X-Men: First Class

****1/2*
Four and a Half Stars Out of Five

I really don't think I've ever seen a more shittily-produced promotion for a movie. When the first stills from X-Men: First Class were revealed, it looked like an absolute pile of shit. Then, there were the first few promotional posters released, and they seriously resembled something a 7th-grade comic book nerd feverishly put together with some amateurish understanding of Photoshop. I was so turned off by these images that I had decided that this would be an absolute abomination of a film. I just could not imagine a production which could possibly be watchable when this was the type of promotional materials being shown. It seemed like Marvel had tricked 20th Century Fox into making the worst thing possible in hopes of somehow getting the rights to the X-Franchise back in their hands. It turns out that I was incredibly wrong. The flick is fucking awesome, and is one of the best comic book adaptations yet.

What sets First Class apart from most other superhero (and basically any big-budget) movies is that it has a heart: it actually goes somewhere. I love movies that feature big fucking robots fucking each other up as much as the next guy, but those movies contain plots that serve only to get to each subsequent set piece as opposed to telling an interesting story. First Class actually gives a shit about its characters, evidenced by the first half of the movie without a real slam-bang action set piece. Sure, there are moments of action in that first hour, but nothing too crazy. The movie is content, thankfully, on exploring the characters' motives and what makes them tick. I am glad that director Matthew Vaughn developed these characters, because they are characters I grew up with and loved in my comic books; I wanted to see them fuck shit up, of course, but I wanted it to mean something, as opposed to just watching shit get fucked up for the sake of it. I got that, and more. The characters actually change over the course of the film; allegiances switch, and it makes sense. It was simply astonishing to see many of my favorite characters done right in movie-form, and I am infinitely happy that it worked out as well as it did.


I was initially put off by the characters appearing in the flick, because aside from Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, Emma Frost, and Beast, nobody was too well-known. Hell, even Mystique and Emma Frost probably aren't known too well by anybody who didn't spend their weekly allowances at comic shops growing up. I understand that, due to the continuity set up by the previous trilogy - and to an extent, the what-the-fuck-were-they-thinking-when-they-put-those-characters-in-there from X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Vaughn's hands were tied. The movie takes place in the early-60's, so they couldn't very well throw Cyclops as a teenager in there, as he would be roughly 50-something in the "modern-day" trilogy. They also couldn't throw Wolverine in there for continuity reasons, and his semi-franchise that has, unfortunately, stalled. Therefore, I get that lesser-knowns like Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones basically steals the show, but more on that later) and Havok - even if he is Cyclop's younger brother in the comics, and is clearly older here. It also helps keep the focus squarely on Charles 'Professor X' Xavier and Erik 'Magneto' Lehnsherr, which is really where the focus needs to be, considering the sheer awesomeness of them.

Magneto, as we all know from seeing X-Men, was imprisoned in a Nazi work camp during WWII. The flick opens with a young Erik being experimented upon by a "Nazi" "doctor," who turns out to be mutant Sebastian Shaw. The opening scenes set the stage for the entire movie, as Erik wants revenge on the man who tortured him during the war, and it also lets us see how his worldview is irrevocably altered. Here is a Jew who has seen what humanity is capable of doing to those deemed outcasts, and he will do everything in his power to ensure that does not happen to his people (in this case, mutants) do not suffer the same fate. Erik grows up into an adult who is consumed by his need for vengeance, and it pushes him to do things without properly thinking them through. His character undergoes an interesting transition throughout the film as he initially is a lone-wolf who becomes a supposed savior (in his own mind) of mutantkind.


Charles is the exact opposite. He grew up incredibly privileged, and discovers his own mutation early on. In one of the movie's few hiccups, we are introduced to Mystique who is apparently a 7 year-old orphan who raids Charles' gigantic mansion for food. The scene is a rare miss, but at least it introduces Charles to another mutant and forms an interesting relationship between him and Mystique. He grows up studying mutations, and generally uses that information to pick up women in England (his use of the word 'groovy' is hysterical and clearly reminds us we're in the 60's). Due to his unique mutation, Charles finds it easy to blend in to society, and it ultimately proves that he cannot see the entire picture of mutant-human relations clearly as he wants to, because his physical appearance is not different.


