X-MEN: FIRST CLASS DVD (2011)

SYNOPSIS: See how it all began in this thrilling first chapter of the X-MEN saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr became Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were enemies, they were the closest of friends and gathered an elite team of mutants to form the X-Men in an attempt to prevent World War III.

MOVIE REVIEW:

After years in development hell with rumours of a standalone Magneto movie, the backlash of “X-Men 3” and the release of the disastrous “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, finally we get a new “X-Men” movie this summer. “X-Men: First Class” is a rushed job by Hollywood standard but definitely not a botched one.

Probably ranked as the best superhero movie of the year 2011, “X-Men” First Class” is a origin story with the focus on the iconic Professor X aka Charles Xavier and Magneto aka Erik Lehnsherr. Though we get a passing glimpse of Magneto’s youth in the first X-Men, here we get a better picture of Charles and Erik in their youth, how they became friends and turn into enemies and of course how the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants came to be.

With at least six credited writers including director Matthew Vaughn and original X-Men’s director/producer Bryan Singer, the action flick moves at a fast-paced yet never loses its footing, along the way allowing several key characters enough screentime to develop and audience to root for them. Among them is fanboys’ favourite Mystique (up-and-coming Jennifer Lawrence) though Lawrence lacks the killer figure of Rebecca Romijn, she compensates with her earnest performance. Not surprisingly, Kevin Bacon especially and January Jones (Mad Men) lights up the flick as two evil power hungry mutants out to unleash war on mankind.

Frankly at the end of the day, it’s James McAvoy (Wanted) and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) who stole the show. Guys remember we are talking about Professor X and Magneto. The casting here is flawless. McAvoy on his part brought a whole new game to the all-so-familiar character. Instead of being a pre-Professor X in all his seriousness, Charles Xavier is a funky professor of genetics in the sixties while Fassbender is excellent as a tortured soul who saw his parents killed by Nazi and is out now looking for revenge.

With Xavier and Erik assembling the first class of mutants including Angel (a nightclub dancer with wings), Darwin (a sort of loud hailer mutant), Havok, the younger brother of Cyclops (with plasma blast powers) and the young blue-furry Beast aka Dr Hank McCoy and the father of teleporting Nightcrawler, Azazel making appearances, this is a sweet treat for all X-Men fans and audience alike. Vaughn even throws in a good measure of humour in it. Take note of the amusing cameo of one particular X-Men.

It’s amazing how much material is being squeezed into the 132 minutes runtime. While not exactly a short duration, it’s a superior balanced piece filled with plenty of dazzling CG effects, action sets, not Transformers-style of endless big-bang blast if you are hesitating. You don’t really go into a superhero flick expecting a talky time (Lee Ang’s Hulk is an exception of course) and Vaughn knows that. The occasional fistfights and the massive finale are good examples of how good Vaughn is in handling effective action scenes and in addition the production values liked the set designs, costumes and editing are seriously first class.

Guess I forgot to mention the plotting which involves the JFK administration, cold war era and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not a clue to all that? Fret not, the priority of “X-Men: First Class” is to build up the brotherly tension and struggles between Charles and Erik and the end product to sum it is one of the best prequels ever created for such a well-known franchise. The rest is plain secondary.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Band of Brothers is the usual interview feature with the main cast members and crew.

There are 14 minutes worth of Deleted and Extended Scenes, all of them in my humble opinion should have left intact in the original cut for they are mostly addictive and some really rib-tickling as well.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

There isn’t a hint of transfer defects in the visual quality of this DVD and the English Dolby Digital 5.1 is a solid presentation of bombastic sound effects with a balance mix of dialogue.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee