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I’ve been a fan of director Matthew Vaughn since LAYER CAKE, which also made me take serious notice of Daniel Craig before his 007 days. His work behind the camera on that film and on KICK-ASS solidified him in my mind as a competent and visionary director, and someone who understands storytelling and action in admirable ways. When he became attached to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, I was initially pleased, then eventually nervous upon realizing he had been given a breakneck schedule with which to complete the project. 20th Century Fox set the June 3rd release date giving Vaughn mere months to put together a highly-ambitious superhero origin story utilizing mutliple characters in a period setting. Many directors of his level would have cracked under the pressure, but he took the challenge, and in this day of comic book movies ruling theaters, he’s turned in a rather impressive feature that looks neither rushed nor sloppy. The only question now is whether or not X-MEN fans will take to the throwback tale, especially without any big name stars to sell the product.

The story opens very much the way Bryan Singer’s first X-MEN film did, showing a young Erik Lehnsherr being led by Nazi soldiers through a concentration camp during World War II, getting separated from his parents, and lashing out in anger by using his metal-controlling powers. Erik is then given a private meeting with a Nazi scientist (Kevin Bacon) who tries to help him hone his mysterious ability. Through a series of tragic events, the young boy begins to see the scope of what he can do. Elsewhere, a telepathic adolescent Charles Xavier meets a strange girl in his house who has shape-shifting powers, allowing her to take on any form she chooses. Her name is Raven (soon to be called Mystique), and the two take comfort in each other’s unusual abilities. Cut to the early 1960’s and Erik (Michael Fassbender) is now older and filled with thoughts of revenge, relentlessly pursuing the Nazi scientist (now going by the name Sebastian Shaw) who ruined his life. Charles (James McAvoy) and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) find themselves assisting the U.S. government and their liason Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) in thwarting Shaw’s mysterious but nefarious plans to start a war between the U.S. and the Russians. During a mission to get closer to Shaw, Charles meets up with Erik, and the two become unlikely friends. Together, they find themselves seeking out other “mutants” to help in their cause, eventually forming a team of superpowered youngsters. With the help of his own mutants Emma Frost (January Jones), Azazel (Jason Flemyng) and Riptide (Álex González), Shaw is using both U.S. and Russian military figures against their will to speed up his plans, and Xavier’s mutants may be outmatched before they even get started.

Certain comic book movies give us what I like to call “glory moments”, in which we see classic scenarios or character traits realized on the big screen in ways you never thought you’d experience. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS is filled with these moments, probably more than any other film of its type. The period setting going up against the Cuban Missle Crisis of the John F. Kennedy era is ever so fitting for the team’s origin story. Nevermind the X-Men comic books originated in the 1960’s, this is just the perfect time period to realize some of these events, and show it to us in a way we’ve not seen before. The CIA are men in suits with crew cuts, and all the cars are vintage with shiny black finish. It’s like watching a biopic of the era and peppering in all these superpowered beings, and it’s awesome to behold. While much of the film and character qualities will be familiar to fans of the other X-films, the screenplay by Jane Goldman, Vaughn, Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (from a story by Bryan Singer and Sheldon Turner) manages to stay fresh and interesting, and consistently shows us new and unexpected events. The cast does a terrific job making these characters believable and sympathetic. Jennifer Lawrence shines as a young Mystique, a role made famous in three pervious outings by Rebecca Romijn, and gives more depth to that character than we’ve ever seen before. James McAvoy is engaging and sincere as Charles Xavier, a man who sees the neverending potential for good in mutants, depsite the perceptions of normal humans against them. Fassbender is easily the most impressive as the vengeful Erik Lehnsherr, taking that character to the darkest of depths and showing just how easily his ultimately evil agenda was to arrive upon. Many of his scenes are incredibly violent and at times disturbing, giving that role an edge barely touched upon with Ian McKellan’s performance. All of the familiar characters are much more layered here, and it’s really entertaining seeing how they all came to be what we’d eventually know in the previous three films. Kevin Bacon has a lot of fun as Sebastian Shaw, a villain that’s seemingly un-killable. It’s nice to see him back in sizable role in a big popcorn movie like this, and you can see he’s making the most of it. January Jones is sadly wasted as Emma Frost, getting little to do other than display he unique powers from time to time. For much of the film she’s confined in a holding cell, so don’t expect to see more than a few mildly memorable scenes with the MAD MEN star. Rose Byrne does a good job as the somewhat motherly figure of the team, being the voice of reason and well-meaning operative. Among the other mutant roles, only Nicolas Hoult stands out with his wolfman-like storyline as Hank McCoy, the young scientist who at first rejects his traits, but ultimately becomes the most unusual-looking of the group. Zoe Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones, Edi Gathegi, and Lucas Till get momentary scenes of wonder, but as one would expect with a large cast like this are only mildly used. If the franchise continues, I imagine most of them will have much more to do.

As a comic book movie, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS moves at a steady pace, never getting bogged down in its 2 hour and 10-minute runtime. It’s also easily the darkest and most violent of the franchise, featuring many scenes I found disturbing as an adult viewer, so beware if you’re taking your kids. Overall it’s really fun, and a strong reboot of sorts for the Marvel movie line, so we’ll see if things continue in this universe. I liken it to J.J. Abrams impressive re-imagining of the STAR TREK universe, showing us characters we all know and love, but giving it a much-needed update and modern day sensibility. It may not be the best comic book film Marvel has produced, but it is a solid entry, and light years better than the third X-MEN outing, which lost the spirit and integrity of the first two efforts by Bryan Singer. Perhaps having Singer on board as producer and story developer was part of what made this one so good, but whatever the reason the mutants are back in top form, and deserve another look. While there’s nothing lurking after the credits, be sure to watch for two really fun cameos that will put a big smile on the face of the most hardcore of fans.

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