X-Men: First Class Review

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence

Released on: May 25^th 2011

Based on the characters appearing in: Marvel Comics

X-Men: First Class really had a ton of pressure going into production. The movie was coming off of the heels of two negatively received films (even if the Last Stand made the most of the X-Men films), First Class was supposed to be 20^th Century Fox’s answer to their apparent mistakes with both X3 and X-Men Origins, First Class was supposed to be a reboot of the entire franchise giving the X-Men series a fresh new start.  Fans were already very hesitant about the release of First Class, for many fans this was X-Men’s final chance, they already had two strikes against them and if First Class failed the entire franchise would be doomed.

Bryan Singer was originally slated to direct the feature, however due to schedule conflicts he had to bow out and became co-writer and producer. Directorial duties went to Matthew Vaughn who had just come out of the first Kick-Ass film. Vaughn originally was slated to direct the Last Stand but had to bow out for other duties, the director always wanted to direct an X-Men film and he finally got his chance. First Class originally was supposed to be X-Men Origins: Magneto, however due to the very poor reception that Wolverine had received, Fox decided to merge both the Magneto project and an X-Men prequel project that the studio had been toying around with since X2. The film eventually opened on May 25^th 2011, and to everyone surprise it wasn't horrible, in fact it was quite the opposite, it was amazing!

X-Men First Class really is a remarkable film, to this day it stands as my favourite X-Men film. I never thought I would see an X-Men movie that would surpass X2 but First Class really is a fantastic movie. I don’t know what it is about this film that makes it stand out over the original trilogy but I really find a lot of charm and plenty of interesting dynamics in First Class.  Of course even though it is very it does have some problems, problems that seep into the continuity of the entire X-Men franchise.

Taking place in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, X-Men: First Class tells the story of young Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Fassbender) and showcases how the two became close friends.  The two must gather a group of Mutants to combat the Hellfire Club, a dangerous Mutant organization led by the mysterious Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). The X-Men must defeat the Hellfire Club before Shaw unleashes a nuclear holocaust on the planet. The movie ultimately shows us the origins of the X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants and how the two friends become the main leaders in the fight for Mutant freedom, and ultimate frenemies.

I really love this movie; there is just something about it that resonates with me on a higher level than anything that Bryan Singer directed in the first Trilogy. Of course Brett Ratner and co. made a mess of things with the Last Stand, but X-Men: First Class tries to make up for the two poor past instalments in the series. This movie has a completely different feel from past X-Men movies, and instead on having the action scenes and special effects take the spotlight, First Class instead gives us a very strong character driven film that even works as a great standalone sci-fi period piece. However the characters themselves would be nothing without the actors that portrayed them, and First Class really has an outstanding cast of actors. Without the hard work from the entire cast (almost) we wouldn't have the great film that First Class turned out to be.

James McAvoy plays Charles Xavier before he became Professor X. Of course McAvoy had a lot to live up to; he is coming off the “wheels” of Patrick Setwart, a very intimidating task indeed. However due to the period in time that the film takes place in McAvoy is able to tap into a younger more emotional side of the character that we've never seen before. Xavier was always depicted as the father figure, the man with the answers, Xavier himself was basically an enigma do to his abilities, and he always seemed to know something that the X-Men and the audience didn't.  First Class gives us a younger Xavier, a man who really is coming into his own with his powers, and is toying with the insane idea of gathering other “Mutants” together in order to fight for the common good. Xavier knows that Mutants the world over could be seen as a threat by the public, so he tries his absolute hardest to persuade the CIA that they can be a great ally to the American public. Of course he undergoes grand hardships in this film and it obvious by the history indicated by past films that this won’t turn out well.

Of course the films breakout performance was from Michael Fassbender an actor who has quickly become one of my personal favourites. Fassbender had an even higher mountain to climb seeing as he was playing a younger Ian McKellen. But just like McAvoy’s Xavier, Fassbenders Lensherr is a completely different character compared to his older counterpart. Throughout most of the original trilogy Magneto was a man who seemed to know exactly what he wanted to accomplish in the war for Mutant Freedom. In First Class we get to see the anger and darkness that was only slightly eluded to in the first film. Lensherr is on a mission, to get revenge on the Nazi scientists and soldiers that murderer his family, in particular Sebastian Shaw, who plays a key role in Lensherr’s past. We get to see an Erik Lensherr who is unsure of himself, who also can hardly control his Mutant abilities, Fassbender adds so many layers to the nemesis of the X-Men that goes as far as to enhance Mckellens performances in the first three movies.

