14 DAY TRIAL // After much teasing, fans of the “X-Men” franchise can finally have a proper look at the upcoming installment, a prequel by all means. 20th Century Fox has released the first official trailer for “X-Men: First Class” – and it looks awesome.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, who was initially supposed to do “X-Men: The Last Stand” but had to back out of the project for personal reasons, and introducing a brand new cast, the film tells the story of how the mutants became X-Men.
The trailer does a wonderful job at paying due homage to the franchise by including, right at the very beginning, images from Brian Singer’s first film.
It would make a lot of sense to be so, word online has it, since this is the story of Charles before he was Professor X (James McAvoy) and of Erik before he became Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Professor Xavier’s biggest enemy.
While it doesn’t show too much of the group of mutants that will later become the X-Men, the trailer does go through the pain of getting the chronology straight.
There’s even a voiceover from President Kennedy talking about a probably missile attack from Cuba, which leaves little doubt as to the timeframe when this is taking place.
Of course, several action shots have also been included: there’s Erik discovering that he can use his power for his own interest as well, there’s a gravitation-defying submarine, there’s explosions and there’s of course, Charles learning to use his incredible power.
The trailer also includes glimpses at Raven Darkholme / Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and at Emma Frost (January Jones). Kevin Bacon also has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as Sebastian Shaw.
Based on a script by Josh Schwartz on a story by Bryan Singer, the film comes out on June 3. Fox undoubtedly wants it to be a reboot of the franchise, which means that, if it fares well at the box office, fans should be on the lookout for details of a sequel.
Until that happens, though, check out the trailer below. Enjoy.