"X-Men: First Class" -- Reviewed

This film was better than what I was expecting. This is in most thanks to the direction of Mr. Matthew Vaughn. Let’s not forget about the excellent cast, especially McAvoy and Fassbender. If I had it my way, I’d have the movie called, “Magneto” and focus more on his story, his revenge, perspectives, etc. Magneto was by far one of the most interesting characters to watch. It was fascinating watching how Magneto encounters and views Professor Xavier. He has such an admiration for Professor X but can’t turn his back on what happened to him and what he believes necessary for the mutants collectively. This film pretty much killed any chance of a Magneto spin off like the studio has been promising forever. It was interesting seeing heroes in the Kennedy era. Character actors were greatly cast but with seldom cheesy lines that are forgivable. The director could’ve made the film longer but it was already well over 2 hours. The problem with the film has to do with trying to get the origins of every hero established. You can’t explain one hero’s story over another or leave one hero’s story omitted. There should have been stronger emphasis on Professor X and Magneto. These men are what underlines the “X-Men” and are what later divides them. Professor X and Magneto, in a segment in the film, go around the world searching for other mutants. There could have been one movie with them doing just this. You could show a slower, more believable deterioration of their allegiance to each other. Of course, this is my opinion but if you can at least see where I’m coming from, you’d have to say that things could’ve been better. That’s not to say the film was bad by any means. In fact, the film was quite good but I cannot in the right mind give it a ‘great status’. Also, there is something else to consider. Do you believe this film would’ve been more successful if it was the first X-Men movie to come out? The answer would be absolutely. These characters are not fresh but are told from a different era, perspective and more importantly starting with their origins, even if that is mainly collective amongst the mutants and not just Professor X and Magneto. There are some brilliant scenes in the film and most all are with Professor X, Magneto or them two interacting and there is, of course, the awesomeness of Kevin Bacon as the evil Sebastian Shaw. One of the final scenes, between Shaw and Magneto, are noteworthy in Magneto’s perspective of morality. I don’t want to ruin it for those that haven’t seen it but like I said above, I wanted more Magneto. I want audiences to embrace in the anti-hero. Either that or make a film surrounding only Professor X and Magneto and the rest of the mutants serve as a backdrop. I have to praise the director though because it is the characters that are emphasized over the action. I'm anticipating a sequel that looks to be even more interesting. Overall grade: B +.