The movie also stars a pre-Hunger Games Jennifer Lawrence as Raven, the young woman who will eventually turn into the deadly Mystique. Her relationship with both Charles and Erik is a key role in the film and I think it was a very wise idea to include this character into the film. As iconic as Rebecca Romijn is in the first three X-Men movies there really isn't a lot to her character. She hardly has any lines in the films and is basically a naked blue assassin that always kicks the crap out of any unfortunate soul that get in her way. Jennifer Lawrence however is given so much to work with in this movie, she gives Mystique the humanity that is really needed in this character and truly shows the struggles that she has to endure because of her looks as a Mutant.  For a character that can literally become anyone or anything that she wants I find that the inner turmoil of her character is a very ingenious idea that adds so many layers to her character.

Kevin Bacon plays the films side burn villain Sebastian Shaw. You can really tell that Bacon is having a blast in this movie, he literally plays one of the strongest Mutants the series has ever seen and Bacon’s Shaw is right under Brian Cox’s Stryker as one of the best villains in the franchise. Think of Shaw as a Magneto with absolutely no redeemable qualities at all.

Rose Byrne is also in the film as CIA agent Moira MacTaggart, an agent who enlists the help of Charles Xavier to catch, Sebastian Shaw. She does just fine in the movie but I feel like they could have possibly given her a little more to work with in the movie.

Like all of the X-Men films, this movie has a very large cast. The characters are very interesting but like all the other films I don’t feel like some of them got the necessary character development that was needed in a movie like this. On the X-Men team we have a young Hank McCoy/ Beast played by Nicholas Hoult, out of all of the X-Men he is the only other character that gets some good character growth, which is probably due to the characters appearance in the Last Stand. We also have Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Havok (Lucas Till), and Darwin (Edi Gathegi) a character who is extremely underused and thrown away quickly due to how unstoppable his abilities are.

However the development for the characters over at the Hellfire Club might as well be non-existent. The characters only purpose is for the X-Men to have some Mutants to stand up against. Of course in classic X-Men fashion we are given very popular and important X-Men characters that are just thrown at the screen to get butts in seats. However I will admit that First Class did handle them a tiny bit better than Origins and the Last Stand, but only a tiny bit.

We have Mad Men’s January Jones as Emma Frost, Shaws right hand girl. Jones is a good actress; she’s really good on Mad Men. In First Class she’s very cold and devoid of any life, I don’t know if that was her decision as an actor or if it was Vaughn's, but many people think she’s the worst actor in the entire movie. Her character does play a very important role in the comics, but we really only get her in this one film and her inclusion in the movie causes one of the many contradictions that this film creates within the X-Men timeline.

The Hellfire Club also has Azazel (Jason Flemyng) who is better known as the father of Nightcrawler. Azazel is not a Demon like in the comics, but I can forgive that due to the nature of the series. I don’t think that Fox wants to delve into the supernatural with these films. Azazel unfortunately says absolutely nothing in this film and just stands around looking intimidating. His action scenes are the coolest in the movie, but he is given absolutely nothing to work with. The character was originally going to return in Days of Future Past but Flemyng had such a miserable time on set (I would too if I was him) that he didn't want to return. Alan Cumming has nothing to complain about; Flemyng had almost the same amount of time in the make up department but hardly had anything to do in the film at all.

We also have Riptide (Alex Gonzalez) who you almost forget is in the movie because he has zero lines and hardly does anything until the films climax. Zoe Kravits plays Angel Salvadore, a character who starts out as a member of the X-Men, but defects to the Hellfire Club. Her arc could have been interesting, but the moment she joins Shaw all the character development goes right out the window as she begins to fight against her friends. It doesn't even look like she has a shred of sympathy for what she’s doing in the film. I wish we did get something from her; her character has potential but is turned into a character to get pummelled by Beast and Havok.

I think underdeveloped characters are just something that’s  become a staple of the series, almost like having Wolverine as the main character in all the other films. Perhaps that is also another reason why First Class works so well, it is essentially an X-Men movie, not Wolverine and the X-Men. Of course Hugh Jackman is incredible as Wolverine and I love his portrayal of the character, but after X-Men Origins I think audiences needed a break from the adamantium berserker. Having the focus shift towards Xavier and Lensherr was a smart move, but just because Jackman isn't the main character doesn't mean he won’t pop up in the film at some point.

