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X-Men: First Class -- When Professor X and Magneto were simply... friends

After missing 2 very-much-anticipated movies, I got to watch X-Men: First Class (yeah, after how many days since its first day of showing).

I'm not a fan of the comics nor the animation, so all the knowledge I have of each character is thanks to my husband.

Anyways... here in the movie, we are shown the beginnings of a friendship among mutants. The movie shows us the younger versions of Professor X (an intelligent and witty yet flirty Charles), Magneto (the boy-with-a-childhood-trauma Erik), Mystique (the "adopted" orphan insecure with her looks), Beast (the pre-blue-and-furry science genius), and some other characters.

Basically it all starts with Erik, during his teenage years in a concentration camp, whose powers were discovered by a certain Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). So as not to spoil anything, I'll cut the story between them short by saying that Shaw caused Erik terrible emotional damage, and that's why the latter is traveling around the world to seek revenge on Shaw.

Erik grows up, still with vengeance on his mind, but after a close encounter with Shaw, he meets Charles, who's with some CIA agents investigating on an imminent nuclear war. The guys form a friendship upon learning they have something in common: that they are not ordinary humans. With this discovery, the two went on to search for people like them.

Meanwhile, Shaw has other plans -- which actually involves humans killing each other. Upon learning of his plans, a CIA agent enlists the mutants' help to avert World War III. They succeed in this mission, but unfortunately for them, the humans turn against them -- those scary superhumans. And so you know what happens: Charles and Erik go their separate ways with their separate teams.

To be honest, I kinda liked how the plot was presented. There was a good background in each of the characters, especially Charles, Erik, and Raven (Mystique). The fun part was when they were recruiting members for their team -- to give you a hint, there are cameos here you should not miss.

I just found it odd, though, for Charles to have that suave personality. You'd think he'd be more reserved like his older version, but well, he was pretty different here.

I liked Erik's story and how the events of his past led him to be what he is. Though I'm not so sure how he was convinced easily by Shaw to believe that mutants are of a superior race and that humans should bow to them.

All in all, X-Men: First Class was a pretty fun ride. Not really sure if it ties up with the previous X-Men movies, but if this was a reboot of the franchise, I'll be looking out for the next installment.