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"X-MEN: FIRST CLASS"
(2011) (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender) (PG-13)

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QUICK TAKE:
Action/Sci-fi: Various human mutants with supernatural powers and abilities must decide who to ally themselves with as the U.S. and Russia teeter on the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
PLOT:
It's the early 1960s and Erik Lehnsherr (MICHAEL FASSBENDER) is a man bent not only on avenging the murder of his mother at the hands of Sebastian Shaw (KEVIN BACON) in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII, but also getting his revenge on that man for torturing him to extract his superhuman powers. With the ability to pull in or bend metal, young Erik was of obvious interest to Shaw, mainly because the latter was and still is a mutant himself.

At the same time, wealthy telepath Charles Xavier (JAMES McAVOY) has found himself now working for the CIA and with agent Moira MacTaggert (ROSE BYRNE) in trying to figure out who's working with the Russians as the U.S. government moves to place nuclear missiles in Turkey.

Initially unbeknownst to them, it's Shaw who's trying to manipulate the two superpowers into a nuclear world war, all to wipe out the humans and thus empower mutants like himself and his minions. They include Emma Frost/White Queen (JANUARY JONES), a telepath who can turn her body into diamonds; Azazel (JASON FLEMYNG), a demon who can disappear into and reappear as a wisp and thus strike unexpectedly; and Janos Quested/Riptide (ALEX GONZALEZ) who can spin his body and thus cause tornado conditions.

Learning of this, Charles and Erik team up to recruit other mutants to help the U.S. government deal with Shaw and the Russians. With Charles' life-long friend, shape-shifter Raven (JENNIFER LAWRENCE) already with them, they recruit the likes of science researcher Hank McCoy (NICHOLAS HOULT) whose enormous feet allow him to perform superhuman feats.

Then there's stripper Angel Salvadore (ZOE KRAVITZ) who can sprout wings and shoot off fireballs; Sean Cassidy (CALEB LANDRY JONES) who can let out hypersonic screams that can destroy things or give him the ability to use those sound waves to fly; Alex Summer (LUCAS TILL) who can unleash amazing amounts of destructive power; and Armando Munoz (EDI GATHEGI), a.k.a. Darwin, who can instantly evolve into whatever state necessary to get the job done.

With Shaw working both superpower sides to start a third world war, Charles, Erik and their team do what they can to find and stop him, despite the two men operating from different principles about both how to deal with them and their kind's place in the world.

OUR TAKE: 7.5 out of 10
When it comes to heightened anticipation vs. low expectations, I'll almost always go with the latter, at least when it doesn't involve my output or affect me in some important way. After all, with the former, especially when it starts to spiral upward and out of control, it's usually the case that whatever you're waiting for won't match those lofty dreams of whatever result you're after.

Setting the bar low, however, usually leaves plenty of wiggle room. If the product or experience meets your low expectation, you're likely going to be satisfied to some degree, if only just in proving your prognostication was right. But if it exceeds what you imagined, it's an unexpected and usually pleasant surprise.

Such is the case with "X-Men: First Class." After all, it's the fifth film in the series that dates all of the way back to 2000 when director Bryan Singer brought the popular Marvel Comics characters to the big screen. And considering the sequential drop-off in quality and overall entertainment value that occurred first in 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand" and then 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," I doubt I went into our press screening as the only critic with exceedingly low expectations.

As was the case, however, with "Fast Five" earlier this "summer" and the "Star Trek" reboot a few years ago, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the offering. It's just about everything one could want in a summer tent-pole blockbuster. There's action, some sexiness, bits of comedy, and material that will appease both the popcorn crowd and some (but probably not all) more high-brow viewers. Simply put, it's a well-made flick that should entertain the masses and one that certainly reinvigorates what was beginning to be a waning franchise.

While the title might make some think the filmmakers and/or studio were a bit pretentious in already stating the assumed quality of the flick before anyone in the public saw it (or that maybe it even referred to the mode of transportation for the stars and others related to the previous films after they made north of $1.5 billion worldwide), it actually refers to the significant change in the film's temporal setting.

All of which means the flick takes place well before most of the events in the first pic and thus shares its "origins" reboot status with the aforementioned "Trek" film. Like that one, it's well told, features engaging characters, good special effects and generally is entertaining from top to bottom and start to finish. In fact, I'd say I found the characters more interesting in these stages (and as embodied by the new set of performers) than in the previous films.

As the strangers turned friends turned eventual enemies (the latter of which is just touched upon at the end of the movie), James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are quite good playing the younger versions of the characters originated by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. For fans of the series and/or original comic books, it will be fun going back in time to see these personas in their earlier years. But one doesn't need to be either to follow, enjoy and/or be caught up with them, the others or the plot.

Like before, the story -- penned by Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz and Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn, with the latter also directing -- not only includes the requisite action, but also some deeper subtext about others who aren't the same as the masses. There's the direct material tied to the Holocaust of WWII as well as later references to that in the warning of history potentially repeating itself, while there are other bits regarding the need and desire to fit in (much of that revolving around the mutant characters played by Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult), dealing with bullies and such.

But the filmmakers take another step into the historical unexpected by centering the story around parts of the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. For those too young or who weren't paying attention in American history class, that's when the U.S. government put up a naval blockade around Cuba to prevent Soviet freighters from dropping off nuclear missiles to launch facilities already under construction in Castro's island nation.

Here, the instigator of what nearly became WWIII is none other than Kevin Bacon, obviously trying to extend his six degrees of fame to historical events as well. Yes, pretty soon the entire universe and everything that has or will occur in it will somehow be connected to the former "Footlose" star. But I digress. The famous actor plays the villain this time, a figure who dates back to the concentration camp prologue that begins the flick and then serves as the troublemaker hell-bent on getting those nukes flying to wipe out those pesky humans.

Yes, he's a mutant as well, as is Fassbender's character whose self-description is that of the Frankenstein monster Bacon's character created all those years ago amidst the Nazis. Now Erik, who will eventually become Magneto down the line, wants revenge for the atrocities committed on him and his family, and thus we have yet another interesting subplot and subtext to help fuel the film.

But the lead villain has his henchmen (embodied but hardly personified by Jason Flemyng and Alex Gonzalez, while January Jones sort of has the Austin Powers fem-bot thinking working for her) and the heroes have a contingent of green recruits (including those played by Zoe Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones, Lucas Till and Edi Gathegi), while the U.S. government (represented by Rose Byrne in the field and Matt Craven back in the war room) tries to figure out what to do with them as well as the approaching Ruskies.

That might sound like a lot to cram into a two-hour movie, but Vaughn nicely balances all of the elements and ends up delivering what might be the big surprise of the summer of 2011. Far exceeding my decidedly bottom of the barrel low expectations, "X-Men: First Class" delivers a summer popcorn ride that's well deserving of its descriptive name. It rates as a 7.5 out of 10.




Reviewed May 31, 2011 / Posted June 3, 2011


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