X-Men: First Class

Set in the early 60s, the satisfying superhero pic X-Men: First Class is a period piece that also takes us back to a very different and far more recent period: the days when X-Men movies were good. It doesn't really take us quite to the time when X-Men movies were great, which probably never was (if it were, it would have been in 2003, when X2 was released), but it's certainly nice to see this franchise get back on its feet after the dreadful 2006 sequel X-Men: The Last Stand and the disastrous 2009 spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Those two flicks lowered the bar so significantly that X-Men: First Class would still be viewed as an improvement if all it offered was a blank screen. But director Matthew Vaughn, who was once attached to the third X-Men movie before leaving the project, puts a lot of effort into creating a joyful ride that is true to the sort of blockbuster optimism this series has generated in the past.

Hitting the reset button on the corpse that was this franchise is certainly a good plan, which is how First Class ends up a prequel with very few familiar faces (although a couple winking, witty cameos do provide a glimpse of the recognizable). This latest X-flick is focused on telling the tale of how a young, able-bodied mutant named Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) met a young, angry mutant named Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender). In later years and earlier movies, Charles goes on to occupy a wheelchair and be known as Professor X, while Erik goes on to don a nifty helmet and be known as Magneto. As the previous movies suggested (and countless comic books have explained), Charles and Erik were good friends until they had a falling out over decisions of how to handle their rocky relationship with humans.

This friendship is explored against the backdrop of the cold war, which allows the plot to reimagine the Cuban Missile Crisis as an event both inspired and extinguished by super-powered mutants. On the one end, there's the CIA enabling the creation of a special team that is led by Charles and Erik, who will use their abilities to fight for good, while on the other, there's nasty mutant Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and his group trying to bring about the annihilation of the human race, which clearly qualifies as evil. It's a decent little setup that allows both sides to introduce some characters that are new to the movie series, but familiar to fans of the comics.

Charles and Erik lead a group of youngsters that include Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), who emits a sonic scream, and Havoc (Lucas Till), who unleashes furious blasts of fiery energy. Sebastian claims as his second-in-command a telepath named Emma Frost (January Jones), whose abilities almost mirror that of Charles, with the added fun of adopting diamond skin on occasion. Returning characters with a similar look to their older versions that appeared in earlier movies include Beast (Nicholas Hoult), the scientific genius covered in blue fur, and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), the shape-shifter covered in blue scales. This all adds up to a very big cast, but X-Men: First Class is mainly about Charles and Erik, which is exactly where the movie shines.

McAvoy and Fassbender exude so much charisma that they're practically glowing. The two performers prove to be fantastic prequel replacements for Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, who previously portrayed the future versions of these characters. McAvoy's Charles is a born leader, but he's still flawed, and Fassbender's Erik is a broken-hearted individual defined by tragedy, but he's also a loose cannon drawn to the dark side by a thirst for revenge. Both characters are well written (they get the best lines and the best arcs, by far) and the dual, soon-to-be duelling performers make the most of their scenes both apart and together.

These guys are so good that they end up making many of their fellow cast members look bad in comparison. Then again, a mannequin would make Jones look bad, who spends most of the movie looking like she's afraid to move. Her inevitable action figure could likely administer more convincing doses of emotion, attitude, and sensuality. Bacon fares better, but he grows less interesting as the story (and his involvement) progresses. He gets off to a surprisingly solid start, but then begins to take it easy, failing to quite relish the villain role enough to make his antagonist particularly intimidating. And Sebastian's henchman, two baddies named Azazel (Jason Flemyng) and Riptide (Álex González), are basically just window dressings played by actors who are waiting for the effects department to do their work for them.

Lawrence makes her way through the movie in respectable fashion, while Hoult and Jones are also fun to watch, so the cast still has a few bright spots not named McAvoy and Fassbender. This is all in line with past X-Men movies, of course, which have usually had some fine performances (Stewart, McKellan, and Hugh Jackman all played their characters with gusto) and some awful ones (Halle Berry and Ray Park battled it out for worst performance in the first movie). So it makes sense that X-Men: First Class hits its highest and most impressive notes when in the company of Charles and Erik, while scenes with the villains are considerably less engaging.

An additional key to this X-Men's success is Vaughn's ability to keep the story clipping along at a boisterous pace. The movie feels rushed and clumsy at times, but it doesn't drag and the movie is seemingly quite trim, despite the 140 minute running time suggesting the alternative. It's a curious result that Vaughn has achieved, since the movie feels like its barrelling along at a breakneck speed in a fashion that is both exciting and careless. It's nice that the movie is not wasting any time, but the hurried pace also gives certain scenes an oddly truncated tone.

This combination of pluses and minuses can be found throughout the movie, from the cast to the handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a major plot point. There's an effective parallel this plot draws between the mutant fight for survival and the human fight for survival, which is accentuated by the employment of a major historical event. But there's also something very hokey and cheap about reducing the human involvement in the conflict to a couple brief chats in war rooms. Another high and low combo is represented by the effects that are used to visually illustrate certain mutant superpowers. Some are shoddy at best (I'm looking at you, diamond skin, as well as certain telepathic flourishes), while others sparkle (that should be reserved for the diamonds, but I'll use it to describe Erik's big metal-moving moment).

Okay, so there are plenty of things to gripe about, while there are also plenty of things to praise. In particular, composer Henry Jackman has finally given this series its first piece of intensely memorable music in the form of a theme for Magneto. Musical scores are not among the highlights of most Marvel superhero movies, but Jackman's amped-up tunes throb with an impressive energy that is worthy of a great character like Magneto. Yes, the franchise is back and it's certainly better than it's been in many years. There's still plenty of room for improvement, but it's great to see the X-Men parading around on the big screen and doing something other than embarrassing themselves. Vaughn deserves lots of credit, as do Fassbender and McAvoy. Finally, another fun X-flick! This one isn't exactly First in its Class, but at least it's far from last.