By: Ed Holden

A new cast and a new director have dug up the beginnings of the X-Men and come up with gold.

Any X-Men movie is faced with the challenges of a large ensemble. Peripheral characters must be crammed in alongside the main plot as various super-evolved beings' fates are decided. This is particularly difficult for a prequel. It has to credibly precede three existing movies and their many, many threads. Slip ups will be treated as blasphemy by the fans.

We're impressed, then, that X-Men: First Class delivers a deliciously well-crafted origin story. It brings to light the beginnings of the core cast without ever-feeling like a precursor to the meat of the series. In fact, it's as climactic as anything else the X-Men series has to offer and the best written of the lot.

Credit to director Matthew Vaughn and writing talent Jane Goldman for patching it all together. We start with the mistreatment of a young Jew named Eric Lehnsherr at the hands of the Nazis. Sinister scientist Sebastian Shaw (devilish Kevin Bacon effortlessly handles the villain) wishes to use the boy's amazing power to control metal for evil purposes, alongside his own unique abilities.

But the forces of good are also rising in the mutant world, even if they're prone to boozing and rather too much use of the word 'groovy'. Telepath and all-around mind master Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has discovered a fellow mutant capable of shape-shifting (Mystique played by Jennifer Lawrence) and is discovering that they are not alone. Brought in by the CIA to investigate powerful beings that appear to be trying to trigger World War 3, Xavier discovers a grownup Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) recklessly trying to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of Shaw.

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The guts of the film lie in the complex relationship between Xavier and Lehnsherr/Magneto. Xavier believes that humans and mutants can co-exist, leading to his establishing the embryonic X-Men squad in conjunction with the CIA. He establishes a friendship with Magneto which is only strengthened by deep telepathic voyages into the mind of the powerful spoon-bender. But Magneto cannot share his friend's faith in a future shared by humans and mutants. Dangerously, he's also beginning to understand the terrifying extent of his own power.

The tension between these two leads as they face up to the growing power of Shaw is really enough to carry the movie through its sequence of escalating action spectaculars. McAvoy does an excellent job of channeling Patrick Stewart without impersonating him, bringing his own charm while credibly living inside the minds of everyone. Fassbender is all intensity and physicality. His ability to carry a big-time action flick by himself is all over this performance. We build towards The Cuba Missile Crisis, which Shaw has penciled in for the end of mankind.

But what about the rest? The X-Men are essentially divided into A-list (McAvoy, Fassbender and Bacon) and B-list, with Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast) hovering somewhere in between. There are seven more mutants, played by January Jones, Jason Flemyng, Zoe Kravitz, Lucas Till, Edi Gathegi, Alex Gonzalez and Caleb Landry Jones. They're tasked with making an impact quickly with minimal screen time. The result is that their scenes lean on the CGI some of which, make no mistake, is damn cool. But the result is that the performances feel thin. We found ourselves wanting to fast forward them and get back to the Fassbender/McAvoy tome.

The final action sequence is a ripper, happily shot in glorious 2D. But what's perhaps most satisfying is the way we land at the establishment of the X-Men situation with such continuity. With excellent performances and big-movie brains, it's a huge step up for the X-Men franchise.

A great start to blockbuster season. The gauntlet has been laid down.