Film Review: X-Men: First Class (2011)

Don’t doubt the mutant powers – they are alive and well in the supremely entertaining X-Men: First Class (2011).  Following the weak and disappointing X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Origins: Wolverine (2009), most moviegoers had given up on the franchise.  So when the studio announced its decision to make another X-Men movie, many people, myself included, were skeptical.  The poor early marketing campaign for First Class only made more cynics; it boasted posters and pictures of tacky suited mutants.  However, anyone doubting the film’s potential should have had more faith in its creators; this installment may be campy but it is a ton of fun and even moving at times.  In fact, it is perhaps the new king of the series, with X2: X-Men United (2003) as its counterpart.  X-Men: First Class is highly engaging thanks to cool, 1960s James Bond-like direction and impressive performances, especially from its leading cast members.  While it cannot avoid the common setbacks found in prequels, it overcomes them for the most part to make the journey enjoyable.

First Class mostly takes place in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis and follows Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr before they became the Professor X and Magneto that audiences know from the previous X-Men movies.  Lehnsherr, a Holocaust survivor and sort of mutated monster, is hellbent on getting revenge against his Dr. Frankenstein: Dr. Schmidt / Sebastian Shaw, who is a target of the CIA.  Young agent Moira McTaggert witnesses Shaw, Emma Frost, and Azazel’s superhuman powers while undercover in Shaw’s Hellfire Club; subsequently, she seeks an expert on mutation, tracks down Xavier in London and enlists him and his longtime friend Raven/Mystique.  Eventually, Xavier and Lehnsherr meet and form a powerful friendship as they, along with other discovered mutants, try to find and stop or kill the megalomaniac Shaw before he sparks World War III.  Xavier acts as their leader, teaching them to harness or refine their powers in positive ways.  Lehnsherr, though, is blinded by hatred and revenge, so he usually is a maverick.  Their dynamic relationship and Lehnsherr’s development into Magneto is at the heart of the story and, consequently, pivotal for viewers to enjoy the film.

So really, First Class is not about Xavier’s school; it is about Xavier and Lehnsherr’s relationship before they became archenemies.  Furthermore, it focuses on Lehnsherr more than anyone else.  After rumors and news broke of a possible origin story for Magneto, I was a bit skeptical.  However, this movie has made me a believer in why the character deserved one in the first place.  Lehnsherr/Magneto is a complex, tortured soul that viewers can relate to and this film makes a gripping and entertaining portrayal of his back-story, so much so that viewers may end up wishing there was more of it here as his scenes are electrifying.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, as Xavier and Lehnsherr, make the movie all the more effective; their performances and interaction alone are worth the price of admission.  McAvoy has grown on me over the years and he manages to display the character’s compassion that Patrick Stewart made famous in previous turns in the part, yet he brings youthful arrogance and liveliness to the character.  Fassbender, one of favorite actors working today, is the best part of the film and definitely fills the void left by Hugh Jackman’s badass turns as Wolverine.  He exudes charm in his magnetic (pun intended) performance.  Moreover, he provides a good deal of depth and emotion to the vengeful character that Ian McKellen only scratched the surface of in the old trilogy.  Apart from occasionally slipping into an Irish accent, Fassbender is nearly flawless in a role that could easily be overacted with numerous scenes that require the actor to strain while “moving” metallic objects.  This is a star-making role for him, and he does not disappoint; perhaps someday he will play as 007 – his performance here surely makes him seem like a terrific fit.  At any rate, McAvoy and Fassbender’s bro-chemistry is also off the charts.  Their relationship is very compelling and ultimately heartbreaking.  If the studio does indeed make a prequel trilogy out of First Class, they must retain or bring back these two extremely talented actors.

