X-Men: First Class – Review
by john on Jun.12, 2011, under Reviews
Time for me to eat crow. In this year’s Summer Movie Extravaganza, I picked this to be the worst of the summer. From the beginning, I’ve greeted the X-Men: First Class trailer with scorn and derision. Questioning its mere existence like a father to his daughter’s first date. X-Men 3: The Last Stand was garbage and that Wolverine movie ranks in my Top 10 Crapfests of all time. I was over the X-Men. I did not want another reboot with new actors. So I allied with PETF (People for the Ethical Treatment of Franchises) and desperately wished Hollywood would stop milking and give the poor cow some rest.
As it turns out, X-Men: First Class is one of the best of the summer.
The story takes place in the 1960s, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mutants are just now “coming out” and there’s a secret branch of the CIA established to research them. They hire Charles Xavier, a professor from Oxford, to help start the organization. Add some mutants on the Soviet side and you get a nice “reimaging” of the Cold War.
I’ve written before of my hatred of origin stories – especially those for comic book characters. They always focus on the discovery of the powers and leave very little time for actual character development. Here, everyone already has their powers so there’s time to explore more complex relationships. Professor X and Magneto are friends trying to prevent nuclear war against a common enemy. Watching them drift apart makes a great story that transcends the fantasy of it all.
I have no idea where they go with the franchise from here. But for this outing, it’s worth your $10.
Grade: A
