X-Men: First Class

Director:

Matthew Vaughn

Writers:

Ashley Miller (screenplay), Zack Stentz(screenplay), Jane Goldman (screenplay), Matthew Vaughn (screenplay), Sheldon Turner (story) and Bryan Singer (story)

Stars:

James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence

With 3D technology making huge waves in the world of cinema, it is a huge risk for any Hollywood director to make a film from the X-Men franchise in 2D. X-Men First Class dares to take that risk with no 3D and no Wolverine and yet manages to give a new dimension to all the X-Men movies we have seen earlier.

The story is set as a prequel to all the X-Men flicks and takes us to the time when Professor X wasn’t bald, and Magneto didn’t wear that stupid metal headgear on his head. Magneto, as it turns out was quite a treat in his heydays; a tragic anti-hero so to say, much like our Angry Young Bachchan (minus the redundant dialogues). For all those who follow X-Men Comics would get nostalgic to see a teenaged Mystique and a covert Beast. The other characters too are well detailed and contribute to the events that lead to the Dharmayudh and eventually the separation of buddies Professor X and Magneto.

The look and feel of the movie has a mild retro tint to it which is actually nice. The transformation of the young unsure mutants into powerful and confident superheroes is well sketched out and well portrayed. The CGI is not outstanding, but complements the story. Some scenes although would remind you of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” and “Hancock”. The script manages to evoke the right emotions at the right time and tickle the funny bones a couple of times with some witty dialogues and scenes.

The film did have some unintentionally funny moments and goof ups to. For instance The Beast’s transformation and entry felt like a low budget spoof scene. The irony of his wish to “look better attempt gone wrong” was reflected in the Halloween mask that he was made to wear in all probability by an underpaid makeup man. The scene where Professor X’s gets shot and paralyzed sadly reminded of an “Ooh! Aah! Ouch! moment”, from a pain balm/iodex commercial. Erik Lensherr a.k.a Magneto breaks Emma Frost’s neck and says she can never transform into diamond again, while we see her returning to her diamond form before closing credits.

After a disastrous movie like Woverine (reminiscent of 80’s Bollywood inspired revenge movie), X-Men First Class manages to create a completely fresh feel to the franchise. The script is crisp yet detailed, direction is simply stylish and performances of Kevin Bacon, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender bring an amazing level of sophistication to the show. Director Matthew Vaughn ‘s deliberate choice to tell a story the old school way was a big risk. Did the risk pay? Well, let me put it this way, I took a friend along to watch this movie and she’s someone who hates superhero and mutant stuff. When the credits rolled, she asked me if there would be a sequel to this movie!

We welcome your comments at letters@friedeye.com