Ok, I admit it…. I am a massive X-Men fan, and I mean colossal! Ask anyone who knows me what my favourite comic or cartoon is and 90% will say X-Men. It was the 1992 animated series that got me so heavily immersed in the world of graphic novels, drawing and comic books in general and for that, I am ever grateful. My life, without what became my main loves wouldn’t have been half as good without them and has help shape me into the person I am today. So naturally, when I found out they were making a film of my beloved X-Men; I knew I had to be first in line on opening night. I was, and I was also first in line to see the follow up, X2, 3 years later. I deeply love both films and have number two held in the highest regard and believe it to be one of the best comic book films ever. Also it was thanks to the first X-Men film that the current superhero/comic book movie boom took off as well as it did and really hasn’t seen any slowdown in the 11 years since the film was first released.
So, when I first heard the news that Fox were making an X-Men First Class movie, I was sceptical that it was going to be very good. After having my hopes slightly dashed with X-Men The Last Stand, when really it could have been the best in the series (what with the amazing plot points of the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix pretty much wasted and ironically this was going to be directed by Matthew Vaughn before he stepped down and was replaced by Brett Ratner). This fear only worsened after the release of the abysmal X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. The only good things about that movie were some of the actors were ideal in their roles and the first 20 minutes were awesome! Then I also learned that the first class movie wasn’t going to involve any of the supposed first X-Men in the movie universe (we are told in the first film that the main roster bar Wolverine and Beast were Xavier’s first students), I was up in arms and couldn’t imagine how this movie could fit into continuity that had already been established. As more news came through, some good (the casting of James McAvoy for Xavier and Micheal Fassbender for Erik was perfect) and some not so good (It’s set in the 60s? Emma Frost is in the film even though she appeared younger in Wolverine and that film was set in the 80s!) I wasn’t looking forward to the film and wrote it off as a “wait and see on dvd” flick.
Then the first trailers came through and, I have to say, was bowled over. It looked the part, had a brilliant cast and kudos to Matthew Vaughn for including the real yellow and blue costumes that were so prominent throughout the comics first 8 years. The trailers put this movie back on the map for me and I am so glad I didn’t listen to my first opinion, as it is the best X-Men film since X2 way back in2003! The film works on so many levels that you can forgive some of its short comings, which I will get to later. The story sees Oxford graduate Charles Xavier and his assistant Raven (later Mystique, played brilliantly by Jennifer Lawrence) being drafted by Agent Moria Mctaggert into the CIAs new mutant division (Division X). The CIA want to track down and eliminate a certain Sebastian Shaw (played deliciously by Kevin Bacon), whom they believe is a mutant and a threat to the country and the World. When Xavier tracks Shaw down, he soon makes his escape (in a fantastic battle which includes a anchor decimating a yacht), this leads Charles into discovering another mutant nearby, a Mr Erik Lensherr. Erik has been searching the World for Shaw ever since he was a youth in a German concentration camp and Shaw released the fury of Erik’s mutant ability. The two young men meet up, become firm friends and decide to find the mutants they are going to need to help bring down Shaw and his villainous Hellfire Club.
The story is set at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, and wonderfully shows how Shaw is abusing both sides in his goal to achieve mutant domination of the planet. This ironically is a path that an older Erik as Magneto would also take and believe to be the correct course of action for mutants. The cast really shines in the ensemble; each of the mutants is established by show casing their powers and choosing their new codenames in a nice scene that shows how eager these mutants are to use their powers for their own and other people’s benefits. Sadly, some of the mutants do fall by the way side. This is mainly on the villains teams, where the hellfire club really doesn’t let you know what it does exactly and how far reaching it is, apart from being a front for pro mutant domination. Emma Frost is the lucky one of the group, mainly because she is the most well-known of the team and also the most useful. Her being a telepath which gives a nice foil for Xavier’s powers and proves her to be useful to Shaw in his grand scheme. Teamed with her very effective visual power of turning to living diamond, she is the most well rounded of the group knowing what she wants and where she stands on the view of mutant supremacy. The other members aren’t so lucky. Azazel and Riptide, whilst having very cool visual powers, are really just the silent henchmen there to fight and do little else, which includes speaking!
The X-Men side doesn’t fare much better but with the recruitment and training montages it helps show you what kind of people these young mutants are. The characters given the most screen time of the young X-Men are Beast and Mystique. They both start out believing that they should have to hide their abilities and who they are, due to mutant prejudice and people who fear the unknown. They slowly drift apart, with Mystique (brilliantly spurred on by the suave Erik, a nice highlight of their future relationship) believing that they shouldn’t have to hide, in her case her blue natural state. Whereas Beast wants to just be normal and not have to hide his obvious mutation. Ironically, it’s Beast who mutates even further into something he can’t hide by just wearing big shoes. Its this transformation that Mystique calls Hanks natural form, and that he was always meant to be this way.
As good as everyone is, this really is Xavier and Erik’s film and it really shows. The two together are electric on screen and really go out of their way to show how strong their brief friendship is and what they could have achieved if they both believed in the same path for mutants. Whenever they are off screen you are literally begging for them to be back as you really are invested in this great friendship these two men have. Naturally, they are driven apart by Xavier’s peaceful dream and Erik’s belief that mutants are the rightful rulers of this planet. But the glimpses of the friendship you get in the later films really means so much more now that you have seen the beginning of what drove them apart.