Charles and Erik's paths eventually cross as they are both in pursuit of the same man: Sebastian Shaw. Erik wants revenge while Charles is helping the CIA find other mutants. They form a hesitant alliance and begin assembling their own mutant "army" to compete with Shaw's, which includes Emma Frost (a telepath who can also change her into diamond form), Azazel (think a Russian, red Nightcrawler), and Riptide (he makes big ole' water tornadoes that mess things up nicely). Their new crew consists of Banshee (crazy-strong screaming, which is used brilliantly throughout the flick), Beast (gorilla-feet, insane intelligence, not blue... yet), Darwin (adapts for survival... really cool mutation), Angel (a stripper with dragonfly wings), and Havok (creates plasma blasts). The entire montage of finding the mutants is well-done, and also includes one of the best cameo appearances ever in a movie, although I will not spoil that. 

For fear of spoiling anything else, I'll just say this: Sebastian Shaw wants to start nuclear war to wipe out humankind to give rise to mutants. It involves America, Russia, and the Cuban missile crisis. It's cool stuff, to be sure, but the characters are clearly more important than the plot itself, which is fine by me, considering the characterization is so great. A lot of the great characterization falls onto the casting, which is fucking amazing.


The past few X-flicks have had some great casting - like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, for one - but still missed out on quite a few big ones. Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler always pissed me off, because Nightcrawler was one of my favorite characters, and Cumming is a butt-munch who is not the least bit cool. Halle Berry as Storm always sucked, too, mostly because Storm was an African bad-ass, not some sexy American gal. The only "miss" as far as casting in First Class goes to January Jones as Emma Frost, but even that is forgivable due to the necessity to have a buxom-breasted blonde beauty portray her. I like Emma Frost in the comics because she is multi-faceted and hard to pin down for the most part; in the movie, she exists solely to show off her cleavage (again, forgivable), and to say a few silly things.

But when it comes to the Big Two of Magneto and Professor X, well, golly, if they didn't hit a home run with the casting. Michael Fassbender as Magneto was simply inspired casting. This guy has got it all to be big in Hollywood - this cat oozes charisma. His role in Inglourious Basterds is one of my favorite performances in the last ten years, and he also killed it in 300. Here, though, he's finally given a chance to star and portray a deep character with a tragic background. Without a great actor anchoring the film as Magneto, the flick simply could have fallen apart, but Fassbender is up to the task, and every moment he is on screen, he dominates the proceedings. His confidence and abilities allow him to be a super-powered James Bond without the allegiance to Her Majesty's Secret Service, and that's saying something as I love me some Bond.

James McAvoy as Professor X is also a knock-out. McAvoy has the ability to be a star, too, and he plays Charles with a quiet confidence and a man thrust into the role of mutant savior even though he's not quite ready for it yet. My biggest gripe by far is that both Magneto and Professor X didn't spend enough time together to truly get to know one another better. In the earlier X-films, it is implied that they spent years together building the X-Men, whereas here, they sadly do not. It goes against the introduction to X-Men: The Last Stand, in which they recruit Jean Gray to their cause. Again, I forgive the misstep due to the fact that continuity in these films have gotten to be quite ridiculous and befuddling, but hopefully the sequel clears this up a bit.

And then there's Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw. I would be remiss if I didn't note Bacon's brilliant acting throughout his career, transitioning from 80's leading man to excellent character actor. Everybody I've ever met knows Kevin Bacon and loves the guy, and it's a shame he's never had the luck of some of his contemporaries. Hopefully, the spotlight can shine on him just a little bit more in his twilight years (okay, he's not that old, but still... in Hollywood, 45 is like 98). I've always championed Bacon, due to his criminally underrated performances in movies like Footloose (I am absolutely not kidding, that movie is fucking aces), and Stir of Echoes (how The Sixth Sense was a bigger hit than that is still beyond me), and I am glad to finally see him get to chew the scenery as a wicked man that doesn't involve seeing his penis again.

So, in summation, I don't have much bad to say about the movie. The little nits I felt necessary to pick weren't nearly enough to ruin my enjoyment of the movie one damn bit, and a lot of it is understandable given the constraints of previous entries. Prequels are a tricky business, as they are required to fit into previously created continuity while also showing us something we haven't seen before. Luckily, Vaughn and co. were up to the task, and helped craft one of the finest comic book adaptations yet. While it doesn't quite reach the level of The Dark Knight or the original Superman, it is better than all the rest, and is easily the best X-Men movie to date. I am already excited about the prospect of a sequel, and I really hope the film succeeds financially so we can see where Vaughn will take us in the future (past). The summer has started excellently, and I can only hope that the rest of the films released are half as good as First Class. This movie is, pun gleefully intended, at the top of the class. Enjoy.