X-Men: First Class (2011) - Movie Review

I'm not exactly a massive fan of the X-Men franchise. It's certainly had its ups and downs, and thankfully, this prequel film is a definite up. I can see why people hate this film, but I can also see why people - and even critics - love it.
The film begins in 1944, showing how Charles Xavier met Raven, and how Erik Leshnerr became the man he is. This is an interesting set-up, but its clear that the writers knew exactly what they were doing, as this scene ties in with Erik and Shaw's final confrontation at the end of the film, bringing the plot full circle. The plot then delves into the Cuban Missile Crisis, as Charles forms the X-Men in an attempt to prevent a Third World War, and to persuade the humans that mutants are there to help. Erik doesn't believe this at all, and is simply there to kill Shaw who tortured and experimented on him as a child, to the point where he calls himself 'Frankenstein's Monster'.
Michael Fassbender, despite his ever-changing accent, is stunning as the tortured Erik, and James McAvoy is fantastic as a young Charles Xavier. There friendship is a complex one - they care for each other but have very different morals and beliefs, to the point when you don't know whether they even consider themselves as friends anymore. Then we have Raven, who later becomes known as Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Hank McCoy, who later becomes Beast. The problem with their relationship is that it's never mentioned again in any other films - at least, I don't remember it being mentioned. However, I like to think of this film independently, and it seems to as well.
The cinematography is fantastic throughout the film, with an amazing score from Henry Jackman and an amazing screenplay. My one flaw with the film is that the villain's plot is...terrible. Humanity will be wiped out in Nuclear War, but Mutants will survive because... Well, just because. This plan doesn't make any sense whatsoever, and therefore brings this film down a bit. Another problem is that Sebastian Shaw's different names, appearances and accents makes him seem like two completely different characters in the 1944 scene and the 1962 scenes.
Overall though, the film is brilliant. The action, dialogue, acting and directing are all fantastic, and this is probably the best X-Men film pre-Days of Future Past. 9/10