If I had any criticism about this film it would be with some minor niggles. Beasts blue look it pretty bad, compared to the wonderful make up that Kelsey Grammer wore in the Last Stand. Some continuity issues, the main one is Xavier’s reason for being in a wheelchair at the climax of the movie, when he was shown walking in Wolverine and the beginning of the Last Stand. Also there’s not enough exposition or depth with certain characters. Altogether this film is amazing. It has breath taking action sequences, a well-developed and engaging story and a truly inspired cast and script. It’s a fantastic place to springboard more X-Men and more decent films off of. It also genuinely leaves you begging for more, which isn’t a bad thing in my books :)
So, when I first heard the news that Fox were making an X-Men First Class movie, I was sceptical that it was going to be very good. After having my hopes slightly dashed with X-Men The Last Stand, when really it could have been the best in the series (what with the amazing plot points of the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix pretty much wasted and ironically this was going to be directed by Matthew Vaughn before he stepped down and was replaced by Brett Ratner). This fear only worsened after the release of the abysmal X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. The only good things about that movie were some of the actors were ideal in their roles and the first 20 minutes were awesome! Then I also learned that the first class movie wasn’t going to involve any of the supposed first X-Men in the movie universe (we are told in the first film that the main roster bar Wolverine and Beast were Xavier’s first students), I was up in arms and couldn’t imagine how this movie could fit into continuity that had already been established. As more news came through, some good (the casting of James McAvoy for Xavier and Micheal Fassbender for Erik was perfect) and some not so good (It’s set in the 60s? Emma Frost is in the film even though she appeared younger in Wolverine and that film was set in the 80s!) I wasn’t looking forward to the film and wrote it off as a “wait and see on dvd” flick.
Then the first trailers came through and, I have to say, was bowled over. It looked the part, had a brilliant cast and kudos to Matthew Vaughn for including the real yellow and blue costumes that were so prominent throughout the comics first 8 years. The trailers put this movie back on the map for me and I am so glad I didn’t listen to my first opinion, as it is the best X-Men film since X2 way back in2003! The film works on so many levels that you can forgive some of its short comings, which I will get to later. The story sees Oxford graduate Charles Xavier and his assistant Raven (later Mystique, played brilliantly by Jennifer Lawrence) being drafted by Agent Moria Mctaggert into the CIAs new mutant division (Division X). The CIA want to track down and eliminate a certain Sebastian Shaw (played deliciously by Kevin Bacon), whom they believe is a mutant and a threat to the country and the World. When Xavier tracks Shaw down, he soon makes his escape (in a fantastic battle which includes a anchor decimating a yacht), this leads Charles into discovering another mutant nearby, a Mr Erik Lensherr. Erik has been searching the World for Shaw ever since he was a youth in a German concentration camp and Shaw released the fury of Erik’s mutant ability. The two young men meet up, become firm friends and decide to find the mutants they are going to need to help bring down Shaw and his villainous Hellfire Club.
The story is set at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, and wonderfully shows how Shaw is abusing both sides in his goal to achieve mutant domination of the planet. This ironically is a path that an older Erik as Magneto would also take and believe to be the correct course of action for mutants. The cast really shines in the ensemble; each of the mutants is established by show casing their powers and choosing their new codenames in a nice scene that shows how eager these mutants are to use their powers for their own and other people’s benefits. Sadly, some of the mutants do fall by the way side. This is mainly on the villains teams, where the hellfire club really doesn’t let you know what it does exactly and how far reaching it is, apart from being a front for pro mutant domination. Emma Frost is the lucky one of the group, mainly because she is the most well-known of the team and also the most useful. Her being a telepath which gives a nice foil for Xavier’s powers and proves her to be useful to Shaw in his grand scheme. Teamed with her very effective visual power of turning to living diamond, she is the most well rounded of the group knowing what she wants and where she stands on the view of mutant supremacy. The other members aren’t so lucky. Azazel and Riptide, whilst having very cool visual powers, are really just the silent henchmen there to fight and do little else, which includes speaking!
The X-Men side doesn’t fare much better but with the recruitment and training montages it helps show you what kind of people these young mutants are. The characters given the most screen time of the young X-Men are Beast and Mystique. They both start out believing that they should have to hide their abilities and who they are, due to mutant prejudice and people who fear the unknown. They slowly drift apart, with Mystique (brilliantly spurred on by the suave Erik, a nice highlight of their future relationship) believing that they shouldn’t have to hide, in her case her blue natural state. Whereas Beast wants to just be normal and not have to hide his obvious mutation. Ironically, it’s Beast who mutates even further into something he can’t hide by just wearing big shoes. Its this transformation that Mystique calls Hanks natural form, and that he was always meant to be this way.
As good as everyone is, this really is Xavier and Erik’s film and it really shows. The two together are electric on screen and really go out of their way to show how strong their brief friendship is and what they could have achieved if they both believed in the same path for mutants. Whenever they are off screen you are literally begging for them to be back as you really are invested in this great friendship these two men have. Naturally, they are driven apart by Xavier’s peaceful dream and Erik’s belief that mutants are the rightful rulers of this planet. But the glimpses of the friendship you get in the later films really means so much more now that you have seen the beginning of what drove them apart.
If I had any criticism about this film it would be with some minor niggles. Beasts blue look it pretty bad, compared to the wonderful make up that Kelsey Grammer wore in the Last Stand. Some continuity issues, the main one is Xavier’s reason for being in a wheelchair at the climax of the movie, when he was shown walking in Wolverine and the beginning of the Last Stand. Also there’s not enough exposition or depth with certain characters. Altogether this film is amazing. It has breath taking action sequences, a well-developed and engaging story and a truly inspired cast and script. It’s a fantastic place to springboard more X-Men and more decent films off of. It also genuinely leaves you begging for more, which isn’t a bad thing in my books :)
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