X-Men: First Class officially marks the beginning of the franchise's Renaissance era. With booming technological advancements & budget allocations for superhero movies, here's a production that grabs the golden goose & cartridges it to full use!
Essentially, we are introduced to the two fundamental characters in X-Men universe namely Charles Xavier & Erik Lensherr, who forms X-Men & Brotherhood of Mutants respectively. Right from their childhood, background, atmosphere & surroundings, we are presented with pellucid lookouts on both these personas to perceive where they are coming from. Hence, their polarizing views in regards to the existence of mutants among humans are finely articulated.
Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr is the best casting choice for this prequel! His menacing demeanors are poisonous & commanding as ever as Magneto! Anytime he is in the picture, the particular scene will be a not-to-miss. Removing the bank owner's metal filled tooth, lifting the submarine from undersea, browbeating the pig farmer & tailor in the bar and splicing the similar coin through the antagonist's brain are clapworthy moments! It's enlightening to see him adopting & carrying forward with the ideology of his nemesis mentor.
James McAvoy as Charles Xavier is the next best, of course. His beautiful relationships with Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) & Erik Lensherr are erected so well. The 'magic trick' scene in the meeting facility sequence is brilliant! When they join forces and use the first draft of Cerebro to locate all mutants on Earth plus conduct training development sessions, it's crowd-pleasing really! How could it not be when Logan cameos with a "Go fuck yourself"?
As far as new mutants go, there are plenty nice ones out there like Azazel (Jason Flemyng) & Emma Frost (January Jones) to point a couple. Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Angel Salvadore (Zoë Kravitz) & Havok (Lucas Till) naming session is fun! We get to see a kid Mystique with a Bohemian makeup too, similar to Beast's getup! Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw who's capable of absorbing energy & stay young is eminent.
Remember the first glimpse at Magneto in 2000's X-Men's 1944 Poland? The effort that went into recreating the scene is commendable as it looks very similar to the original, only with certain casts change. The boy's acting & screams however, seem fake. First Class means the first X-Men team pooled in the first initiation of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
With a top-notch soundtrack & picturesque locations, this film is technical undefeatable with events that take place to fill the gaps & questions posed by previous instalments. You know why Professor X ended up on a wheelchair, after all.
With these being said, the war history narration is boring. Sebastian Shaw's intentions & partnership with the Russians are mediocrely agreeable. Riptide's (Álex González) ability to create whirlwinds from his hands & body is logically off-putting. Erik & Charles hunting down the villain on the same day is too coincidental, no? The climax surprise attack on Black King & White Queen is a little elongated & misses in creativity.