I went into X-Men: First Class with pretty high expectations. I feel in love with the X-Men series after the second movie. In my analysis the first movie was good, number 2 was great, number 3 jumped the shark, number four AKA the spinoff for Wolverine was meh, so my peak came three films ago. With the blow up of the restarted Batman franchise, I think Hollywood has realized people want comic book movies to hold more depth. I mean it has always been cool to see Batman on the big screen, but now it is so much cooler because of the amazing world Christopher Nolan has weaved. With this kind of restart kind of prequel to the X-Men series, I was getting the same vibe, so I put it was up on a high pedestal.
While this is no The Dark Knight, I did really enjoy X-Men: First Class. It was long, but it was one of those movies where you get to the end and you’re so interested that you don’t recognize you were sitting for such a distance of time. There is a lot of set up, as you would guess in an origins film, but maybe the nerdy half of me was really excited to learn where all of these mutants came from, especially Charles Xavier. It’s not very often we get to meet intelligent people in comic book films, and Charles is probably at the top of the intelligence list, and I really enjoyed hearing his story.
One of my favorite things about this film was how there was so much space to play. In improv, the ultimate goal is to feel like you are playing, and that is where the best improv is born. This movie had tons of X-Men movie universe to pull from, which they did. We got to see a young Stryker in a cameo role, and we also got to see some alums from the former films pop up in random cameos. Spoiler alert* It was so fun to see Hugh Jackman make the Wolverine appearance, which made the whole theater laugh. I also think they did an excellent job playing with that scene; the film portrayed a great, “ehh were doing this” moment, and then it had this instant where it felt like it played out a bit too long, and then when it was over the scene just felt perfect. I also loved the quick glance of Rebecca Romijn Stamos during the Mystique scene. *End Spoilers*
I also love a movie with great characters, they are the most fun to play with in improv land. The X-men universe provides a huge number of characters, and the best part is they already have fun quirks and twists built into them. We get to learn their powers, history, and flaws in just seconds. This film mainly focused on Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr’s journey to becoming Professor X and Magneto, and what a great story they have, all of the classic elements of an enthralling story. Now I want to go deeper into their world, and really learn about all of the supporting characters! Who are these new X-Men and new members of the Brotherhood.
Overall X-Men: First Class was a lot of fun, and the action flowed pretty quickly, the two main things I want in summer movies. After watching First Class, I am really excited for the next sequel. This one had such a great set up, and we got a brief glimpse into their characters, and it will be exciting to see where the producers take them. There is a perfect set up to make an NEW X-2 and really blow it up! Now that is the movie I am ready for! 4 out of 5 stars!
