I don’t remember much about the last X-Men movie (X-Men: The Last Stand) and maybe that’s a good thing. But what I do remember about it was just…bad. So, fast forward five years and we now have the re-boot of the X-Men franchise with X-Men: First Class which reveals how the X-Men story started.
This movie was a pleasant surprise. The story was good, acting was good, and special effects were good – overall it was a fun and entertaining summer movie. The themes are pretty much the same like the first X-Men movie, good vs. evil and accepting yourself the way you are even if you are a mutant.
It breathes new life to this franchise with a younger cast: James McAvoy (Atonement) as Professor Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto, January Jones (Mad Men) as Emma Frost, Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) as Raven / Mystique, and Rose Byrne (Damages) as Moira, the CIA agent, just to name a few. Rounding out the cast was Kevin Bacon as the evil villain, Sebastian Shaw.
I rate this movie a solid B…I probably wouldn’t see it again in the theaters, but wouldn’t mind taking a gander once it’s on Netflix. I thought Thor was a better movie, but not by much and it doesn’t hurt to have eye candy with accents like McAvoy and Fassbender.
