……..and the franchise is saved! After the train wreck of X-Men 3 and the embarrassing Wolverine movie from the passed 3 years, the X-Men flicks were all but ready to be forgotten. First Class cleans things up and shows us this universe has a lot left to offer audiences.

Turning the clock back to 1962, we watch as Professor Charles Xavier and and Erik “Magneto” Lensher step in front of the mutant movement and become the leaders of the two factions of the “next evolution of the human race.”

It’s a great idea going back to seeing how the two most powerful (somewhat arguable) and influential mutants in the X Men world befriended each other and ultimately split over ideological differences. It’s a well written and smart movie directed with a careful hand by Matthew Vaughn. Excellent casting and acting (I’m a big fan of James McAvoy and Michael Fastbender is a terrific Magneto) and some top notch special effects make the world come to life. Seeing the Cuban Missile Crisis in an alternate universe is a really cool experience and a great political and social backdrop for the story.

While the movie falls into some problems like comic book cliches (get to know you and training montages), odd changes that anger nerds (Havok is actually Cyclops younger brother, neither one of them would be alive at this time) and does run a bit too long at just over 2 hours. I’d say the biggest problem is that most of the mutants are unknown to most people so at times it doesn’t really feel like an X-Men tale. That said there is still a lot of respect given to the source material. Many nods to the series storied past giving winks that only comic book fans get and setting up characters and events for future stories. There are some great cameos tucked in here as well which are great additions.

Great job making this flick, which is not only a great summer blockbuster, but a great action movie in general. Gives great hope that the series is back on track and has me looking forward to the next one.