The X-Men franchise makes a welcome comeback after two previous misfires with the retro prequel/reboot “X-Men: First Class”, an intelligent, fun filled action flick that manages to breathe new life into a series that had grown quite tired.
The X-Men movies started out with a bang with the original Bryan Singer film, and built upon that momentum with a sequel, “X-Men: United”, that was in many ways even better than the first. But when noted hack director Brett Ratner took over for Singer in the third film, it ground to an agonizing halt. In fact, you could compare the X-Men series almost identically to the Christopher Reeve “Superman” movies; excellent first film, even better second film, and then a third film that was absolutely terrible.
Marvel Studios tried to start from scratch two years ago with the first of what they were calling “X-Men Origins”, telling the back stories of some of the more popular characters. Of course, that meant starting with the most popular of the X-Men; Wolverine. The film was almost as much of a mess as X-Men 3, prompting the studio to do at least one smart thing; remove the designation “X-Men Origins” from this film to try to distance it from the stench of the last two.
What we end up with is a film that stands on its own, while still paying homage to the spirit of the Singer films. With no Wolverine in the early days of the X-Men (his introduction to Charles Xavier came in the first movie in 2000, so you can’t re-write history that much…even in comic book films), it’s up to the “older” mutants to carry the film. This means focusing on the initial meeting of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, the men who would later continually face off against one another as Professor X and Magneto.
