X Men:First Class

Indian Express Ratings:***

So here it is,the tale of how the mighty-but-flawed X Men came into being. And let this be said,this is a better film than the previous one in which the X-ers were being very dull indeed.

The beginning is in a concentration camp at the fag end of World War II,where the young Eric Lensherr (Fassbender) comes under the evil gaze of Dr Schmidt (Bacon). The boy can bend metal to his will,and he finds out just how immense his powers are in the most tragic way imaginable : brought on by the brutal loss of a parent. We then take a leap twenty years hence. The world is the throes of the chilliest period of the cold war,which culminated in the stand-off between the US and the USSR over the Cuban missiles crisis,and where,famously,the other guy blinked.

‘X Men,First Class’ melds fact and fiction without too much trouble even though the effort slows the film down,with the inclusion of the documentary clips showing blond American presidents and their speeches about nuclear weapons and keeping the world free. With the help,of course,of a handful of superhero mutants : the Oxford professor who can read minds Charles Xavier (McAvoy),the inky blue Mystique (Lawrence) ,the guy who has feet for hands (Hoult),Eric-who-can-can-tame-metal,and a couple of others.

All the mandatory super-power show-offiness is fun enough,as this bunch readies to take on the baddies who want to start World War III. McAvoy gets into his mind-reading act with great relish,and Fassbender has a couple of thrilling scenes all to himself,which gives him an edge. ‘First Class’ can safely be watched by first-timers,but old faithfuls of the franchise will get a little more,tracing the origins of their favourite characters. A split-second appearance by Hugh Jackman,a star of the previous ‘X Men’,raised a bigger cheer among the audience than anything else that happened in this film,both a testament to the durability of the franchise as well as a promise of more to come.

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com