While at the brink of nuclear war between the US and Russia, a secret group of mutants called The Hellfire Club plan to create a conflict and take out the two waring superpowers. The US decides that they need to stop the group but they need the right people for it. Agent Moira MacTaggert of the CIA contacts the top man in the field of genetics: Professor Charles Xavier. With Xavier and his new friend Erik Leshner working together, they form a group of mutants, calling them The X-Men.
Matthew Vaughn is the director and has done an amazing list of films such as KICK-ASS and KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE. He made KICK-ASS before X-MEN but it is clear that he knows how to make a successful action movie based on a comic. There was also the incredibly hard task to re-do the direction of the X franchise to steer it back in a solid position after the multiple timelines that the films created. For the most part, the casting list is solid with McAvoy and Fassbender guiding these mutants into finding their own way.
Cast
James McAvoy – Charles Xavier / Professor X:
Michael Fassbender – Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto:
Rose Byrne – Moira MacTaggert
Kevin Bacon – Dr. Klaus Schmidt / Sebastian Shaw
Jennifer Lawrence – Raven Darkhölme / Mystique:
January Jones – Emma Frost
Nicholas Hoult – Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast
Oliver Platt – Man In Black Suit
Lucas Till – Alex Summers / Havok
Edi Gathegi – Armando Muñoz / Darwin
Caleb Landry Jones – Sean Cassidy / Banshee
Zoë Kravitz – Angel Salvadore
The video is a 1080p AVC presentation.
The film looks excellent with clean details throughout. The solid lines help the contrasting stand out and make the colors come through brilliantly. There are some bold colors but overall the coloring is subtle to not overdo it. The film has that vintage look but still maintains the clarity of HD. As for the details, there is plenty happening in each frame and so many little intricacies that have been captured in the picture.
ULTRA HD BLU-RAY (4K):
The Ultra HD Blu-ray 4k disc for X-Men First Class is that of the 2k Master upscaled to 4k and retouched content. Still it can easily be said that it’s the best X-Men First Class disc out there and a worthy edition to the franchise next to the excellent Ultra HD Blu-ray version of X-Men Apocalypse. Brights are bright, colors are vivid and the blacks are deep. It’s what expected.
The audio is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix.
The dialogue on the mix is is clean and lays over the rest of the sound nicely. They are clear and easy to understand while sharing with an effects heavy mix like this. Some of the best parts of the mix are definitely in the sound effects. The humming of Magneto’s power moving metal reverberates in the bass while having crisp highs of the other effects or the score. This really is a solid mix that is a great example of how a film like this needs to sound.
-X Marks the Spot: This is a pop-up trivia this rolls on for the length of the film.
-Cerebro: Mutant Tracker: This is a database of the mutants that have been in the franchise.
-Children of the Atom: This is an incredible 7-part documentary that covers pretty much everything in the film.
-Dogfight Stunt Piece: This is a feature available from BD-Live and it shows how the dogfight scene was put together.
-Theatrical Trailer
-Composer’s Isolated Score
-Deleted Scenes
Disc Details
1 Blu-ray Disc
Digital copy
Running Time
132 mins
Edition Ratings
Rated PG-13
Region Coding
Region A
Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Audio Mixes
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
French Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English
French
Spanish
As I said earlier, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS saved the franchise by rewriting history and fixing the last couple of films from the previous timelines. The story has younger actors and has created a great path for the films to follow. The Blu-ray has been done very well in both the audio and video. The extras on the release are dense and cover practically everything from the production. Overall, this is a must buy and I highly recommend picking this up.
