X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - REVIEW


The rise and fall of the X-Men films sure went quick and fast. Not that the first two were all that perfect but when the messy third came along that was something of a blow. The lacklustre Wolverine Origins prequel followed and pretty much confirmed that the X magic was well and truly...ex magic,

So how do you follow a lifeless X-Men prequel?

With another of course!

The weird thing is that looking at the reviews the film received so far, people liked it! They lapped it up! And here I was facepalming my way through yet another damp squib X-Men film which not only managed to miss the point entirely but delivered what has to be the least interesting X film so far.

Lets forget for one second the overall quality of the film and its hit-and-miss links to the other films and the comics: is this honestly the X-Men film we want to see? Who was this made for? Who demanded yet another prequel starring mostly uninteresting mutants doing mostly uninteresting things in the 60's? Will we ever get Gambit, Rogue and the gang battling Sentinels or Apocalypse in a Blade Runner-style futuristic city?

No, we want Kevin freakin' Bacon...

For one thing, the cast ranges from plain awful to acceptable with Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique ruining every scene she's in, a wooden January Jones looking decidedly silly and a decent enough Michael Fassbender doing his damndest to bring some energy to the proceedings.

The special effects feel, for the most part, unimpressive and it really looks like the entire budget went towards that submarine scene at the end, which the trailers delighted in spoiling for us. This is a very bland, soulless attempt at an X-Men film to say the least and I for one felt completely underwhelmed by it. The promised Magneto Origins (which essentially this was meant to be) could have been a step up from Wolverine but instead we have this gap-filler.

I'll never understand why X-Men First Class was so well received, perhaps it was Fassbender's charisma that did it or Bacon's cool demeanour, I have no idea. For me, this is a new low for an already sinking series and when you have material this fun, this exciting with about a million colourful characters and creative storylines to choose from, a limp attempt like this one is pretty inexcusable.

Dull.

I'll watch X2 again thank you very much.

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