X-Men: First Class is a pretty good film that sets the right tone for an X-Men movie, bringing it back to a story about teamwork, rather than just letting Wolverine hog all the spotlight. Despite a lackluster choice of physical locations, uninspired sets, and some cheesy special effects for the film, the actors do a great job and the story is compelling. If you like comic books and especially X-Men, you will be quite pleased. It's still a good movie for the average moviegoer too, as long as you can get used to Kevin Bacon as the bad guy.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was so devastatingly bad that I was a bit apprehensive about seeing the new prequel. Hugh Jackman makes a cameo in First Class that's only about 8 seconds long, which is the appropriate length for his involvement in this one. Don't get me wrong, I like Mr. Jackman, but I'm happy to give him some time off and recuperate while we all ignore the Origins: Wolverine excursion and move on with our lives. I felt the same way about Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero in 1997, a side-scrolling game that didn't fit the mold for what a Mortal Kombat game should be. Why not then make one for every character! Did you bring enough spin-offs for the rest of the class? Origins: Wolverine was a joke wrapped in a riddle and then dipped in that cup the 2 girls used in that internet video.
First Class is a clever prequel that shows us a little more of the story behind the ongoing rivalry between Professor Xavier and Magneto, back when they were simply known as Charles and Erik. The ideological difference between them is simple enough. Charles sees a world where normal humans and mutants can live together in peace, believing that mutants must never harm humans, no matter what they may do to the mutants. Erik knows the humans will fear what they do not understand, and he is always preparing for all out war; an us versus them mentality.
I have always been intrigued by the X-Men stories. The X-Men themselves are usually portrayed as the good guys and Magneto and his followers are meant to be the bad guys, but in First Class, they are just all mutants. It seems to be the duty of this film to pinpoint the precise moment where the group of mutants diverge on opinions and pick sides. In that sense this film succeeds, and is telling the right story in my opinion.
The film goes out of it's way to show how the environments in which these two characters grew up would shape the views they take later in life. Charles Xavier grows up in a mansion, and as a young man he's a swinging playboy/book-smart sexy nerd type, brilliantly acted by James McAvoy. His give peace a chance hippie attitude is exemplified in the film by his use of the word "groovy" at one point. On the other hand Erik Lehnsherr, acted with subtle complexity by Michael Fassbender, witnesses the death of his mother by Nazis, and spends the better part of his life tracking down the men responsible for his revenge. This back-story, often times heavy handed, explains why Erik/Magneto distrusts the humans to the extent that he does. In the grand scheme of things, this movie does a good job of making you stop and think about who's side you're on, yourself.
And then there's Kevin Bacon. It's hard for me to watch movies with him in it. A decade ago or so, my ability to see the image of Kevin Bacon diminished greatly... Perhaps residual effect of Hollow Man. In First Class, his character, (whatever his name is,) was wearing Magneto's helmet, before it belonged to Magneto. Bonus, it's the origin of a helmet! The amount of little asides, allusions/foreshadowing, and nods to the audience was too high for my liking. I guess the filmmakers assumed we wouldn't know it was an X-Men movie unless they threw in some iconic imagery or made jokes about Charles Xavier losing all his hair someday.
It's a fun movie and more importantly, it feels like a real X-Men movie. I liked the tie-in to political events unfolding during the Cuban Missile Crisis, putting the newly formed superhero group to work right away to help save the world. I wish the ending had something more to it besides cutting between shots of menacing battleships and the characters on a nearby beach. It felt like it was all shot on a blue screen and really confined the action, with actors in front of superimposed backdrops. It's a shame that the riveting conclusion of this large scope picture takes place in such a visually drab manner. Despite it's shortcomings, I do like this movie, and I welcome more X-Men movies without Wolverine as the main character.