The X-Files: X-Men: First Class (2011)

Despite a failed first attempt at a prequel to the series based on one of the series' most popular character, 20th Century Fox pressed ahead with an idea originally thought up during production of X2 of doing a film set before the days of Magneto and Xavier disliking one another, with plenty of ideas thrown against the wall in an attempt to give the franchise a face-lift of sorts. And whilst the critical and audience reaction to X-Men Origins: Wolverine acted as a fine reason for some to assume that the proposed Magneto spin-off was cancelled, in actuality it was replaced with First Class (not affiliated with the miniature run of comics during the mid-2000s): a successful attempt at a full-blown reboot with a grand cast of characters and a competent superhero director in the form of Matthew Vaughn, who had garnered great success with Kick-Ass a year prior. But can First Class truly recapture what made the first two instalments as beloved as they were whilst revamping the characters for a new audience? 

In 1944, two events occur on either side of the planet: one in America, where a young Charles Xavier discovers he isn't the only one with gifts when a young Raven tries to steal food from his home and electing to become friends with her; another in Poland, where a young German boy called Erik is taken to a concentration camp, but who picks up the interest of one Dr. Klaus Schmidt (Kevin Bacon) when he manages to bend the metal gate which was between himself and his mother. 18 years later, and the three people become intertwined in a ploy Schmidt – now known as Sebastian Shaw – is hatching to kick-start a nuclear war between Russia and the US. Charles and Raven (James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence) are brought along to the mix by CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), and meet Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) during an attempted capture of Shaw and his band of mutant brothers: Emma Frost (January Jones), Azazel (Jason Flemyng) and Riptide (Álex González). Together, and alongside a whole flock of other mutants found via a prototype Cerebro device, the CIA-friendly band of mutants must learn to control their powers and stop Shaw and his allies before a new world war begins. 

With a big part of the film being based on the character dynamics alongside Shaw A-story, the film seems to have fixed many of the franchise's previous mistakes, as despite a disregard for the series' continuity (a factor which will remain inconsistent until Days of Future Past) First Class builds up a strong reasoning behind the X-Men's creation and what breaks them apart. It immediately opens with a shot that looks like a straight remake of Bryan Singer's Holocaust-based scene in X-Men, and the expansion of that helps the audience understand the birth of Magneto even more, while Xavier's involvement with the larger story create the perfect bridge for the two tales to coalesce. Unfortunately, this does mean that does occasionally lose its footing and slows down before bringing the two parties together, as the journey Lensherr makes is far more interesting than that of Xavier's – combined with the actual meeting of the two being part of a sequence that should be pivotal to the larger story but instead only works as a mandatory element than of actual entertainment. Add a somewhat lenghty montage which seems pushed in rather late into the overall story and the decision to not go into depth for some characters, and you have a story that's great but really deserves a second observation. 

What the film really is is a story of two characters with different opinions, and how a friendship can be divided because of different experiences and viewpoints, and the two lead actors McAvoy and Fassbender bring about their newer iterations of the classic characters with startling velocity. They both bring about real magnetism to their respective roles, and the growth both characters undergo is one that makes up the true heart and draw to First Class as a whole. Add their shared rapport with Jennifer Lawrence's Raven/Mystique - who also delivers a strong performance as the conflicted shape-changer despite clear discomfort in her heavy make-up, complete with multi-layered character development and true presence to the overall picture – and together it creates a trio of performances worthy of note. Meanwhile, ally Bryne works mostly as a way to amass the collection of characters together, whilst being a slight character with her constant clashes with her male-dominated bosses in a time that disregards her gender (not helped by a 'final' conclusion given to her character); Nicholas Hoult works as Hank McCoy what with his appearance and nerdy mannerisms, and likewise to his male co-stars shares strong chemistry with Lawrence; but fellow good guys Lucas Till (Havoc), Caleb Laundry Jones (Banshee) and Edi Gathegi (Darwin) lack any true character development outside of controlling their powers. At most, Zoë Kravitz as Angel has the most character given to her, but most of that is given clear explanation ahead of an allegiance change. Meanwhile, the bad guys have better luck with character in the form of Kevin Bacon and January Jones – although the majority of Jones' role plays on her attractiveness as opposed to real threat, and is disposed off ahead of the final battle. Bacon adds a surprisingly good performance in the villain role, even if his plan is a tad generic by this franchise's standards. And while Flemyng looks good as red Nightcrawler, González has next to nothing to do outside of open his hands a few times.

Matthew Vaughn's continues to thrive with the genre with this feature film, as his direction does bring about some truly great visuals despite occasionally opting for some intriguing decisions. From the shot-by-shot remake of the first X-Men to a rather disturbing transformation sequence, Vaughn brings about the biggest polish to the franchise which, since The Last Stand, had started looking shoddy and dull. And with the visual effects also looking a lot better, it creates a film that looks all the more aesthetically pleasing. 

X-Men: First Class is the best X-Men movie since X2, which may not be saying much considering the previous entries is still a strong thing for a prequel to do. While it has its moments of slow-going scenes and some poorly-developed characters, it succeeds in telling the story behind Lensherr and Xavier, while making Mystique an even more interesting character than she was before. Some great performances and stunning visuals from Matthew Vaughn, and a strong jumping-on point for newbie viewers who don't want to watch four other movies first. Now, about that sequel/prequel/reboot... 7/10.