X-Men: First Class

RATING: A-

The X-Men franchise has had a very rocky history. After two universally well-received movies movies, a third movie with mixed reception, and a mostly panned prequel about Wolverine, the franchise was kind of in limbo, trying to find some new life. And how did they find some new life? Well, this movie was the result. 

Focusing on the beginnings of the X-Men in the 1960s during the Cold War, Charles Xavier knows that mutants exist, but finds out that one such evil mutant named Sebastian Shaw plans to start World War III by making the Cuban Missile Crisis end in disaster and nuclear war. It's at that point that he decides to start raising up a team of younger mutants to stop Shaw. 

Early in the process, he meets fellow metal-controlling mutant Erik Lensherr, who is bent on revenge towards Shaw who killed his mother. The two powerful mutants start bringing up a group consisting of young Mystique, Beast, Havok, Darwin, Banshee and Angel with the intention of stopping Shaw and preventing nuclear war. Erik has his own plans, however. "I'm not going to stop Shaw," he explains, "I'm going to kill him." 

And thus begins the beginning of the differences between Charles and Erik that will eventually leave to the split between them and the forming of the Brotherhood. As an X-Men film, it's an excellent one and definitely one of the best in the series. It's a little slow on occasion during the first third of the film, but it makes up for it later on especially during the final act. 

This film has a lot going for it. The action sequences, though perhaps less numerous than other X-Men films, are quite exciting. The script/dialogue is brilliant. The acting is fantastic as well. James McAvoy does well as Charles Xavier. Jennifer Lawrence is quite good as Mystique; Michael Fassbender steals the show as Erik/Magneto, however. In the film that essentially kicked off his career, he gets some of the most interesting lines and portrays his angry character quite well. 

X-Men: First Class isn't perfect; it's probably a little long at 131 minutes. However, it's definitely one of the better films in an entertaining yet messy film series. It manages to get by quite well thanks in part to good direction, acting and dialogue. The film was a bit of a risky move, but they managed to pull it off quite well in the end.