X-Men: First Class

The first two X-men movies were great and I didn’t mind the third one so much. Because the story of “X-men Origins: Wolverine” was a mistake in my book, I did not have much faith in “X-men: First Class” at first. Upon seeing the movie, I was glad that it was a good show. It gave us hope in the future films of the franchise which was rewarded. The acting was fine and the story was quite good. I was bothered by all the discrepancies with the previous films but that is because I am picky.

I always have to pick a new member of the X-Men as my favourite and this time around, it is Banshee. Learning to fly is always appealing in movies and and Sean's flying provides the same sense of fun we felt in "How to Train Your Dragon". In “First Class”, we get to see the origin of certain characters and the portrayal of events that we heard about in previous films but have not seen until now. That is the fun and appeal that comes from a prequel. This prequel has a much better story than “X-men Origins: Wolverine” thankfully. The most important event seen in "First Class" is that mutants are revealed to the government and the world. I love how the movie started with the same opening scene as “X-men”. This caused problems however because in doing this, the filmmakers establish the same timeline as the previous films (the timeline doesn't change until the events of the next film). Thus, inconsistencies have arisen in the franchise. I won't mention all of them but just the ones that bother me the most. Concerning the relationship that Charles and Raven have, it felt a little weird in the X-Men franchise. We are used to seeing these two characters on opposite sides of a cause and they are just plain different in the previous films. I really don’t see the appeal or reason for making them stepbrother and stepsister unless the filmmakers were setting up drama for "Days of Future Past". When you watch this movie separate from the eariler trilogy, their relationship is a little easier to accept but only when Raven is not blue. As a conservative person, I am also bothered by the portrayal of Mystique’s “nakedness” in this movie. This is especially the case when she is in bed in Erik’s room and the subsequent scene with Charles. The previous movies kept her figure a little more alien and less human. Shaw and Magneto give Raven the same offer so it is confusing why she rejects Shaw but not Magneto. I guess one difference between Shaw and Magneto is that Erik doesn't want mass murder for humans. Instead, he wants to create a new society and is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Erik is the lesser of two evils so maybe that is why Mystique joined the Brotherhood. Most of the other events and relationships we see in this prequel were well thought up and executed on screen. I like the montages in the film where mutants are being recruited and their “schooling” at Charles’ mansion. Personally, I would have liked the relationship between Charles and Erik to have had a little stronger subtext. It then makes sense in the earlier films why they still remain friends to some extent. The way they meet is not how I would have done it either. Don’t get me wrong, the friendship between Charles and Erik is strong; maybe the age difference between Charles and Erik is what bothers me (Charles appears to be in his 20’s while Erik is in his 30’s). From a writing standpoint, these are the same two characters as in the previous X-Men films and while there is chemstry between both men thanks to the acting, I was hoping for something similar to the opening scene from "X-Men: The Last Stand" (I will talk more about that scene later). Hank's desire to find a "cure" is consistant with his character in "The Last Stand" by the way. The climax is the reason why I like "First Class". The use of the Cuban Missile Crisis was great. I like the cinematography and match cuts when Shaw is killed by Magneto. The way in which Magneto takes revenge is awesome and powerful as he takes the helmet from Shaw and uses the same coin from the start of the film (we had forgotten about the coin by this point in the film). That doesn't make Magneto a hero by the way. When Charles is paralyzed, it is done with such surprise that it becomes tragic. The design of the film reflected the 1960’s very well and thus we were entertained in the visual sense. The colors for the X-Men uniforms are very reminiscent of the original comic books and the filmmakers could get away with this in "First Class" but not in the original X-Men trilogy because "First Class" is set in the early 1960's. The Martin Luther King/Malcolm X parallels with Professor X and Magneto were just as strong as ever, again thanks to the setting of the 60’s. As good as this movie is, the discrepancies with the other movies make the film less amazing then it could have been.

I will mention the three more inconsistencies that bother me the most among others. In “X-men: The Last Stand”, the opening scene has a non-paralyzed Charles visiting Jean with Erik. The scene appears to take place in the 80’s and it also appears that Charles and Erik are not enemies at all. Secondly, in "X-Men", Charles doesn't know how Magneto is shielding himself from Cerebro. In "First Class", Charles knows about the helmet. Finally, there are also problems concerning the cameo in “First Class”. The cameo itself was so funny and an awesome joke but if this is the first meeting between Logan and Charles, why doesn’t Charles remember Logan in “X-men”? Many of these disparities don't matter after "Days of Future Past" but still could have easily been addressed in "First Class".

The cast of the film was a great part of “First Class”. I had seen and heard James McAvoy in films before this movie like in “The Chronicles of Naria: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, “Gnomeo and Juliet” and “The Last King of Scotland”. He was a good choice for the young Xavier and his performance was reminiscent enough of Patrick Stewart’s to satisfy me. There are differences between the old and young Charles but confinement to a wheelchair and time changes a man. McAvoy does just as good a job as Ewan McGregor did in the Star Wars prequels. This film introduced me to Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and future Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence. Fassbender wanted to do his own thing with the character and while I respect that, I still am a lover of continuity. I wish he had used a British accent. Because both Kevin Bacon and Oliver Platt were in “Frost/Nixon”, their presence in this film strengthens the 1960’s setting (even though “Frost/Nixon” did take place in the 70’s). The cameo of Hugh Jackman makes up for the absence of Stan Lee. The Rebecca Romijn cameo was also a nice touch but I obviously didn't like subtext behind her cameo. I am happy that Bryan Singer produced this film and wrote the story.

I have some friends that like this prequel better than those in the Star Wars saga. Maybe they are just bitter. First of all, the number of inconsistencies in “Star Wars” was significantly less. Putting that aside, “X-Men: First Class” was a great movie. The story and acting was entertaining as were other elements. I like the climax most of all. I do like the previous X-Men movies a little better than “First Class” but of course, this prequel is much better than the stand-alone Wolverine films. In truth, I missed seeing Sir Patrick and Sir Ian. 2014 however gave me not only those two but McAvoy and Fassbender acting alongside them.

4 Stars