Finally.

After two lousy installments in the Marvel Comics franchise, "X-Men: First Class" delivers everything a good comic book movie should. It's fun, character-focused and led by a couple of commanding leading performances.

The sorta prequel takes a closer look at the friendship and rivalry between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), the mutants who will become peace-loving telepath Professor X and villainous Magneto, who can move and manipulate all things metal.

Don't worry if none of this makes sense. The movie does a good job introducing the mutant premise to those unfamiliar with the franchise.

Set on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Lehnsherr is a Holocaust survivor on a mission to find the Nazi soldiers responsible for killing his mother. Rage commands his mutant abilities until he meets Xavier, who has been recruited to help the government hunt down a dangerous rogue mutant (Kevin Bacon in a surprisingly potent bad guy role).

Xavier encourages Lehnsherr to use his power for things other than murder, and together they recruit a squad of young mutants. Lehnsherr remains skeptical of their shady government employers, while Xavier believes mutants and humans can live peacefully alongside each other.

Xavier and Magneto have debated this topic in three previous films, but "First Class" adds depth to the conversation by incorporating more detailed character backstories.

McAvoy and Fassbender are dynamic together, and their scenes provide "First Class" with one emotionally charged scene after another. The young cast of recruits are equally compelling, notably Nicholas Hoult as agile genius Hank McCoy and recent Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence as the shape-shifting Mystique. Both deal with insecurities involving their physical appearance.

"First Class" touches on similar thematic ground as the other "X-Men" movies, but the general message of "Be Yourself" is handled more nimbly than the third film, "X-Men: The Last Stand" and the more recent "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." The sincerity is more in line with the franchise's first two installments, which spent just as much time exploring the psychology of being a mutant as it did showing off their cool powers.

The '60s setting also allows for some of the cheeky fun that made the early comics so popular. Characters boast puffy haircuts, yellow supersuits and fur accessories - common items in comic books that rarely translate to modern live action.

Directed with sharp attention to character and pacing, Matthew Vaughn (the man behind 2010's off-kilter superhero adventure "Kick-Ass") has brought the "X-Men" franchise back from mediocrity. It even takes a revisionist approach to the Cuban Missile Crisis, involving flying submarines, teleporting devils and a kid who can fly just by screaming.

It doesn't sound like it should work, and it hasn't since 2003's "X2." Finally, though, "X-Men" is back.

Grade: B+

Tyler Wilson can be reached at [email protected]. Ticket Stubs is sponsored by the Hayden Cinema Six Theater. Showtimes at www.HaydenCinema6.com.