Of the thousands of characters that have appeared in the pages of Marvel's comic books over the years, some of the most prolific have been the X-Men. Though their book wasn't the hottest of sellers when it debuted in 1963, the X-Men have since become one of Marvel's biggest cash cows. There are at least ten different X-Men comics currently in publication, and they've been adapted into cartoons, video games, toys, and most recently, a series of live-action movies.
The critical and financial success of the first X-Men movie in 2000 helped to spark the massive amount of superhero movies studios have released since then, among them two sequels and a spinoff detailing the origins of the franchise's most recognized character. And rather than follow them up with X-Men 4 or a sequel to the Wolverine movie, Twentieth Century Fox decided that the next movie in the saga would be a prequel to the whole franchise and show us how the X-Men came to be. And as poor as the last two movies in the X-Men franchise were, X-Men: First Class is one hell of a fun movie.
The year is 1962, and the Cold War is heating up. As the movie begins, we're introduced to Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), a mutant with an intense hatred for traditional humans. This hatred was fostered in him at a young age, as both his Jewish heritage and his magnetism-based mutation made him a target of Nazi experimentation during the Holocaust. Since then, he has been consumed with seeking vengeance against Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), an ageless scientist who made a rather vicious attempt to harness Erik's powers while he was locked up in a Polish concentration camp.
Erik's hatred for humanity starkly contrasts with the idealism of Charles Xavier, a dashing, Oxford-educated ladies' man with advanced telepathic abilities. Xavier believes that he and his fellow mutants can peacefully coexist with humanity in spite of their differences, even publishing a thesis about human mutation. This thesis catches the eye of CIA agent Moira MacTaggart (Rose Byrne), who contacts Xavier and tells him of her suspicion that a mutant is fanning the flames of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.
As fate would have it, this causes Xavier and Erik's paths to cross. Xavier follows a trail of clues and discovers that Shaw trying to instigate the Cuban missile crisis into a full-blown nuclear war. Shaw reasons that if humans nuke each other into extinction, then mutants can take over and claim the world as their own. Xavier and Erik meet while hunting tracking their mutual quarry and after an incident which allows Shaw to escape, the duo begins recruiting a team of mutants to combat Shaw's own team.
After the last two lackluster entries, I was beginning to think that the X-Men movie franchise was beginning to run out of steam. But X-Men: First Class proved that there's still some life in it after all. It's a fantastic movie that almost makes up for the disappointing mediocrity of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It's a tremendous film that for all its pathos never gets what's important: being fun. It's an immensely entertaining movie that I can't help but enjoy.
Helming First Class is Matthew Vaughn, who previously jumped into the world of superheroes with last year's Kick-Ass. Although Kick-Ass was an irreverent quasi-parody of superheroes, this movie is more serious fare. Vaughn is up to task, though. His direction is slick, focused, and very much suits what the movie needs. Vaughn doesn't take things to any sort of flashy extremes, but he crafts the movie in such a way that it doesn't feel like he has to. He actually crafts the movie as if it were a '60s-era James Bond movie, making a really cool-looking flick in the process. I don't know if the whole Bond-like style was intentional on Vaughn's part, but his direction — combined with the setting, the set design and costumes, and John Mathieson's cinematography — gives the movie that kind of feeling. And you know what? It works.
The script (credited to Vaughn, Jane Goldman, and Thor co-writers Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz from a story by Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer) is also solid, with a focused narrative that knows exactly what it wants to accomplish. But it also falls into the same trappings as the other four X-Men movies: it introduces more characters than it plans to follow. Some of the young mutants that Professor X and Magneto recruit for their team barely have any time to shine, leaving them so underdeveloped that we just don't care about them at all.
There's also more than a few inconsistencies and plot holes cause by setting the movie in the '60s. Take, for example, the presence of Emma Frost. She appeared as a teenager in the Wolverine movie, which takes place in the late '70s or early '80s. But in First Class, she's obviously an adult. How does that work? And then there's Beast, who develops his blue fur and feline appearance here despite having a cameo as a regular person in X2. There are more than a few little things like that in First Class; most of them could be called inconsequential, but it's distracting if you notice them. Maybe First Class is supposed to be a reboot instead of a prequel? I could get behind that, since the existence of both this movie and the Wolverine movie leaves the franchise's continuity rather muddled.
At least it benefits from some stellar acting. There are a few bad apples among the bunch, specifically Zoë Kravitz (who is unbearably, unforgivably dull) and January Jones (who is not only forgettable, but so wooden that they could have replaced her with a tree and I wouldn't have noticed). But the less-than-great performances are the exception, rather than the rule. For example, Jennifer Lawrence's turn as the shapeshifting Mystique is very sweet and charming, providing a lot of heart to the role. But the best acting in the movie comes from three people in particular.
One is Kevin Bacon, who radiates evil and megalomania in every scene he appears. His performance as the villainous Sebastian Shaw is about as perfect as one could hope for. Bacon makes for a fantastic bad guy, which helps make the movie a lot more fun. I also really liked James McAvoy as Charles Xavier. I thought I'd have a hard time accepting anybody other than Patrick Stewart in the role, but McAvoy gallantly makes the role his own. McAvoy doesn't try to replicate Stewart's performances, approaching it in his own way and is better for it. He's great in the role, bringing a sense of playfulness to it at first before transitioning into the compassionate nobility that we'd expect from Professor X. Though I won't deny that I miss Stewart, McAvoy is still wonderful.
But the best performance of the whole movie comes from Michael Fassbender. Like McAvoy, Fassbender had some pretty huge shoes to fill. Sir Ian McKellan's performances as Magneto were some of the best parts of the first three X-Men movies, but Fassbender takes the role and completely owns it. There are so many layers and nuances to his performance; you can see all the rage, sadness, fear, and the hope for a better world for mutants all over Fassbender's face. You're practically compelled to keep your eyes on Fassbender for every single frame in which he appears. And through a combination of fantastic writing and brilliant acting, Magneto is without a doubt the best part of First Class. I'd actually heard that the movie was originally intended to follow in the footsteps of the Wolverine movie and be X-Men Origins: Magneto, but it evolved into the movie I'm currently reviewing. I bring that up because Fassbender was so awesome that I wish they'd made the Magneto solo movie with Fassbender as its star. That movie would have been awesome.
That isn't to say that X-Men: First Class isn't good, though. It's a damn good movie. As disappointed as I was with The Last Stand and the Wolverine movie, I'm just as satisfied with First Class. It's been a while since there's been an X-Men movie this awesome, perhaps due to Bryan Singer's absence from the franchise. But with him returning as a producer and a co-writer, it feels like the franchise has gone back to the good ol' days when it didn't suck. First Class is definitely worth seeing as soon as you get the chance, so if you haven't seen it already, go do it now. It's definitely worth the effort of checking out. If they end up going with the idea I'd heard that First Class would be spawning a new trilogy, I'm all for it.
Final Rating: ****
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