Besides the two star performances, First Class features a solid supporting cast headlined by Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, and Jennifer Lawrence.  Bacon is an ideal choice as the charismatic Shaw, a sort of 1960s Bond villain; he may veer into campiness sometimes, but it totally fits in this vision.  Still, Bacon brings an appropriate amount of menace when necessary.  Byrne’s role as McTaggert feels a bit shortened in the middle act, particularly in relation to a blossoming love story with Xavier, but she nonetheless makes the most out of it.  The beautiful and gifted Lawrence has divided critics and audiences somewhat over her performance as Raven/Mystique.  Some people claim she feels a bit out of place or uncomfortable in the role, especially in a somewhat silly-looking costume, while others applaud her range; in reality, her performance lies somewhere in the middle but is by no means mediocre – it is still a superior comic-book performance as she definitely is able to capture the impressionable nature of Raven who seeks normalcy, or better yet to be proud/unashamed of herself.  Besides, she has limited use as a mutant in this film, so she must resort to showing off her skills in quieter scenes, most often in her pivotal relationship with Hank McCourt/Beast, played admirably by Nicholas Hoult.

The rest of the supporting cast members generally give reliable performances, with a few exceptions.  For instance, January Jones is probably the weakest link in the cast, but that is partly because her part as henchwoman Emma Frost is poorly written or developed; she has little else to do than stand around and look pretty, similar to “Jill Masterson” in Goldfinger (1964) as Paul Montgomery points out in his terrific review of First Class.  Zoë Kravitz also falls into that category and her character, Angel Salvadore, could have used some more development if audiences are to be believe her choices.  Moreover, her mutant character as well as Caleb Landry Jones’s one as Sean Cassidy/Banshee and Álex González’s one as Janos Quested/Riptide are simply a bit lame on the big-screen. Lucas Till and Edi Gathegi fill their roles as Armando Alex Summers/Havok and Munoz/Darwin fine (the latter of which has a very awkward moment where the editor cuts to him after a character references slavery).  Oliver Platt and Matt Craven are decent in their parts as CIA executives.  On the flipside, character actor Rade Serbedzija does well as a five-star Russian general, while Glenn Morshower and Michael Ironside also make effective appearances as Colonel Hendry and an American naval Captain.  Jason Flemyng is basically unnoticeable as Azazel, but his devilish character is a highlight of the movie, such as his particularly terrifying high-flying night-raid.  Lastly, Ludger Pistor and Wilfried Hochholdinger play as a couple of ex-Nazis, ironically since they played as Nazis opposite Fassbender in Inglorious Basterds (2009); their short appearance in an Argentine bar with Fassbender is by far one of the best scenes in the movie.  Another highlight and pure delight of First-Class is an amazing brief cameo appearance by one of the actors from the previous X-Men movies. (Side note: another person from the former trilogy appears in a very short cameo later in the film, but most viewers won’t recognize the person.)

Between his impressive feature-film debut with the underrated Layer Cake (2004), the surprisingly awesome Kick-Ass (2010), and now X-Men: First Class, Matthew Vaughn has established himself as a prominent director.  His stylish direction was a great fit to take on this comic-book universe, one that ultimately cannot undergo a totally gritty transformation like Christopher Nolan did with Batman.  Nonetheless, that does not make the film a failure as that approach should not be used for every franchise.  Because the superheroes clearly have super-human powers, it would be difficult to turn it into a similarly gritty and uber-“realistic” world.  Still, First Class is superior to most of its Marvel counterparts because it has real emotion and at times reaches into darker territory.  Vaughn clearly uses a 1960s, Sean-Connery Bond look and feel that is very pleasant and entertaining; it is a great blend of lightheartedness/humor and drama.  It might not feature as cool fight scenes as “Big Daddy” and “Hit Girl’s” ones in Kick-Ass, but apart from the terrible Banshee-Angel air battle, the action sequences in this film are exciting, thanks in large part to the fact that the movie took the time to make the characters matter first.  As a minor note, Vaughn wisely chose to use subtitles in the film, from German to French, Spanish and Russian, as the characters and story traverse the globe; Hollywood too often disregards the importance of using native tongues and thus lose credibility, but not here.

Vaughn’s production also makes this movie into a great summer blockbuster.  Henry Jackman’s bass guitar and strings heavy score is exhilarating while the production design and art direction are consistently elegant.  Also, the filmmakers had enough sense and self-awareness to recognize that the blue and yellow superhero suits look silly, which is apparent in the characters’ hesitance to wear them.  Vaughn and three other writers penned the strong, layered screenplay that drives the story and characters first followed by the intricate plot and action.  Writer-director Bryan Singer, who made the first to X-Men films, helped edit the script for continuity purposes, most of which are not an issue, or if they do not gel with former flicks, like Wolverine, then that is fine as the studio recognizes that the previous two installments were fairly awful.

