X-Men First Class

How exactly does one create perfection? I'm still not sure myself, but you might want to ask Matthew Vaughn because with First class, he has somehow done it.

I had incredibly high hopes for this movie going in, and they were met and exceeded. Matthew Vaughn has always been a master of blending genres. A Romantic comedy with fantasy adventure in Stardust, superhero with some drama and comedy thrown in with Kick Ass. In First Class, he is able to intelligently blend your typical superhero movie with a political thriller and a sort of James Bond style film making.

First Class was brilliantly directed, had a great score by Henry Jackman, and all of the actors perfected their roles. To be honest, its only weakness was something that couldn't be helped. It's a prequel, which takes out many of the twists and surprises. Charles had to become paralyzed and wheelchair bound by the end, Erik had to give in to his hatred of humans and become Magneto, Mystique joins Magneto etc.

I really enjoyed the story, mainly because of the genre blending. The Cuban Missile Crisis is the basis of the film. We learn that this whole fiasco was actually created behind the scenes by Sebastian Shaw in order to create a new world for mutants. He is joined by Azazel, Riptide, and Emma Frost. In response to this, Charles teams up with Erik to create their own team of mutants to combat Shaw and stop the crisis from getting out of hand. They are joined by Angel, Darwin, Havok, Beast, Banshee and Mystique. The best part about the story was that it wasn't a "good vs. evil" thing. It was more a clash of ideals. One of the film's strongest points was that, at times, you could see where Erik was coming from and you could even agree with the points he makes.

The acting was phenomenal. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender both nailed their parts as Charles and Erik, respectively. Fassbender in particular had some amazing scenes. He was aggressive and arrogant but also held deep respect for Charles, which are all traits that I can see leading up to his eventual transformation into Magneto. McAvoy on the other hand played a slightly more comedic Charles at times, yet also played him very seriously when the scene called for it. Kevin Bacon did a surprisingly good job as the film's villain, Sebastian Shaw. He was very chilling at times, and had this incredibly aggressive tone to his voice which I loved. He was very much a Bond villain to me. He never had any real "allies." He merely used everyone to further his cause...and he spoke a variety of different languages, so I have to commend Bacon for learning them all. I also have to give credit to Fassbender for the same reasons. I should mention Rose Byrn as well, who played CIA agent Moria MacTaggert. She wasn't a mutant but helped Charle's cause. She played the part very well, and played the role of the human negotiator so to speak.

All of the younger actors did fantastic jobs as well. Lucas Till stood out in particular as Alex Sommers/Havok. He played an honorable smart mouthed character very well. He was the "jock" of the group, so to speak but was trustworthy. Nicholas Hoult played Hank McCoy/Beast. Hoult really played the Jekyll and Hyde character extremely well. The only other character with significant screen time was Raven/Mystique played by Jennifer Lawrence. She was one of my personal favorite because, like Beast, I could really see the inner struggle she was going through. January Jones, for what it's worth, played a good Emma Frost but I felt she was a last minute addition to the cast because of her screen time, and lets face it...she was terrible. I hate saying this because I love her in Mad Men. All of the other mutants were in the movie simply for the hell of it, but they never detracted from the movie. Jason Flemyng played Azazel, the shape shifting father of Nightcrawler. Zoe Kravitz played Angel, a mutant with the ability to fly and spit acid. Edi Gathegi played Darwin, a mutant with the ability to adapt to any environment. Alex Gonzalez played Riptide, a mutant who has the ability to create whirlwinds with his hands.

Now I come to my absolute favorite part of the movie, the score. Anybody who knows me should know I'm obsessed with how perfect the Kick Ass score is, done by John Murphy and in part, Henry Jackman. Jackman returns as the main scorer for First Class, and manages to one up Kick Ass. The main piece of music is the perfect fit for the film. It is the musical version of the X-Men so to speak. I can picture every single X-Men when I hear this theme. The other main theme of the film is Magneto's, which is used in a variety of different scenes. It is a mix of traditional instruments with a very hard guitar/bass riff in the back. It is used to show Erik's sadness, but is also used to great effect during some of the film's more intense scenes. I'm not trying to sound cheesy here, but the mixture of Magneto's theme and the film's main theme during the sub scene (you'll know it when you see it) is one of the most uplifting pieces of music ever created for a film. This song flawlessly portrays how far along Magneto has come in learning how to properly control his powers.

The movie's visuals were petty good, but were definitely the weakest point. I can't blame Vaughn though, because he had a schedule of 9 months to complete this film. This doesn't mean they were bad though. Vaughn did a better job than anyone else in his position could of done.

All in all, this movie is the very definition of perfection and it comes at my highest level of recommendation. Even people who don't like superhero films will find something to like in this film. It has the perfect balance of action, comedy and drama and none of it ever felt forced.