X-Men: First Class

Ratings: 7.8/10

Film Class: B+
Genre: Action Drama

Witness the beginning of the X-Men in this movie prequel of the highly acclaimed X-Men Marvel Series which took the world by storm when it made its first animated debut in 1992. X-Men: First Class takes you back to the beginning of the fictional world where mutants with special abilities exists among humans, and which resulted in a never-ending battle between the two "races" sparked from fear and hatred.

The main plot of X-Men has always been about two leaders, Professor X and Magneto, two archenemies who were ironically two best friends, leading both sides of the mutant race to protect and battle the human race respectively. It has a similar story to Superman, a familiar relationship between the Man of Steel and his archenemy Lex Luthor. Yet, X-Men has always led the pack from other superhero movies because of the large number of heroes and villians prevalent due to the nature of the storyline.

Its strongest merit, may also be its most dreadful demerit, because it runs the danger of a lack of focus. Thankfully, X-Men movies never ran that risk. X-Men 1-3's focus was wolverine, while this film, focused on the friendship between Professor Xavier and Magneto. While I didn't like the choice of mutants and the stars featured, the main leads managed to steal most of the limelight. Being an avid X-Men fan, I was unfamiliar with a handful of mutants... which I never knew existed or were even part of the Professor X's first X-Men team.

This movie had a very matured theme to it, even though it featured young stars and that it was set in a fictional world. Everything felt extremely realistic (then again, maybe only for 1 part of it... beast's "rubber" costume), and I liked how this movie was finally able to revive the kid in me. For the first time out of all the X-Men installments, this was the only one which managed to leave me wanting for more. So much so that I had this insatiable urge to re-watch the 1992 animated series once again.

Quite frankly, I didn't expect much. From all the reviews mentioned about how fantastic this movie was, I didn't think much of it. While I don't totally agree about how first class this movie is, I have a weird dilemma to admit it as such because of the way it left me feeling after the movie. It's a strange feeling altogether... almost like you don't totally like something yet you love it. The only thing I'm sure of, is that X-Men: First Class is definitely the best X-Men movie made so far and everyone (cast) did a great job on being mutant.

There was a particular scene which I really loved, an extremely strong scene which may have been overlooked by most viewers. *major spoilers ahead* I'm referring to the scene in which Magneto finally killed the villain Sebastian Shaw. Firstly, it was a very interesting way to kill a person, or mutant. Secondly, the scene put Xavier in an extremely difficult moral dilemma... because Professor X had to aid his best friend in killing another mutant for the greater good. And lastly, the physical pain he had to endure because everytime he controls another person, he's able to feel what the other person is feeling... Ie. he felt the coin went through his own skull. I was able to feel both his emotional and physical pain...

The cameo was highly refreshing... with only just 3 words... it was... classic. No after credit scenes, and no cameo from Stan Lee this time (not that I was ever able to spot him in most Marvel movies anyway).

To sum it up, the only X-Men movie to have successfully made me hope that it wouldn't end that quick, that had me longing for more even though it's a 2hr 12min long movie. Perhaps my favourite animated Marvel series might finally reclaim top spot as the real-life remake Marvel series in the years to come (currently the reigning champ is still Spiderman) after all...