After the poor reception of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine the franchise was clearly on life support. If the franchise we to survive, the latest installment, First Class had the tall order of revitalizing a well known story. For those who didn’t know, producer-director Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Kick-Ass) was the original choice to helm The Last Stand, but bowed out of the project for personal reasons two weeks before filming began. Rush Hour director Brett Ratner took his place. Ratner left his own testosterone soaked footprint on the film, but given Vaughn’s excellent work on First Class, one wonders how much better The Last Stand would have been with him at the helm.
Vaughn sets forth a prequel, taking us back to explore to explore the origins of Professor X and his X-Men. In 1944, while a young Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher) was learning to make the most of his telekinetic powers in the lap of luxury, Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner) was being used by the Nazis who killed his parents. Fast forward twenty years later, Oxford educated Charles (James McAvoy), is studying human mutations, and Erik (Michael Fassbender) is consumed with revenge.
When CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) asks for Xavier’s advice in dealing with a new threat, he and Erik find themselves battling Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a powerful mutant who’s determined to incite nuclear war. Both men have very different reasons for taking on Shaw, but they work together to recruit a team of mutants appropriate for the battle.
First Class takes place at a time when the mutants are just beginning to realize the extent of their powers. With our government’s assistance, Xavier and Erik are able to recruit them. Similar to the previous films, First Class (lightly) explores the ideas of segregation and acceptance between mutants and humans. We have shape shifter Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), wailing Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) and the blue-furred Beast (Nicholas Hoult) figuring out where they fit in to society.
Thankfully, Matthew Vaughn realizes he has and some wonderful talent at his disposal, and uses that to his best advantage. The chronically undervalued Kevin Bacon plays Shaw as the perfectly sneering villain accompanied by scantily clad sidekick Emma Frost (January Jones) as he hatches his dastardly plot. Making Shaw and the globetrotting Hellfire Club X-Men’s chief rival is a bold one, in that it creates a lot of ground to cover. Fear not, Vaughn spends much of the first half with set up and character development, and then delves into exciting, action packed drama.
X-Men: First Class is a film that works. As a story of origin it respects the source material. However, it also takes the characters in smart, new directions. The action sequences are elaborate and well staged; they fit into the story. There not just there for the sake of it. If you’re a fan of The X-Men, as I am, this film hits all the right notes.
Presented in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, this 1080p transfer is a knockout. Detail quality is superb throughout. Textures are precise and black levels are inky. Color accuracy is spot-on, both in terms of flesh tones and deep hues, and there are no signs of compression artifacting or edge enhancement. Grain is handled expertly, with even the movie’s most CGI-heavy moments appearing natural.
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound mix is excellent. The clean, subtle dialogue is mixed well with the throbbing of the movie’s many action sequences. Surrounds are very active here, and you’ll feel like you’re right in the center of the action. Excellent stuff all around.
Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mixes are included, as are English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Besides the Digital Copy on disc, the following special features are included:
- X Marks the Spot Viewing Mode (1080p, 19:55): X Marks the Spot is the film’s pop-up video mode. If you turn this option on, the film will be periodically interrupted by mini-featurettes–there are eight in total–about the story, editing, sound design, special effects, etc., with interviews and lots of behind-the-scenes footage. You can also view these separately from the extras menu.
- Cerebro: Mutant Tracker (1080p): Take your own trip inside Cerebro in this interactive featurette, which allows you to “track” mutants and click on them with your remote, opening up a short video clip and a bio for each. Includes mutants from all of the X-Men films.
- Children of the Atom Documentary (1080p, 1:09:49): A 7-part documentary that covers the origin the story, the choice of mutants, the differences between the comics and the films, visual and make-up effects, sound design and score, costuming, the influence of the early James Bond movies, and the possibility of sequels.
- Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, 14:07): There are thirteen deleted or trimmed scenes shown here in full.
- Composer’s Isolated Score (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- BD-Live Exclusive – “Dogfight” Stunt Test (720p, 2:13): “Proof of Concept” test footage for the aerial dogfight between Angel and Banshee.”
