X-Men: First Class Review

X-Men: First Class 

Release Date: 2nd June 2011 - Australia

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

Marvel Entertainment

Bad Hat Harry 

The Donners' Company

Ingenious Media (produced in 

association with)

Big Screen Productions (made

in association with)

Ingenious Film Partners (made

in association with)

Distribution
20th Century Fox Australia

Genre: Action

Rating: M

Runtime: 131 minutes


Budget: $160,000,000

Box Office Gross: $353,624,124 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary

Before they became

Professor X and Magneto

and were enemies, Charles

Xavier and Erik Lensherr

were two young men

discovering their powers

and became close friends.

They assembled an elite

team to form the X-Men

and prevent World War

III.

Cast

James McAvoy - Charles
Xavier/Professor X

Michael Fassbender - Erik 

Lehnsherr/Magneto

Jennifer Lawrence - Raven
Darkholme/Mystique 

Kevin Bacon - Dr. Klaus
Schmidt/Sebastian Shaw
Rose Byrne - Moira MacTaggert 

January Jones - Emma Frost 

Nicholas Hoult - Dr. Hank
McCoy/Beast
Oliver Platt - Man in Black Suit
Ray Wise - Secretary of State

Zoë Kravitz - Angel Salvadore
Caleb Landry Jones - Sean
Cassidy/Banshee
Lucas Till - Alex Summers/
Havok
Edi Gathegi - Armando
Munoz/Darwin
Jason Flemyng - Azazel
Alex González - Janos
Quested/Riptide

Demetri Gortisas - Levene
Glenn Morshower - Col. Rob Hendry

Annabelle Wallis - Amy
Don Creech - William Stryker

Matt Craven - CIA Director McCone

James Remar - US General

Ludger Pistor - 1st German/Pig Farmer

Wilfried Hochholdinger - 2nd German/Tailor

Rade Serbedzija - Russian General

Olek Krupa - Soviet Captain

Éva Magyar - Edie Lensherr

Beth Goddard - Mrs. Xavier

Laurence Belcher - Charles Xavier (12 Years)

Morgan Lily - Young Raven

(10 Years)
Bill Milner - Young Erik 

Gregory Cox - Dr. Leigh

Michael Ironside - Captain

Sasha Pieterse - Teenage Girl

Brendan Fehr - Communications Officer

Georg Nikoloff - Erik's Dad

Hugh Jackman - Logan/

Wolverine (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Rebecca Romjin - Mystique - Older (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Crew

Screenplay/Director - Matthew Vaughn

Based on Marvel's "X-Men" Comics (Uncredited)/

Executive Producer - Stan Lee
Based on Marvel's "X-Men" Comics -

Jack Kirby (Uncredited)

Story - Sheldon Turner

Story/Producer - Bryan Singer

Screenplay - Ashley Edward Miller,

Zack Stentz and Jane Goldman

Executive Producer - Tarquin Pack

Executive Producer/First Assistant Director:

LA Unit, Main - Josh McLaglen

Producers - Lauren Shuler Donner and

Simon Kinberg

Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Gregory Goodman

Co-Producer - Jason Taylor

Casting Director: UK - Lucinda Syson

Casting Directors: US - Roger Mussenden

and Jeremy Rich

Production Designer - Chris Seagers

Visual Consultant - Russell De Rozario

Supervising Art Directors - John Frankish

and Dawn Swiderski

Supervising Art Director: LA Unit,

Main - Marc Fisichella

Art Directors - Grant Armstrong,

Joe Howard, Alan Gilmore, Les Tomkins,

James Hambidge, Sue Whitaker, Mark Homes,

Ben Munro, Thomas Frohling and

Dawn Snyder

Set Decorators - Erin Boyd and Sonja Klaus

Costume Designer - Sammy Sheldon

Costume Supervisors - Nicole Young and

Wendy Craig

Costume Props Supervisor - Ivo Coveney

Special Makeup Designer - Mike Elizalde

(Uncredited)

Makeup and Hair Department Head -

Frances Hannon

Beast and Special Makeup Designers -

Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr.

