Prof. X's First Class; The Young Mutants of X-Men First Class

The title of X-Men: First Class, when taken in a literal sense, refers to the first group of mutant students that Professor X takes into his school and helps to understand their mutant powers. I have, in my review of the film itself, already ranted and raved about the great performances from James McAvoy (Prof. X) and, especially, Michael Fassbender (Magneto)  and honestly, watching the commercials I did not worry about their characters in the film. I did however, worry about the young group of actors tasked to play the first class of mutants. The mutants in this first class are Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence, whom I was the least worried about), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Havok (Lucas Till, whom I was the most worried about) and Angel (Zoe Kravitz). Much to my surprise, though no specific performance stood out, these six actors played the roles perfectly and managed to create a fairly lovable, humorous group of mutants that served the movie well. What surprised me the most about these mutants is that my initial predictions were incorrect. The young actor I was least worried about, Jennifer Lawrence who is fresh from an Oscar nod for Blue Valentine, really gave a bland, stale performance. It wasn't a bad performance, just somewhat boring. One the other hand, Lucas Till managed to be my favorite young mutant. He didn't in the least stretch his acting ability or go outside of his box but he was casted for a part that he could play well. Overall, these young actors added to the movie by giving it humor and charm.