The movie acts as a prequel to the X-Men movie trilogy and centers mostly around the two big guns, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) and of course their alter-egos Professor X and Magneto.
Acting as an origin story, the movie reveals how their relationship started and how their mutant groups (the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants respectively) were formed. Taking place during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it also serves as an interesting alternate take on history. It also introduces to a number of interesting young mutants, both young and old and also a central villain from the comics, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon).
I know some were concerned about mutant fighting, which was seemingly scarce in the trailers. Well rest assured, as there is indeed plenty in this flick and I must say the best is left off the trailer.
The pacing of the effects used is rather good, giving an impression of realism, although I admit the quality of CGi is somewhat inconsistent. There are however, a few scenes that will still make your jaw drop. The 60's setting is nothing short of refreshing, and it adds a whole new feel to the franchise. The makers sure put a lot of attention into detail, with vehicles, clothing and even hairstyles associated with the era faithfully applied. Not forgetting the fact that we are seeing younger versions of our favourite mutants, notably Xavier with hair! (there's even a joke about it)
And there's even room for some mutant romance...
But believe it or not, the strength of this X-Men flick lies in the acting. With such concrete performances by the two main leads, you can't help but feel the emotions running through their characters. You'll feel and care for them, you understand their struggles and their opposing views.
This also applies to the most of the pack too, like Beast (Nicholas Hoult) or Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).
Kevin Bacon on the other hand makes such a wonderfully evil villain you'll just love to hate him.
Overall, X-Men: First Class successfully saved the X-Men movie franchise and with its wonderful package of drama+action+romance+laughs makes for a nice watch. Personally I'd prefer if more time were given to Charles and Erik's search for the mutants as I believe it should have spanned years at least. But I'm just nitpicking.
If the makers can keep the quality of acting as consistent as this one it'll be a blast watching future installments (yup, a trilogy is proposed!). Plus, it was also nice to see Professor X and Magneto on the same side. I guess the return of Bryan Singer (X-Men and X-Men 2) teamed with Matthew Vaughn (of Kick-Ass fame) sure made an awesome combo. If you haven't caught it, you simply should!
4 Stars
PS: Watch out for a hilarious brief cameo by Wolverine!
