‘X-Men: First Class’, released as part of the recent summer blockbusters in the US this year was a surprise hit amongst other superhero films including ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America’. The film was directed by fan favourite Matthew Vaughn following up his ever popular film ‘Kick-Ass’ released in 2010.
‘X-Men: First Class’ didn’t directly follow up either of the two previous X-Men films being ‘X-Men 3’ and ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, instead returning to a pivotal period of time during which the Cuban missile crisis is taking place and acting as something of a prequel to the franchise.
Despite a number of inconsistencies with the original Brian Singer directed films, the prequel approach worked relatively well allowing the film to distance itself from some of the disappointing aspects of the previous instalments, but still maintaining enough familiarity to tap into the existing fan base.
Overall ‘X-Men: First Class’ is a solid film, contained within are a few disappointing aspects however the fantastic performances of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender cannot be denied, nor can the excellent opening act of the film. So much so in fact that the progression of the relationship between McAvoy and Fassbender is almost a lost opportunity in that the material is so compelling it would have been nice to see even more time taken fleshing out their friendship possibly spilling over into a sequel before the pair go their separate ways.
Irrespective of this however, it seems that a sequel could be on the way with writer Simon Kinberg reportedly being attached to the project. Kinberg was a producer for ‘X-Men: First Class’, and was also a writer on ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’, ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Jumper’.
This is a somewhat unexpected turn as ‘X-Men: First Class’ involved Bryan Singer whom worked on the story as well as Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller whom all received credit for working on the screenplay.
It seems the current rumour would indicate Bryan Singer may not be involved in any potential sequel, with Matthew Vaughn and his writing partner Jane Goldman’s involvement also uncertain at this stage.
Given the successes of the previous X films that have involved Singer, and Vaughn it would be disappointing if at least one of them didn’t continue to be involved in the franchise, however we’ll just have to wait and watch the details as they firm up for this potential project to see who exactly is involved and what we can expect in terms of possible story ideas etc.
