movies coming out these days whose names are not Batman, this one is a good origin story and the pace was fantastic. For die hard fans, for casual film fans, First Class will help wash away the train wreck of a memory that was X-Men: The Last Stand.
Score: 4/5
Update, a fun music video for my fellow mutants.
A funny X-Men: First Class comic brought to you by Penny Arcade.
