Movie Review: X-Men: First Class

June 2, 2011 Thursday
Glorietta 4

MTRCB Rating: PG-13
Genre: Superhero

Starring:
James McAvoy
Michael Fassbender
Rose Byrne
January Jones
Oliver Platt
Kevin Bacon

My friends Lat, Rachel and Vincent were supposed to watch Kung Fu Panda 2. Then William arrived and he was sooo eager to watch X-Men: First Class. We agreed leaving Kung Fu Panda for the next time. The cinema was so jampacked, we settled for the very front seat. Oh, well. We can't back out.

Finally, the much anticipated prequel of the X-Men movie franchise is here. We got to know the beginning and end of Professor X and Magneto's friendship; Mystique's reason to side with Magneto; why Professor was stuck in his wheel chair; the first ever recruitment of an all-mutant team; and the main focus of the film: Magneto's becoming.

On the positive side, the story was splendid. I love the way flashbacks were used to tell the story of Erik Lensherr (later Magneto). I love the way fictional events were interconnected to historical facts. The civil war between the US and Russia which led to the Cuba Missile Crisis was nicely incorporated in the story. Surely, there were no mutants during the Cuba Missile Crisis but after watching the film, for a moment I had a second thought that maybe there really were mutants who intervened before the war began. But that just me being paranoid. Hehehe. I even got to know other mutants that I am unfamiliar with. And this with the help of GMG (Don't ask me what's GMG). I like the twists of the story like best friends Charles and Erik turned archnemesis. And oh, I like the missiles engaged-disengaged-engaged-disengaged. That was a breathtaker. Visially, it was commendable. I like the visual effects.

On the negative side, I didn't like Hugh Jackman's cameo. Sure it was humurous but it affects the continuity of the story. Wolverine, appearing much older than Professor X and Magneto? Oh please. Some characters were Americanized for the film. Dr. Moira McTaggert was an Scottish geneticist in the comic books. Here she was an American CIA agent. Banshee was supposed to be Irish. It's forgivable for those who are not into comic books, but for comic book freaks like me, it a major major sin. The battle between the 2 mutant teams was set to a minimum. I expected a more spectacular battle scenes like the previous movies.

Over all, the film is great. It fresh and entertaining. It is necessary to introduce the characters in light and fun way in the first film and discover their dark sides in the next films. And they did just that. I'm looking forward for X-Men: First Class 2. I like it. I know I'm biased, but hey, I'm a comic book sucker.

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