X-Men: First Class
Movie Review
X-Men: First Class
by Eric D. Snider
Grade: A-
Released: June 3, 2011
Directed by:
Cast:
The damage inflicted on the X-Men franchise by the poorly received "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" wasn't quite as extensive as the harm done to Batman by the infamous "Batman & Robin," but the brand was definitely in need of similar revitalization. Unlike "Batman Begins," though, "X-Men: First Class" doesn't start from scratch. Instead, it uses the themes of the previous movies to build an intelligent, fast-paced, and highly entertaining prequel. It also re-raises the bar for superhero flicks in general, which have gotten complacent lately.
Like most stories, this one starts with the Nazis. In 1944, young Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner) displays telekinetic powers when he's separated from his mother in a concentration camp, thus drawing the attention of a nasty doctor (Kevin Bacon, speaking German and everything!) who wants to study, harness, and replicate Erik's abilities. At the same time, in New York state, a wealthy British boy named Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher), who can read minds, meets a girl named Raven (Morgan Lily) who can shapeshift but whose natural state is blue and scaly.
In 1962, Charles has grown up to be a brilliant and compassionate scientist (now played by James McAvoy) seeking to understand genetic abnormalities, while Erik has grown up to be an angry, vengeful man (now played by Michael Fassbender) who's obsessed with tracking down the doctor who tortured him. Raven (now Jennifer Lawrence) isn't angry, but she is frustrated at being saddled with a mutation that, unlike Charles', is physically obvious.
These three are not the only mutants in the world, mind you. That Nazi doctor, now going by the name Sebastian Shaw, is traveling with a few sinister ones -- a telepath (January Jones) made out of diamonds (or something?), a dude who can blow windstorms (Alex Gonzalez), and a teleporter (Jason Flemyng) -- in his quest to do secret, dastardly things. The CIA gets involved when agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) stumbles upon the existence of mutant powers and figures America better get onboard with this, what with it being the Cold War and all.
We know that Charles and Erik are destined to become Professor X and Magneto, one leading the peaceful band of crime-fighting mutants, the other at the head of the militant faction that views non-mutants as enemies. When they first meet, Charles and Erik have the same goal -- to thwart Sebastian Shaw -- but different motives for it. This gets to the heart of what all the X-Men films have been about: being "different" in a society that sometimes rewards differentness and sometimes vilifies it. Are these powers a blessing or a curse? Do they make you better, or do they make you defective?
Raven finds comfort in befriending Hank (Nicholas Hoult), a scientist with mutant powers almost as readily apparent as hers who's formulating a serum to change that. He and Raven don't want to get rid of their abilities altogether; they just don't want them to be obvious when they go out in public. Other young mutants, like the fire-blasting Alex Summers (Lucas Till), the glass-shattering Sean Cassidy (Caleb Landry Jones), and the fairy-winged Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), have varying feelings about their abilities, ranging from defensive to self-conscious, meek to defiant. Not all of these characters are fully developed -- even a movie with a 132-minute running time has its limitations, apparently -- but they add flavor. The movie manages to make each mutant's power crucial at some point without getting too contrived (although I'm not exactly clear on how Sean, aka Banshee, is able to fly).
"X-Men: First Class" was directed by Matthew Vaughn, whose previous features gave him practice with the elements vital to this one's success. "Layer Cake" was a twisty, stylish crime caper set in something like the real world; "Stardust" was pure fairy-tale fantasy; and "Kick-Ass" was about an amateur superhero. All three were energetic and confident, as is the new film, which dashes assuredly from one rousing sequence to the next yet never feels like it's employing action just for action's sake. With a screenplay credited to Vaughn, regular collaborator Jane Goldman, and the "Thor" duo of Ashley Edward Miller and Jack Stentz, the film strives to put the mutants' powers in a real-world context, with real-world repercussions. It uses actual events like the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Nazis' experiments with genetics as the backdrop. Few things are clear-cut; the line between hero and villain is sometimes hard to see. Erik and Charles, though they disagree on tactics, are not enemies, and both men's points of view are understandable. The issues they face are too complex to be boiled down to a simple "right" and "wrong" way to proceed. Meanwhile, the truly evil Sebastian Shaw is a reflection of each man's worst potential: Like Charles, he started out being interested in the science behind mutation; like Erik, he came to believe mutants were inherently superior to regular mortals. Either man could go down the wrong path and end up like Shaw.
I come to this movie with no investment in its characters or their origins. I have no idea how much of what's established here violates comic book canon, and I don't remember the previous movies well enough to say whether this one negates what happens in them. (Does Charles Xavier doing such-and-such in "First Class" mean he couldn't have done some other thing that we saw him do in "X2: X-Men United"??? Dunno!) What I do know is that the movie feels smarter and more ambitious than many of its brethren, not to mention more thrilling and flat-out fun. The central performances by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are unusually nuanced for a superhero flick, somehow vulnerable and badass at the same time. This is how it's done, folks! Your move, Captain America.
[Reprinted from Film.com.]
