X-Men: First Class

I’ve enjoyed all the X-Men movies. Some, like the first – really, a Wolverine story – were better than others. So it was with great anticipation that I waited for the prequel: First Class. What the title refers to is the first class of Professor Xavier, founder of his School for Gifted Youngsters. “Gifted” is code for “mutant” in this case. And X-Men: First Class is the story about how mutants came to the attention of each other and the humans they live among.

Patrick Stewart played the older Professor X, while James McAvoy plays a younger version in this movie, the mutant with extraordinary mental powers. McAvoy’s younger sister is Mystique, a character about whom we’re very curious, who can change her appearance to another human. This is a basic origin movie, except that it’s much more than that as we uncover metal-manipulator Magneto’s thirst for vengeance and why his friendship with Prof X is doomed from the start.

The movie does not disappoint. The effects are thrilling. And it’s finally a relief to find out what *really happened during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Amazing. Thumb’s up!