The Movie
Prequels are an especially vexing challenge for filmmakers, as we already know the futures of the characters we are revisiting, The cinematic X-Men universe has tried its adamantium-clawed hand at prequels once before, but X-Men: First Class is a truly grand, rousing reboot of the franchise.
Set primarily in the early 1960s, specifically on the brink of the Cuban Missile Crisis, First Class reveals the rich backstory of the two characters at the center of the now-classic struggle for mutant rights, who will become popularly known as Professor X (the ever-affable James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender, a total badass once again). Each has been born with exceptional generic gifts which make mere humans jealous, distrustful or far worse.
Magneto is driven by rage and revenge against the Nazis who took everything from him, particularly the scientist (a deliciously evil Kevin Bacon) who has recently resurfaced with a seemingly unstoppable plan to push the Russians and Americans into World War III. But whereas Magneto soon sees the potential for his kind to dominate, the Professor always sees the good in mankind and works toward peaceful coexistence.
These two allies attract others, youngsters with similar blessings/curses, often misunderstood and in need of a leader. Will their salvation be a school? Or a mutant army? Warriors and students alike will clash in the waters off of Florida in the movie's tense, powerful finale, which serves to establish much of the basic X-premise we've taken for granted all these years.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, First Class has a groovy '60s vibe throughout, almost as if it was a recently discovered comic book movie from the pre-Batman era. Then again, like all prequels, it is subject to the temptation to comment on well-known upcoming events, and here the writers et. al. throw the fans quite a few tasty bones. Hitting all of the necessary plot points while masterfully entertaining us, this movie is first-rate.
Or you could choose Joe Lozito's review of X-Men: First Class instead. Just know that if you're not with my review, you're against it.
The Picture
The 2.35:1, 35mm film image is mostly crisp, with a pleasing level of detail throughout, although it is definitely affected by film grain (a deliberate choice to evoke the proper period look?) and a fair amount of noise. Blacks too can be dull and without nuance, while backgrounds can appear unusually soft and unnatural. The believability of the special effects varies frankly, but anything to do with flying is pretty darned spectacular.
The Sound
No complaints here, particularly about the power of the powers, which call upon both low-end to convey the superhuman might as well as directionality when, say, bolts of energy are shooting out of someone's body. The surrounds are utilized in clever ways, sometimes simulating a telepath's voice inside our head, other times phasing smoothly, credibly around us, and with ample discrete, speaker-specific DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 touches. Toss in traditional bits like crowd noise, jet flyovers and explosions, and you have an action movie track that certainly does not disappoint.
The Extras
The movie can be viewed in "X Marks the Spot" Mode, which seamlessly branches away to behind-the-scenes videos (in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1!) at appropriate moments, or we can view these eight little pods separately. (20 minutes total, in HD like all of the on-disc video extras here.)
We can experience what it's like to use the mutant tracker device Cerebro with an interactive feature that allows us to use our remote to unlock and store character profiles for easy future access, and once we have them all we can access more via BD-Live. The BD-Live here also brings Fox's Live Extras with title-specific content, as well as Live Lookup powered by IMDB.com. This disc supports pocket BLU bonus content and enhanced control via select portable devices. We are also given access to 10 X-Men digital comics via a unique online code inside the package.
The eight-part "Children of the Atom" documentary goes in-depth on the making of the movie, an hour and ten minutes all told. The 13 deleted and extended scenes--most of them excellent--total 14 minutes. Composer Henry Jackman's musical score is available as an isolated track, in Dolby Digital 5.1, a nifty feature that I wish more releases would offer.
Disc Two is a DVD-ROM carrying a Digital Copy of the movie for iTunes and Windows Media.
Final Thoughts
Real history, comic book history and blockbuster moviemaking coalesce in the uniquely enjoyable X-Men: First Class, rewarding for the fans (like me) but plenty-interesting for non-fans (like my wife) too, even if you only half-remember the Patrick Stewart/Ian McKellen trilogy. I do wish that the video was a tad stronger, but the audio kicks and the extras are a cut above the ordinary.
Product Details
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