X Men: First Class

(132 min, 2011)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writers: Ashley Miller (screenplay), Zack Stentz (screenplay)
Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence

Peace was never an option.

In 1944, in Poland, the boy Erik Lehnsherr unleashes his magnetic power when his mother is sent to a concentration camp. The evil Dr. Sebastian Shaw brings Erik to his office and kills his mother, increasing his abilities through anger. In New York, the wealthy Charles Xavier meets the mutant Raven and invites her to live in his manor. In 1962, the CIA agent Moira MacTaggert discovers the existence of mutants working with Shaw and the invites Professor Xavier to recruit mutants to work for the USA government. Xavier teams up with Raven, Erik and a group of young mutants. Sooner they learn that the evil Shaw has the intention of beginning a nuclear war to destroy the world and increase his power.

The opinions and rumors stated by many are true – this is the best “X men” movie to date. But is it a great movie? No. Is it worth watching? Yes, it is. It's not a compliment for the film to say it's the best in the franchise, while its predecessors were either average or terrible. I had my doubts when I saw the film is directed by Matthew Vaughn, the director of messy “Layer Cake”, charming but uneven “Stardust” and the biggest bomb of recent years “Kick-Ass”. I was right. Uneven is the best way to describe “First Class”.

The biggest flaw of “First class” is the fact that the movie appears to be misguided and doesn't feel whole – some parts of it are fantastic, some are cringe worthy. It reaches its greatness when the plot focuses on the uneasy friendship between Charles and Erik, bringing in two fantastic actors – James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender – together on screen. In their scenes together you can almost drown in the variety of emotions – on the one hand Charles wants to help Eric and Magneto is grateful that someone has finally shown him kindness and unconditional help. On the other, while Charles wants to protect mankind and gives people benefit of the doubt, that they won't hate mutants and show gratitude for their help, Erik, scarred by his past, having seen the cruelty of people and how far they can go in their hatred wants to destroy mankind, who in his mind is capable only of evil and violence. This conflict will result in inevitable split in their friendship, but even years later they will show each other respect, so splendidly shown in previous X-Men movies by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.