X-Men:
First Class

It’s X-Men Muppet Babies! They are younger and cuter and just learning how to exercise their unique powers, including the ability to take some money from your wallet.

X-Men First Class is a prequel taking us all the way back to 1962 to see how Magneto, Professor X and the gang first discovered and honed their powers. Charles “soon to be known as Professor X” Xavier (James McAvoy) is an Oxford student and expert on mutations, who has secret telepathic powers and takes care of Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) – a runaway with the ability to morph into anything she wants (and she often morphs into looking like Jennifer Lawrence, and I am OK with that).

They are recruited by CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), who has discovered an evil Nazi, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), has been using some sort of mysterious powers and similar mutants to stoke the flames of war between the Soviet Union and America. Along the way, Erik “soon to be known as Magneto” Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) joins forces with Charles and the CIA because he wants to avenge his mother’s death at the hands of Sebastian.

Will they stop Sebastian when his plan to move missiles into Cuba forces the Cold War’s most tense and dangerous stand off?

Can Erik find pleasure and satisfaction in his pursuit of Sebastian?

Can mutants ever fit in or be appreciated for their efforts to save America?

As a prequel, X-Men: First Class is fantastic, but does differ from what fans have come to know. While some characters and traditional X-Men history have been altered, co-writer/director Mathew Vaughn and the writing team perfectly show us each character’s motivations, experiences and desires which all lead them to take the paths they follow in the new future. Vaughn marvelously establishes the differences that drive Magneto and Professor X apart, but also develops a kinship between them that makes their falling out so powerfully emotional.

Best of all, the writing team makes the fissure between the two cloudier and grayer than a traditional good and evil split. Charles and Erik see the world differently, but for very well explained reasons. Plus, Vaughn shows us how each one influences the other, which makes the falling out so sad. We can see how the two characters would have made a great team.

The rest of the story is very thin as we only get the barest bones of a plot showing Sebastian’s finagling and efforts to cause a nuclear war for his own ends, but you are going to be blown away by most of the cast. McAvoy gives Charles a charming earnestness which makes him a loving father figure to the young people he aides. Fassbender is fabulous with Erik’s anger and pride in the face of all of the horrible lessons he has learned and caused him to seek vengeance.

While January Jones, as Emma Frost, shows she has no ability beyond looking gorgeous in her underwear (the word “vacuous” comes to mind), watch for another great performance from Lawrence as she gives Raven a mixture of seriousness, desire to be a flirty young lady and a longing for acceptance that shows why she is one of the best young actors out there (eat your heart out Blake Lively!).

X-Men: First Class is exciting for those who love action as well as good story and acting.

X-Men: First Class is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some sexual content including brief partial nudity and language.