Grade: A-
Rated PG-13, one F-word, moderate action violence
2 hrs., 12 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 12 comments
June 3, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Awesome! We were already going to see this tonight, but I'm glad to see that this got such a good review from you. I always like to see comic book movies step their game up and produce a movie to be proud of.
Now I just have to decide if I want to read the review before or after I see the move. Hmmm...
June 3, 2011 at 8:47 pm
OH MAN! "That Nazi doctor, now going by the name Sebastian Shaw"
That gives me chills. That's the beginnings of a possible Hellfire Club! I love it! It's so awesome to see seeds for future nods to mainstays of the comics in previous movies (which is why I'm so hyped for Avengers, and have been since I saw that first after-credits teaser).
AND "The CIA gets involved when agent Moira MacTaggert" ! Even better!
"Other young mutants, like the fire-blasting Alex Summers (Lucas Till), the glass-shattering Sean Cassidy (Caleb Landry Jones), and the fairy-winged Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz)" And more! Man I see now why this movie got such good reviews. So many classic characters that have been missing due to the focus on the "90's cartoon team" of Wolverine/Storm/Jean Gray/Cyclops/etc...
And I believe Banshee flies on sound waves or something silly. They're so potent that he creates physical force out of them. I dunno the details... but I'm sure it's explained in the comics somewhere.
But man, good review. I'm so pumped to see this now. I'm a lot bigger fan of the comics than you. :P Only X-Men comics really, there's just too many to follow a lot of different superheroes.
But I especially prefer X-Men since it's never been purely about stopping some evil bad guy from blowing up the sun. They deal with a lot more issues than that, like prejudice and discrimination, the danger that a majority poses towards the rights of minorities, and so on.
By the way, if that sounds interesting to anyone, I highly recommend the x-men comics of the 80's for further reading. Someone on the internet compiled them all in chronological order a while back, which is really convenient. I started with the Dark Phoenix saga in ~1976 and am currently somewhere between 1986 and 1990. Very good reading. A mountain of material though, it's taken me years to get that far!
June 4, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Wow that was a good movie. I agree with the A- for sure.
I and everyone I saw it with really enjoyed it. I hope this gets the box office it deserves. It's the best X-Men movie since the first imo, which jump started this whole generation of superhero movies in the first place. Possibly the best superhero movie since X-Men 1.
I was definitely a much bigger fan of the Professor X/Magneto storyline than the "first class" of x-men students storyline though. I felt that was the weaker part of the movie.
But definitely a good movie. Highly recommend!
June 4, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Wow, this is great to hear! After the last 2 X-men movies, I was not excited about this one at all, but I'm totally going to see it now. I'm glad they decided to make a good movie again :).
Also, Eric, as of right now, your review is the first one one the Rotten Tomatoes page for this movie. I'm not sure if that happens often, but congrats!
June 4, 2011 at 11:16 pm
While I'm not a fan of X-Men:The Last Stand or X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it should be pointed out that these "poorly received" movies grossed a worldwide box office tally of $459 million and $373 million respectively. The 3rd X-Men still remains the highest grossing of the franchise so while the 2 previous entries will be remembered as failures, they did well enough for 20th Century Fox to believe the franchise was still lucrative enough to greenlight another installment albeit a prequel.
June 4, 2011 at 11:18 pm
While I'm not a fan of X-Men:The Last Stand or X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it should be pointed out that these "poorly received" movies grossed a worldwide box office tally of $459 million and $373 million respectively.
Yeah, a lot of people saw the movies, but not a lot of people liked them.
June 9, 2011 at 12:21 am
"Well done job indeed!"
:-P
June 11, 2011 at 5:26 pm
"Yeah, a lot of people saw the movies, but not a lot of people liked them."
X-Men:The Last Stand had only 57% fresh rating on rottentomatoes with critics but a solid 73% approval regular moviegoers. X-Men Origins: Wolverine got only to 37% with critics but 72% audience approval. There are plenty of people that liked it, it's just that the voices of those who hated were much louder than those who gave those films a pass.
But that's not my original point. My point is those movies still made a lot of money and at the end of the day, that's really all these studios care about. Why else do you think Roland Emmerich still has a job in Hollywood?
June 11, 2011 at 6:10 pm
But that's not my original point. My point is those movies still made a lot of money and at the end of the day, that's really all these studios care about.
Right. But my original point wasn't about money, it was about public relations. The franchise had lost some of its goodwill after two movies in a row that left a lot of people feeling lukewarm. All I was saying was that the brand needed an image boost in terms of regaining respect. My perception of people's perception about the last couple films could be off, though.
June 11, 2011 at 6:37 pm
I thought Hollywood was done with that "lone black guy in my action movie must die first, and in order to save a white guy" crap. But apparently not.
June 13, 2011 at 11:41 pm
It occurs to me (and this is something Eric has written and commented on in the past) that the use of "f---" in this movie was in a sexual context, something the MPAA supposedly doesn't allow in PG-13 flicks.
September 15, 2011 at 2:11 am
I was hooked for the first hour, but after that I couldn't help wonder why all of the good mutants together, with their powers, couldn't easily take out the bad guy and his few cronies. The whole thing felt like a rushed prequel to set the audience straight, and that can take away from the entertainment.