Review: X-Men - First Class

I'm not going to lie. I love me a good superhero movie. I especially love me a good Marvel superhero movie. And I especially especially love me a good Marvel superhero X-Men movie. Seriously, I've seen all four previous films at the cinema, loved every one and now own them all on DVD (at least I used to...the third one is hiding with Love Actually and War Of The Worlds in a place God has apparently decreed I will never find them). And whilst there have been some serious ups and downs, the X-Men films are right up my street; geeky, adventure-y, romantic, funny, dramatic, exciting and just generally good fun. Not only was X-Men: First Class no exception, it actually surpassed at least the last couple of films, in my opinion.

As a prequel, the story goes back to the 1960s and the Cuban missile crisis, following a young and charming Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), and an angry but still somewhat malleable Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) as they team up with the CIA to begin a new mutant division to American defence. Rounding up the new (or old...depending on your point of view) team shows us the young faces of familiar characters, some new faces entirely and one old and hilarious one (a moment that had me literally shooting out of my seat with excitement). However, it is - of course - not just as simple as the mutants and humans teaming up to fight off the bad guys. Erik is immovable from a desire to avenge his murdered mother by killing the Uber Bad Guy (Kevin Bacon), the young Raven/Mystique is struggling to accept herself, Hank McCoy/Beast is having a similar problem and friendly human Moira McTaggert can't seem to persuade her bosses how trustworthy these mutants are.

The scene is set for one of the best superhero movies of the decade, crammed full of a nostalgia which - to geeks like me - induces 8-year-old-on-Christmas-morning levels of excitement. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were both cast perfectly; McAvoy brings a lighthearted charm to the young Charles, but can carry off Patrick Stewart's stern teacher with equal aplomb, and Fassbender maintains Ian McKellen's suave-but-troubled-and-misunderstood Erik. The younger cast also do a brilliant job, with Nicholas Hoult surprising me the most, playing the shy, awkward and ludicrously intelligent Hank.

The couple of complaints I would make are these: it took quite a while to get going, and I was drifting dangerously close to boredom for the first ten or fifteen minutes, before the story really got going. My other whine is nobody's fault; the problem with a prequel is that, inevitably, you know how it's going to end. There's that drop in the pit of your stomach when you see Charles running after his students, or Mystique flirting with Hank (a sub-plot which was not, unfortunately, rounded up quite to my satisfaction...). However, because this is a GOOD prequel, even knowing what will happen doesn't really soften the shock when it does happen.

So, basically, I loved it. Well-balanced, superbly acted, massively entertaining (if a touch too long) and absolutely, thoroughly enjoyable.

Basic summary: a gripping and exciting adventure, superbly told and acted with several winks to fans of the franchise but more than enough to entertain anyone new to the X-Men phenomenon. Highly recommended.

Rating: * * * * (very good)