X-Men: First Class

The X-men universe is so rich with characters and stories that there’s an endless amount of movies that could be made from the source material. Because the first decade of this millennium was flooded with super hero films, the trend now seems to be to go back and make a prequel or a reboot or a re-imagining. You can blame the prequels on the success of “Batman Begins,” but blame the entire comic book movie renaissance on “X-men.” The first X-men film was good not great; however it paved the way for “Spiderman” which was great. It was followed by “X-2: X-men United” which is one of the best superhero films ever made. Subsequently, that was followed with “X-men 3: The Last Stand” which is undoubtedly one of the worst superhero movies ever made. “X-men: First Class” shows the origins of the X-men universe’s rival elders, Professor X and Magneto, and sets up the origins for the entire X-men universe.

First off, this movie is fantastic. It is a near perfect X-men film in addition to being a great movie in general. It's been a while since “X-2” came out, so it's possible that this film is even better than that. The film is all about character development which some may find boring in lieu of big action set pieces, but it is actually completely engrossing. It was very wise to make Magneto the protagonist as he is the far more interesting character. All of the acting is amazing. They could not possibly have gotten a better cast. Michael Fassbender is amazing in the film. Without a doubt this is the beginning of a long career for him. He is brilliantly cast in this role. The rest of the cast is equally good, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hoult and even Kevin Bacon. 90% of acting is casting, so well done in that department. The fact that this is a period piece as well as a super hero film makes it unique and the filmmakers brilliantly pull off both. It is reminiscent of a James Bond film.

Origin stories tend to be boring; or at least more boring than their sequels as there is a lot to establish and teams need to be assembled etc. But with a sequel the audience is already familiar with the characters and they usually turn out better. This is not the case here. The landmines of boredom were expertly navigated. Expectations were high for this film for true fans and they were met with gusto. One problem that is unavoidable is that within the timeline of X-men history a lot of the specific “heroes” chosen for this film are really B-team X-men. It's not possible to include Cyclops and Wolverine and all the favorites. It's a bit underwhelming in this regard. However the story of the two leads is so compelling that it ultimately doesn't matter. The strength of the story comes purely from Magneto’s arc.

This is a chance not just to be a prequel but hopefully entirely reboot the series. They made the mistake of including some cameos of actors from the other films but this is still a unique opportunity to start fresh. If they try to eventually align these films with the previous the same way the Star Wars prequels did, the story will undoubtedly suffer. It limits the potential of what could be a great trilogy. They are off to an amazing start, so they had better not mess it up with subsequent films. They have already abandoned one specific point which would link the different series’ continuity. In the horrible “X-men 3,” Professor X appears at the beginning in a flashback without his wheel chair, which would happen after he's already been paralyzed according to this new series of “prequels.” This is a hopeful sign that these films will become their own thing, which will only make them better. After all, Heath Ledger’s Joker in “The Dark Knight” has nothing to do with Jack Nicholson’s Joker in the “Batman” film from the 80s, and we are all better off because of it. The summer is not over yet and there are still a few super hero movies yet to be released, but this film will be hard to top. It will probably be the best summer tent pole film and not just the best superhero movie.