X-Men: First Class (Reviewed by Ed)

X-Men: First Class

(3.5 out of 4 stars)

Before Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN. Written by Twentieth Century Fox

X-Men: First Class is exactly that…first class! I know there are some of you out there that our a little tentative about seeing this movie but let me put that to rest right now, this new installment of the X-Men franchise is top notch and will hopefully continue the franchise for years to come.

The beginning of the movie starts off exactly how the first original X-Men movie (2000) started off at the concentration camp in Poland 1944. Soon after we get introduced to what happened after a young Erik Lensherr was separated from his parents. The character of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) is introduced. Through the next few minutes of the movie we see the reasons as to why Erik is so bitter and angry.

What’s great about this movie is that you get to see to relationships between some of the mutants that you would never have expected to see. It was weird to see Professor X and Magneto working together, also seeing the relationship between Professor X and Mystique was quite an eye opener as well. It was fascinating to see Professor X and Magneto recruit other mutants together and one of the best parts of the movie is a very small cameo with Hugh Jackman.

The movie centers around the Cuban missile crisis back in the 1960’s and how the mutants have to decide which side they are on and work together to stop what could’ve been a huge threat to the world. It was fun to see how they formed relationships, came up with their “code names”, etc. The acting was great and the plot was just as good. I highly recommend this movie and for those of you who are hesitant…don’t worry, just go and see it. One of the things that I was disappointed with was that there wasn’t an “extra” scene after the credits. Many people in the theater stayed and when it didn’t happen there was a groan from the audience.

Rating of whether I would see the movie again:
1 = Definitely not!
2 = Probably not.
3 = Maybe.
4 = Probably.
5 = Absolutely!

Would I see the movie again in the theaters? 4
Will I rent it on DVD and watch it at home? 1 (no because I will buy it)
Would I buy the movie? 5

“X-Men: First Class" is rated PG-13 and features Brief Partial Nudity, Intense Sequences of Action, Intense Sequences of Violence, Language, Some Sexual Content, Moderate Fantasy Violence, One Use of Strong Language, Violence, Coarse Language, Not Rec. for Young Children, Mature Theme, Frightening Scenes, Language May Offend

Run time: 102 minutes