One of the first comic book series I got into as a kid was the X-men. I was a huge fan of Wolverine, and started to really get into the X-men mainly because of him. I cannot recall which number comic book in the series that I stated with when I was younger, all I remember was that it was around the time the Wolverine comic series launched. I stopped reading comic books in my college years, so I don’t know what things changed in the late nineties, I not sure if a back story to the X-men was ever explained before or after my experience with comics, however this movie does just that. It gives us the origin of how this great super hero team was born.
X-Men: First Class follows the relationship between the characters of Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) before they became enemies. It tells the story of how they were once a team and how they formed the first first X-men group, which also contained some notable mutants such as Mystique, Beast, Havoc, and Banshee. Their enemy is the Hellfire Clue headed by former Nazi, Sebastian Shaw. Shaw killed Magneto mother right in front of him when he was a kid, and as an adult Magneto is seeking him out to get revenge. On his mission; he meets Charles Xavier who saves his life. Together they form the first X-men team and try to take out The Hellfire Clue. Shaw and company are trying to create an atomic war between the United States and Russia. The story plays off that the Hellfire Clue created the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the X-men were there to stop it before World War 3 began.
There were a lot of super hero films that were released this year, Thor, Green Lantern, Captain America; however I found X-Men: First Class to be the stronger film out of this years releases. Unlike the other X-men films this one was more realistic and less corny. The script was great, with a perfect mix of story, character development and some decent dialogue. The acting was great, as were the visual effects, set design and cinematography.
The Blu-ray disc has a lot of special features and also come with a digital copy of the film. There is a feature titled X Marks the Spot, a viewing mode that features all kinds of goodies as you watch the film. There is also this really fun feature called Cerebro: Mutant Tracker, where you the viewer can use Cerebro to track mutants from the X-men movies all though the world and read up on their profiles and details about them. There is also a Multi-Part Documentary titled Children of the Atom, deleted and extended scenes and the composers isolated score. The disc cab also be used with BDlive to access other features online.
X-men: First Class is a great film. It is the film where we learn how the character of the comic books came together; how Magneto got his helmet, how Professor X ended up in a wheel chair and it tells more of a background story on who they were before they got their names. I highly recommend this Blu-ray disc and this film. If you missed this one while it was in theaters, then you should pick this one up. It is well worth checking out.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