The films score is also pretty kick-ass, composed by Henry Jackman, First Class has the second best soundtrack out of the entire X-Men series (#1 goes to the Last Stand). Magneto’s theme is a very memorable one and I always find myself humming it after I watch the film, it adds to the very intense scenes that Fassbender has in the movie and really gets into the head of the character.

The special effects are nothing to really write home about in this one. They are just passable I think, but honestly anything is better after whatever it was that Fox labelled as “effects” in Origins. Emma Frost’s diamond form is very obvious cg as is with the rest of the characters powers. I think the best effect in the movie isn't even a cg one (I'm a sucker for makeup) and it goes to Beast. When McCoy finally goes furry he looks amazing and very intimidating. I don’t really know what they did with Kelsey Grammar in the Last Stand; he sort of looked like a giant furry Smurf. Whereas Hoult's Beast is a very primal creature and actually looks like, well a Beast.

Now, if I have to attack this film for something it is the horrible timeline contradictions that this movie causes throughout the entire X-Men franchise. They’re so bad that they even contradict X-Men Origins! Sure Fox is trying it’s hardest to make sure everyone forgets Origin ever happened (I know that I do) but the fact remains that it exists and it is pretty important (I can’t believe I said that) in regards to Logan. Now the contradictions are not the films fault, remember First Class was originally supposed to be a reboot of the entire franchise, so if things were different than no biggie it’s a fresh new start. However the film was successful not only financially, critics and audiences loved it. Fox obviously loving that the X-Men franchise was receiving love again decided to make the film canon and use it as an actually prequel to the original trilogy.  One just has keep the points, and characters introduced in this movie in mind and re-watch the original trilogy, and if you can stomach it, Origins.  The list is pretty large, and the mistakes are very paramount. I couldn't be bothered to write down everything that this film screws up continuity wise, so I found this list over at critiques4geeks.com, behold how First Class basically ruins the entire X-Men Franchise; there are some spoilers in the list, so just skip it if you don’t want First Class spoiled.

o    At the end of First Class, we see the incident that paralyzes Professor X from the waist down. Mind you, this movie takes place in the 60s. In the movie, The Last Stand, the opening scene shows Professor X walking, which is set to be 80s.

o    In the same opening scene in The Last Stand, Xavier and Magneto are still friends. In First Class, they have already went their separate ways.

o    In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, we also see Professor X standing at the end of the film.

o    Back to the Wolverine movie, during the escape of Three Mile Island, we see Emma Frost as a teenager. In First Class (which happens years before), she is an adult. Of course, they never mentioned her name in the movie, but the actress was credited as "Emma Frost."

o    In the first X-Men movie, Xavier states that his first meeting with Magneto was when they were teenagers. In First Class, they are grown men the first time they meet.

o    In X2, we see Beast in human form. In First Class, we see him transform from human to blue mutant. Unless he was able to transform himself back to human, and decided to turn himself blue again in The Last Stand, that just wouldn't make any sense.

o    First Class establishes that Hank McCoy (Beast) was the one who built Cerebro. In the first movie, Professor X explains that he built it with the help of Magneto.

o    Because it was stated that Magneto helped Professor X construct Cerebro, Magneto was able to build a helmet that was impervious to telepathy. Well in First Class, Magneto merely takes the helmet from Sebastian Shaw.

o    In First Class, during the scene when Xavier uses Cerebro for the first time, we see a young Storm cameo. That would mean Storm in the trilogy should be about 50 years old. I'm sure this was made clearly for fan service, but I'm just sayin'.

o    In The Last Stand, Mystique becomes cured from her mutation, where we see her revert into a brunette. In First Class, she's a blonde. First Class also establishes that her blue form is her "true" form, which means she was born blue. If being "cured" in The Last Stand means she gains a human appearance, I'm going to assume that she had normal skin before her blueish scales. So which one came first?

o    Moira Mactaggert seems to look about the same age in both First Class and The Last Stand, which is set decades apart.

I still love X-Men First Class, it could have easily have been a 9/10 but the continuity errors are actually too large and annoying to just glaze over.  However I always do enjoy watching this movie and it is still my favourite X-Men Movie. So I give X-Men First Class a

8/10

It’s a solid movie that helped give new energy into what many considered to be, a dead franchise. However the continuity errors are so bad that this movie is actually one of the reasons we are getting Days of Future Past in the first place. It was a step in the right direction for the series, but it really did a number on the rest of the franchise.