“X Men: First Class” was directed by Matthew Vaughn who previously did “Kick Ass” & “Stardust”. The film based on the “X Men” comic book series and is the first chapter in the prequel series taking place before 2000’s “X-Men”. It stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Bryne, Oliver Platt, Zoe Kravitz, Nicholas Holt, January Jones, Lucas Till and Kevin Bacon. This film is the 5th in “X Men” series following the very disappointing, “X Men Origins: Wolverine”. Speaking of “Wolverine”, Hugh Jackman also makes a cameo appearance as the titular character.

During World War II, a young man named Erik Lehnsherr and his parents are taking during the Holocaust and placed in a concentration camp. There, Erik discovers his mutation is the ability to control metal objects. A crazed German scientist, Klaud Schmidt (Bacon) begins to weaponize his power but also murders his mother. Meanwhile in New York, a young boy named Charles Xavier befriends a young girl, Raven, who has blue skin but also has the ability to shape shift. Xavier has psychic powers of his own. 17 years later, Erik (Fassbender) now a man is on the hunt for Schimdt, who now goes by Sebastian Shaw in the US. At Oxford University, a grown up Charles (McAvoy) & Raven (Lawrence) are celebrating Charles’ speech on genetic mutation when they are approached by Mora McTaggert (Bryne) of the CIA to aid her in investigation of the Hellfire Club and Sebastian Shaw. The CIA & Xavier cross paths with Erik as the both catch up with Shaw on his boat. However Shaw escape and Erik, Xavier and the CIA are forced to put together a team of mutants to go after Shaw and stop him from causing World War III.

This movie had a lot riding on it after the previous 2 films were massive disappointments. But they pulled through and delivered a great film. This was a fantastic film from beginning to end. McAvoy and Fassbender and amazing in the lead roles and have a tremendous amount of chemistry seeing the world from 2 similar way just going in opposite directions. Majority of cast were great, the visuals were phenomenal and the story was very well crafted with the Cold War setting. My only flaw with this film is the wide variety of character that don’t get enough screen time or development. That’s been a major issue with all the X Men film except for the Wolverine trilogy.

Overall, this was a great movie and a great way to revitalize the franchise. After this movie became a hit, Fox wanted a sequel and got it with 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past” with majority of the cast returning. Matthew Vaughn would go on to direct another comic book film, “Kingsman: Secret Service” and its sequel, “The Golden Circle”. In 2021, Vaughn is set to direct a prequel to the “Kingsman” film, simply called “The King’s Man”.