First class?

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn this prequel/reboot of the X-Men franchise stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Kevin Bacon. Against the back drop of the Cuban missile crisis a group of young mutants come together to save the world.

The major problem this film has is that it exists in comparison to a large back catalogue of comics and two superior films from Bryan Singer. Despite all the things the film does well it lacks some gravitas in comparison to the earlier films and while most of the changes from the comics work changing Moira MacTaggert to a CIA agent is the weakest of these. While the film retains the core minority rights issues from the comics this film does nod heavily in inspiration to the early James Bond films in it's plot and this Cold War setting does work well in terms of providing a back drop of mistrust and suspicion. What the film does well is capture the journey of Magneto and show case his friendship with Charles Xavier even if this does leave some of the other characters a little under developed.

4/5