X Men First Class

I can't lie when I say I was a bit hesitant of watching X-Men First Class. As it happened before with the transition between Batman & Robin and Batman Begins, I too had believed the franchise was headed to the bottom of the ocean, after X-Men 3: The Final Stand.

So I started to watch the movie with very low expectations and began to see that like Nolan's Begins, this was another resurrection. While some elements of the plot divert from the original comics, it doesn't mean that they are sloppy or weak. Contrary to Batman Begins, where Nolan decided to strongly stick to the comics, in First Class we see a few unexpected events that hardly and X-Men fan would imagine.

The performances however are solid, especially Michael Fassbender's Eric Leshner aka Magneto. To quote an internet user from a public forum, "it's very hard to think of Magneto as a bad guy, yet alone hate him after seeing X-Men First Class." The main plot of the movie touches how Eric and Charles Xavior aka Professor X live their young lives as mutants until by casual circumstances, end up meeting and sharing interests. It also touches on the internal identity conflict that other mutants face when confronted by humans, focusing primarly in Raven aka Mystique and Hank McCoy aka Beast.

The main villain is played by superbly by Kevin Bacon, who in a strange combination looks menacing and charming at the same time. Other members of the cast include January Jones, Rose Byrne and Oliver Platt. There are some rushed scenes and unexplained situations that give away an otherwise great film and I would like to name a few of them:

1) The real pain killer is: Why the need of all the "join me" / "decide" / "pick now" questions? More importantly: these guys don't give a lot of time for one to decide, and the characters also don't go over thinking it either. When Sebastian Shaw attacks the CIA he's like "join me or whatever". So I'm like: Well, did you really have to create all this fuzz and attack and kill all those agents for that? A simple phone call would have settled it!

Then in the end, Magneto asks the same question: "join me or whatever, decide"... and everyone is like "well let's stay with Charles" while others go with Eric. But they don't even think about it or at least discuss it! I mean, shouldn't they list pros/cons of joining either side?

2) I really liked Jennifer Lawrence's performance and her character. The one thing that bothered me was how all of the sudden she's jealous on Charles, hitting on Hank, then on Eric, and then on Charles. Like, settle down woman...I know your hormones are crazy, but take it easy!

3) I like how they portrayed the military officers, as closed as they can be, both Russians and Americans. However the cliche line "gentlemen, it's been an honor to serve with you" was way over the top!

4) Gambit missing or the delicate topic. I have to state, Gambit is not my favorite mutant by any means, but seriously we have been through four X-Men movies and STILL NO GAMBIT? I was honestly expecting to see at least a cameo.

5) I think the ending was almost perfect, but something was left unexplained: How did they get out of the beach? What did the Russian and American fleet do after they were almost wiped out entirely? It would have been cool to see an explanation.

6) and... why did Magneto rescue Emma Frost? She almost killed him and he goes back for her? I didn't get that trade.

Apart from these little details, X-Men First Class is a great movie and I call it a success in the revamp of the franchise. I want to see some new equally good stuff soon, and hopefully my favorite mutant finally appearing on screen: Franklin Richards