Review of X-Men: First Class (2011) by Agent M — 14 Nov 2014

First Class is where I feel the X-Men franchise really gained its momentum. Matthew Vaughn's prequel to the Singer/Rattner trilogy is a welcome entry after the underwhelming Last Stand and idiotic Origins with a tighter narrative and better developed characters.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender really shine in the lead roles as Xavier and Magneto respectively and their duelling personalities and chemistry is the best aspect of the film. Jennifer Lawrence also deserves recognition for her performance as Mystique prior to becoming a megastar with The Hunger Games.

The action scenes are pulled off well which is to be expected and the Cold War setting acts as a great parallel to the mutant premise. Whilst First Class is a very good film however, it also has some glaring continuity errors within the film franchise that does get distracting.

This was obviously fixed with Days of Future Past recently but when taking the main films into account, it does become a nuisance. For me, it's what kept the film from being the great X-Men film it could've been.

Aside from that, it still remains a very enjoyable character driven superhero film and for a while, my favourite in the series.