However, First-Class cannot escape the problem all prequels face: viewers, especially fans, know where the story is headed.  I won’t spoil the numerous things that must happen for any readers who are unfamiliar with the X-Men comic-book and film canon, but because many people already know what must happen to certain characters the surprise and excitement are somewhat lessened (some moments will surprise even fans though); even the previews have spoiled several significant twists for those who are new to the series.  On the other hand, the anticipation of the inevitable and how First Class plays it out is still a thrill to watch; again, the film’s progression benefits from earnest lead performances.  Although the film must have several exposition-heavy scenes and show certain incidents unfold, First Class does a decent job at developing the central characters and story.  In fact, the irony and emotion behind confrontations (i.e. the transfer of the helmet) and timing of certain events (i.e. paralysis) are brilliant and poignant pieces of storytelling.  Besides, similar to J.J. Abrams’s highly successful Star Trek (2009), First Class is more of a “soft reboot” of the franchise than a prequel.

The screenwriters have woven the plot into historical events adequately, albeit superficially.  They did not go as far as to totally rewrite history like Inglorious Basterds did with the Holocaust and World War II.  Instead of changing how a major event ends up, the film simply inserts new motivations and actors into the timeline; in particular, Shaw acts as a sort of super-villain set on pitting the world powers against each other and then rising from the ashes of former empires to rule the world himself, similar to Ernst Stavro Blofeld of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in early 007 movies.  However, this pseudo-historical adventure is not very intricate (probably what makes it work) and only acts to move the plot along so that the heart of the story, Magneto’s development and relationship with Xavier, plays out.  Moreover, many critics and viewers have noted how their friendship is comparable to the 1960’s civil rights movement’s leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, with Xavier as the former and Magneto as the latter.  In other words, the two disagree on how to bring about racial equality or what that term/phrase actually means; in short, Magneto becomes a sort of mutated Nazi/Fascist with his ambition to be proud mutants who never have to obey orders or fight for their existence but rather rise up and rule.  Director of X-Men and X2 and producer of First-Class Singer stated in an interview with the LA-Times that a possible sequel could use the civil rights movement and other 20^th century American historical events at the core of its conflict as well.

In sum, the title First Class is more indicative of the quality of the film than the storyline, since Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters does not truly open until the denouement.  It easily ranks amongst the best of Marvel comic-book film adaptations, probably behind only Spiderman 2 (2004), X2, and Iron Man (2008).  Yet, it does not quite transcend the superhero/comic-book source material to compare it to great films other than just adaptations, like The Dark Knight achieved as a “richly thrilling crime saga.”  Still, this prequel/reboot package is superior to most adaptations largely thanks to a clever script and powerful performances by Fassbender and McAvoy.  In fact, it is enough to warrant a theater viewing for the general public or those who are unfamiliar with or have never seen previous X-Men movies.  Apart from continuity issues, fans should be delighted in the product and skeptics who had lost hope in the franchise should be able to restore their faith in it after seeing this installment and may be excited at the prospect of a reboot trilogy.  Furthermore, even non-fans and critics of the series ought to find something entertaining or valuable in the film, whether it be the compelling and dark Magneto origin story and Fassbender’s turn as the character or the stylish, Bond-like direction.  Yes, the film is not flawless and one could nitpick, such as developmental issues and prequel-curses, but as far as 2011 summer tent-pole movies go, besides Harry Potter, this is the one to check out.  It is one of my favorite films from the first half of 2011, alongside Jane Eyre, I Saw the Devil, Insidious, The Tree of Life, and Super 8.  X-Men: First Class is first-rate entertainment that features a surprisingly intelligent script and star-making performance from the highly gifted Fassbender that deserves a viewing, especially in theaters.

 

X-Men: First Class – 8.5/10

 

 

 

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