X-Men: First Class & The Hangover 2

X-Men: First Class & The Hangover 2

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the latest X-Men offering. The first two are classics of the superhero genre, but the third never recovered from Vinny Jones uttering the immortal line ‘I’m the Juggernaut, bitch’. This was mainly due to the departure of Bryan Singer, and the unfortunate hiring of Brett Ratner. Luckily Ratner has also gone, and Kick Ass director Matthew Vaughn has taken the reigns, and it shows

While the storyline revolves around the Cuban missile crisis and Kevin Bacon’s manipulative bad guy, the real centre of the movie is the relationship between Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It is genuinely touching, knowing what we know about their futures, and the performances are excellent, particularly from Fassbender. Equally touching are the struggles of the younger mutants, particularly Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and the Beast (Nicholas Hoult), to come to terms with their mutations. Keep an eye out for a very funny cameo from a familiar figure as well

The set pieces are tense and exciting, and there is a welcome return of intelligence missing from Ratner’s attempt. There are mis-steps; the pre credits sequenced is clumsy and the introduction of the CIA is not very well thought through (although it does give us Rose Byrne in stockings and suspenders, a scene I was supposed to be working on but missed L), and some of the many characters are under written. Overall, however, this is a vast improvement on the third film, and a welcome return to form for one of the best superhero franchises out there

The Hangover 2, on the other hand, is a very poor offering considering the quality of the first movie. It’s pretty much the case that if you’ve seen the first one then you’ve no need to see the second, as the only thing that has changed is the setting. Nearly every single set piece, as well as the whole structure of the film has been transferred over lock stock from the original. There is also a poorly judged joke about a smoking monkey that manages to be more disturbing than funny. There is the odd inspired moment, and the post credits photograph sequence is, as in the first film, brilliant, but this is very disappointing, and generally not very funny