“X-Men: First Class” Movie Trailer Review

“X-Men: First Class”

Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

After two strong films, a disappointing third installment, and a mediocre “Wolverine” flick, the cinematic “X-Men” franchise continues with “First Class,” a movie exploring the origins of Xavier’s school and the moment in which he and Magneto parted ways. Fans have been salivating over this trailer since it hit the web yesterday, and while it isn’t the most impressive preview anyone’s ever seen, it looks promising enough.

The casting of the two lead roles is solid--James McAvoy may always look a little too young to convincingly play Charles Xavier, but he has the acting skills to make us forget that, for the most part. Michael Fassbender looks like he might be going a little over-the-top with his character, but that approach works for Magneto.

While most fans probably hope that this film will deliver on an emotional level—after all, it is the story of a friendship being shattered irreparably—the trailer focuses primarily on the action-movie elements that we can expect from the film. Without giving too much away, it looks as though the plot centers around the Cuban missile crisis, and the early X-Men’s involvement in preventing a nuclear war.

Comic book movies rooted in history tend to work well--one could easily argue that the opening titles montage of “Watchmen” was the most effective aspect of that film. By placing the story in a context with which we are familiar, the filmmakers allow the events on the screen to feel real and relevant. As long as this film doesn’t trivialize major historical events, the approach should work.

Right now, all we have is this teaser trailer, and we’ll have to wait for something more substantial to make a judgment on this movie, but from the looks of it, we’ve got something good to look forward to.

The trailer is below.  What are your thoughts?