When I sat down to watch the new X-Men movie I didn’t really know what to expect. I hadn’t recently watched the trailer so my mind was prepared for anything between disappointment and amazement. More importantly, I’m no film student or budding director who cares to dissect the cooperative components of film, nor am I a die-hard comic book fan who knows every detail of the X-Men universe. When I see this type of movie I consider three things. First, whether the action sequences are epic. Second, whether the characters are exceptional. And third, whether the pacing is consistent and exciting.
Well the action sequences were certainly thrilling but I could not call it epic. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had much more legendary action and that was a video game that came out in 2008. It seemed as if the mutants we’ve come to love in the X-Men world like Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Pyro and Iceman were copied, lessened, and rallied together to form this First Class. And that makes sense since it is an origins story, I get it, but still…
That being said Magneto, as an exception, really used his powers to the fullest. His limits were tested again and again and I was never let down; he’d always manage to do something that would have me engrossed until the scene’s end. No, no spoilers here. Second to Magneto was Azazel, the teleporter, who put his skills to excellent use. If like me you’re a Nightcrawler fan then hold on to your trousers because his father Azazel totally brings it.
The main characters delivered some great acting. Surprisingly it was Mystique that really brought home the idea of being a mutant in a normie’s world. Her particular ability to disguise herself coupled with her emotional tug of war between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr paved a way to let the audience put themselves in a mutant’s shoes. Though I’m generally pro-good, by the end of the movie I wasn’t entirely sure which side I would have picked. (Who am I kidding? I would have wiped out the human race.)
As far as the acting was concerned, I absolutely loved James McAvoy as Charles Xavier. Having last seen him in Wanted with Angelina Jolie, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from him as the budding Professor X. Well, I needn’t have worried because he was stellar. Anyone finding fault with his performance must really have a beef to pick with McAvoy because he held the whole thing together – and with an essentially invisible power no less.
I should mention here that I actually liked Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw. Without giving too much away his role was never suppose to be explosive. He was just the catalyst for everything that we know comes after as well as a representative of the idea of mutant supremacy. His involvement with the Nazis in World War II and the Americans and Russians during the Cuban missile crisis was a tasty treat that I savored in lieu of his underwhelming demise.
For the movie overall I thought the pacing was a touch less than perfect. It dipped a little into the realm of tedious and pointless at time. For example, Darwin, whose awesome power of reactive evolution promised to provide some mesmerizing fight scenes, turned out to be essentially useless. Even if he were to come back in a later movie I didn’t get nearly enough to sink my teeth into.
So what’s the final verdict? Is this movie worth watching in the theaters or is it something to wait for on Netflix? I say it’s definitely worth the time and money. Go ahead, treat yourself to some nachos and chilli cheese dogs and enjoy the film because there’s so much more to love than there is to hate. And if you liked the old X-men movies then don’t you sort of have to see this?
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