Beast Makeup Effects Supervisor - Dave Elsey

Azazel Makeup Supervisor - Conor O'Sullivan

Prosthetic Supervisor - Mark Coulier

Director of Photography - John Mathieson

Director of Photography: LA, 2nd Unit -

Larry Blanford

Director of Photography: Georgia, 2nd Unit -

Josh Bleibtreu

Aerial Director of Photography: LA,

2nd Unit - Hans Bjerno

2nd Assistant Cameramen - Glen Coulman,

Wil Morris and Chris Clarke

Location Managers - David Pinnington,

Tony Hood and Chris Brock

Unit Production Manager - Janine Modder

Production Supervisor: LA, 2nd Unit -

Eric Hedayat

First Assistant Directors - Kim H. Winther

and Josh Robertson

First Assistant Director: LA, 2nd Unit -

Matthew Dunne

First Assistant Director: Georgia, 2nd Unit -

Lee Cleary

Second Assistant Director: LA Unit, Main -

Maria Battle-Campbell

Second Unit Directors - Brian Smrz

and Spiro Razatos

Second Unit Director/Director of Photography -

Alexander Witt

Stunt Coordinators - Jeff Habberstad and

Tom Struthers

Special Effects Supervisor - Chris Corbould

Special Effects Coordinator - Scott R. Fisher

Visual Effects Designer - John Dykstra

Visual Effects Supervisor: Weta Digital -

Guy Williams

Visual Effects Supervisor: Digital Domain -

Jay Barton

Visual Effects Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues -

Greg Steele

Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Nicolas Aithadi

Visual Effects Supervisor: Cinesite - Matt Johnson

Additional Visual Effects Supervisors -

Stephane Ceretti and Rob Hodgson

Visual Effects Set Supervisor - Gregory Nic Nicholson

Visual Effects Producer - Denise Davis

Visual Effects Producer: Weta Digital -

Annette Wullems

VFX Conceptual Consultant - Robert Stromberg

VFX Concept Artists - Aaron Sims,

Andrey Ryabovichev and Steffen Reichstadt

VFX Art Director: Rhythm & Hues - Chris Grun

Digital Effects Supervisor: Digital Domain -

Nikos Kalaitzdis

Digital Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues - John Gibson

Animation Supervisor: Weta Digital - Michael Cozens

Animation Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues -

Roberto Smith

Animation Supervisor: Digital Domain -

Bernd Angerer

Effects Animation Supervisor: Digital Domain -

Brian Gazdik

CG Supervisors: Weta Digital - Daniel Macarin

and Luke Millar

Previs Supervisors - Rpin Suwannath,

Jason McDonald, Faraz Hameed and

Roger Liu

Previsualisation: Digital Domain -

Scott Meadows, Robert Ostir, Patrick Perez

and Kevin Williams

Layout Supervisor: Weta Digital - Shawn Dunn

Creatures Supervisor: Weta Digital - Simon Clutterbuck

Look Development Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues -

Dante Quintana

Character Modelling Lead: Digital Domain -

Dan Platt

Digital Double Lead: Digital Domain -

Chris Norpchen

Film Editors - Lee Smith and Eddie Hamilton

Additional Film Editor - John Lee

1st Assistant Editor - Adam Gough

Supervising Sound Editor - John A. Larsen

Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor -

Craig Berkey

Sound Designers - Matthew Collinge and

Rob Prynne

Production Sound Mixer - Simon Hayes

Re-Recording Mixers - Chris Burdon,

Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill

Music - Henry Jackman

Additional Music - Chris Willis,

Matt Margeson and Dominic Lewis

Review

An end to the marathon of the X-Men reviews brings to this fifth instalment. The themes are fundamental to the film's plot, including best friends turning foes. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS puts the franchise back on its feet after disappointing fans with The Last Stand and Origins: Wolverine. It revitalises the movie series in a whole new, fresh style. The series' original maker, Bryan Singer, has returned to co-supervise this film's production and sat on the producer's chair. Director Matthew Vaughn had never done any other superhero features apart from the violent and profane Kick-Ass. His sheer mad directional genius combines with Singer's perfection and plausible heartbeats in the original plot.

I applaud the new cast for taking on the original generation of X-Men and a few of the old characters in their young versions. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were well-picked to look as young as the two actors who originally played Xavier and Magneto. Jennifer Lawrence is flawless as the blue shape-shifter Mystique, and playing this soon-to-be future henchwoman is like a dream come true for her. Kevin Bacon portrays the vile and sinister Sebastian Shaw in this undiluted prequel.

The acceptable quality of X-MEN: FIRST CLASS redeemed the series. It is a great superhero movie that is more likely to appeal to the fans of the original comic book. That is all with the X-Men movie marathon unless there's a chance to watch Days of Future Past to finish it.

Star rating: (8/10) Very Good Movie

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