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| 20TH CENTURY FOX, MURRAY CLOSE From left, Caleb Landry Jones, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hoult, James McAvoy and Lucas Till are shown in a scene from "X-Men: First Class." |
The ideas, themes and characters of “X-Men: First Class” feel fresh and relevant despite its position as the fifth film in the series and taking place in the early 1960s during the build-up to the Cold War.
The action actually begins in 1944 for brief glimpses of the children who will become Professor Charles Xavier and his archenemy, Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto.
We meet young Erik, who has power over metal, in a concentration camp in Poland and watch as a doctor, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), murders his mother in front of him. Shaw then presumes to take the boy under his wing to teach him how to control his powers.
The telepathic Charles, on the other hand, lives in luxury, growing up in a palatial mansion and befriending a pretty, young intruder in his home who also happens to be a blue-skinned, shapeshifting mutant.
