Review by Cindy White on http://bluray.ign.com/articles/119/1193506p1.html
There are many ways to revitalize a dead or dying franchise. One of the most popular these days seems to be the prequel film. But you've got to give some credit to the folks behind X-Men: First Class for finding a way to follow the rebooting trend while also creating something that feels original and fresh. Taking the world of mutant superheros back to the early 1960s during the Cuban Missile Crisis was a stroke of brilliance, and it infuses a new sense of style as well as political intrigue into the familiar themes of alienation, xenophobia and self acceptance.
First Class introduces us to a young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), a womanizing telepath with idealistic dreams of bringing human and mutant kind together. The counterpoint to that view is represented by Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), a holocaust survivor with a power over metal and a vendetta against the scientist who killed his mother and exploited his abilities as a child. Between them, there's Raven, a talented shapeshifter who grew up with Charles but has never felt truly comfortable in her naturally blue skin.
Charles and Erik team up with CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) to find and recruit mutants to the cause of the United States during the height of the Cold War. The real threat isn't the Russians, though, it's Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) whose goal is for mutants to inherit the earth. He also happens to be the very man that Erik is looking for. Together with his associate, diamond-skinned telepath Emma Frost (January Jones), and his own team of mutants, he attempts to manipulate the Super Powers into World War III.
It ultimately falls to Charles and his team of mutant recruits – including Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Angel (Zoe Kravitz), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Havok (Lucas Till) and Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) – to stop Shaw, but when the danger becomes real and the idea of good and bad is complicated, alliances change, bringing the characters closer to the ones we know from the other films.
Aside from slick Bond style and the fascinating, well-drawn lead characters, what really makes First Class tick are the great performances by the lead actors, especially McAvoy and Fassbender. Their chemistry is undeniable, making their character's initial jet-setting partnership thrilling and the inevitable falling out all the more heartbreaking. Director Matthew Vaughn keeps the intensity up with well-paced action scenes that have real stakes and visual effects that don't feel out of place in a 1960s setting.
Those slick visuals get their due in this HD video presentation. The period-appropriate color is represented nicely, with natural flesh tones and a strong contrast between controlled bright whites and deep blacks. There's no sign of bleeding or distortion in the picture either. It's just a crisp, clean image that equals, and perhaps even surpasses, what we saw in theaters.
Henry Jackman's musical score is the highlight of the audio here (watch the film with an isolated score track to really appreciate the full effect). The DTS-HD 5.1 track comes to life when the orchestra swells and those driving bass notes that provide Magneto's theme help fill the room with a certain sense of menace (the robust LFE helps too). Beyond that, the dialogue is mostly kept front and center, with some chatter and crossover voices in the side and rear channels where appropriate. The sound effects, ranging from the subtle hum of a submarine to the thundering blades of a helicopter, are organic and serve to enhance the on-screen action.
Fox has loaded the Blu-ray with plenty of extras, including some nice exclusives. Watching the film in "X Marks the Spot" mode will bring up little featurettes in relation to certain scenes in the film (like the beginning scene in the concentration camp). Be aware that there's no choice about whether you want to watch these or not. There's no little icon to click or anything. They just start playing with a whoosh of the X-logo across the screen. So you might want to watch the movie all the way though first to get an uninterrupted experience before turning this mode on.
The "Cerebro: Mutant Tracker" feature is, like the device for which it's named, a database full of information on various mutants, not in just this film but in all of the X-Men films so far. This is a Web-based feature, so it requires Internet connectivity for it to work properly. The nice thing about that is that it will continue to be updated with new entries as future films come out (at least, that's what Fox promises).
"Children of the Atom" is a behind-the-scenes documentary feature made up of eight parts. It covers the making of the film chronologically, from pre-production to the creation of the visual effects. Those responsible for the prosthetic make-up and costumes are also featured here (watch Jennifer Lawrence go through the long and tedious process of being turned into Mystique).
If you only watch one deleted or extended scene on this disc, make sure it's the extended version of Charles and Erik's introduction to Angel at the strip club. Fassbinder in drag is not to be missed.
It's also worth noting that those who purchase this Blu-ray will get access to 10 Marvel X-Men comics, including an exclusive issue that provides some backstory to the film. It's one of the more exciting and original extras we've seen in a while, for one of the best movies of the summer.
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