X-Men: First Class Review

People have a tendency to cringe at the word sequel, but those people have never heard of The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, or The Dark Knight (just to name a few). It gets a bit excessive when it's the fourth (fifth if you count Wolverine) movie in a series such as The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Resident Evil: Afterlife, or Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

However, X-Men: First Class is none of these! Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Stardust) has done an amazing job of directing by far the best movie of the X-Men Franchise. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first of how I felt with the "First Class" not actually being the same as they were in the comics, but I quickly got over it. A number of "B list" X-Men debut in this movie, giving us a unique take on the story we thought we all knew. Rounding out the team lead by Professor X and Magneto are Banshee, Beast, Mystique, and Havok.

Without giving too much away, the main plot is that Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) is trying to ignite a nuclear war in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The time period is extremely convincing with the sets and the costumes. January Jones, who is no stranger to looking sexy in 60s fashion is great as Emma Frost. Michael Fassbender makes a really convincing and cool Magneto, at times he looks and acts like Sean Connery's James Bond (which could make a great case for his recent desire to take over Bond after Daniel Craig). James McAvoy really brings a young and hopeful side to Professor X.

All in all this was an amazing film telling the origin of the X-Men with new characters and some old familiar faces. My only concern is that in a summer full of superhero movies, this one might get overshadowed, which is ashame because it is one of the best.

X-Men: First Class is a 9 out of 10 Mutants!