X-Men: First Class charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.
While I’ve made the upmost effort to ensure there is nothing in this review which qualifies as a spoiler, if you want to know nothing about the movie before it’s released across the world over the next few days, you may want to turn away now!
As I'm sure many of you remember, I wrote an editorial last year entitled,
Why X-Men: First Class Will Probably Be The Worst CBM Ever. I tore Fox and
X-Men: First Class apart for everything from its lack of continuity to its somewhat strange choice of characters. ("Where are the original five?" I whined) A few months later, after seeing some stills and a trailer, I wrote another editorial:
Why I May Have Been Wrong About X-Men: First Class Being The Worst CBM Ever. I then realised that I had perhaps been far too hasty in judging the movie before really knowing anything about it, and have since endeavoured to give it a chance...especially as it looked so damned good in all those TV Spots and trailers. The question of course, is whether it was indeed actually any good or as awful as I prophesied. Well, I'm happy to report that I couldn't have been more wrong with that original editorial and I predict that many of you will be forced to eat your words in the days to come. Matthew Vaughn has created a masterpiece which not only blows the previous X-Men movies right out of the water, but also the likes of
The Dark Knight and
Thor. Yeah, it's THAT good.
After
Kick-Ass, it should hardly come as a surprise to learn that director Matthew Vaughn does a fantastic job. The best part though, is that he manages to surpass his work on that movie! While the action in that movie was of course far more grounded in reality, any doubts you may have about Vaughn not being able to handle action on a larger scale will be eliminated within minutes. There are way too many scenes to mention that the director makes his own with his unique style of filmmaking, most of which I can’t mention without breaking my promise of no spoilers. What I will say though, is that you’ll come away from
X-Men: First Class with several moments in particular stuck in your head that you’ll replay over and over again. The final scene, and the shot that the movie ends on, is in my opinion the best example. I couldn’t wipe away the grin on my face for well over an hour after seeing that. Simply amazing. What Vaughn most deserves to be praised for though, is the fact he showcases the X-Men and Hellfire Club all fighting simultaneously. Yes, certain characters have their own one on one fight scenes, but we also get to see them works as a team side by side, something which I believe was sorely missing from the past movies. In fact, it really is like seeing the comic books come to life…a feat not all of these movies are able to achieve so effectively. Vaughn and Jane Goldman have also crafted an excellent script, and the movie neither gets boring nor slows down for so much as a second. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily the best thing as it sometimes feels that things are going too quickly, and as you’ll see in my comments about the characters below, this sometimes results in not everything being covered as much as I would have liked. To an extent, that may be down to personal preference, and you simply can’t take away the fact that this is a great script that crams a hell of a lot of amazing stuff in just over 2 hours. Full of great drama, downright breath-taking action and some surprisingly hilarious moments, it’s near impossible to be too critical.
would just not have been the same without James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Within minutes of appearing on screen, you can tell that this isn't the same Charles and Erik that we saw played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. It's not only because they're younger, but because they're better. Fassbender in particular does an outstanding job of portraying the darkness within Magneto (which we all know will eventually reach the surface) and while the comparisons to Bond are understandable, his Erik is something else altogether. James Bond?! He'd kick his ass and leave him crying in the corner. This is the Magneto from the comic books I've been waiting to see on the big screen. His journey throughout the movie is perhaps the most interesting, and his descent into the character we all know and love (or hate?) feels entirely natural and to an extent, completely understandable. McAvoy on the other hand is also great as Charles Xavier. While he's a little more fun loving, the wise teacher is there the whole time even if it is under the surface. Unlike the past few movies, Xavier isn't relegated to sitting stiffly in his chair offering a few pieces of advice, and is instead a much bigger part of the action. This works beautifully and McAvoy is given some fantastic dramatic material to work with. The decision by Vaughn to have the actor put his fingers to his temple while using his powers was a clever one, and surprisingly makes it all the more interesting, and occasionally amusing, to see him use them. The chemistry between the two elevates this movie to a whole other level, and I couldn't get enough of either of them. Two powerful and emotional performances which I hope will see these two end up in a lot more movies. For anyone wondering about whether or not this is a prequel or reboot, I'd most definitely say its the latter. Yes, there are a few nods to the past films, but these are more for the fans than the sake of continuity.
Of course, despite being the main focus of
X-Men: First Class, it's not all about Professor X and Magneto! Luckily, a great supporting cast ensures that there's no weak moment’s throughout the rest of the film. Despite being made up of lesser known characters and actors, the X-Men are in a word, fantastic. Nicholas Hoult is great as Hank McCoy, portraying an extremely likeable character who may not resemble his wisecracking comic book counterpart right now, but is even better than the version portrayed by Kelsey Grammar in
X-Men: The Last Stand. Personally, I found his motives for wanting to be cured of his mutation a little hard to relate to. While you can't blame him for wanting to be rid of his freakishly big feet, I think his decision to create a cure for his appearance would have been perhaps a little more understandable if his hands were just as deformed. Sadly, there wasn't a lot of time devoted to him post-transformation, but I can definitely imagine this being further explored in future instalments of the franchise. When he becomes Beast, I felt like a slightly more savage nature emerged and Hoult did well in handling this in a way which isn't too in your face. Jennifer Lawrence meanwhile brings much more to Mystique than Rebecca Romjin ever did. This was largely down to the way the character is written in the movie, but the young actress has a significant role in both adding some depth and making her a lot more interesting. Her sisterly relationship with Charles is enjoyable to watch, as is the emerging friendship she strikes up with Hank and more importantly, Erik. In many ways, this is just as much Mystique's story as it is the two leads, and Lawrence gives a fresh take on her in a way that left me wanting to more...a surprising turn of events as Mystique has never been a character I've liked all that much. Lucas Till as Havok was very good. Another comic book character who has never really done all that much for me, I wasn’t overly excited at the thought of seeing him in
X-Men: First Class. Thankfully, he's written in a way which ensures he's not simply a replacement for Scott and is in fact an arguably more interesting and fun addition to the cast. While you may find it a little hard to like the cocky and somewhat arrogant Summers at first, Till does a great job of exploring Alex's vulnerability of being unable to control his powers, and by the end of the movie, made Havok a character I came to like a lot more than expected. After seeing his character trailer, I had a bad feeling I wouldnt like Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee. He appeared to be nothing more than the token comic relief, and while he may indeed be responsible for some of the funnier scenes, he's a great addition to this version of the X-Men and his powers were portrayed very well. Despite the reservations many had about a
Twilight actor appearing in this movie, Edi Gathegi does a great job as Darwin. Having not seen all that much of the character in the trailers or TV spots, I was interested to see what exactly they'd do with him, and am pleased to say that not only do his powers look like some of the coolest in the entire movie, but he's a strong character who unfortunately has only a rather minor role in the grand scheme of things. Personally, I found Zoe Kravitz as Angel Salvadore the only weak link. Her character never really caught my interest, and while she's undeniably great eye candy, she's just doesn't impress as much as the rest of the cast. However, I can't deny that she did a competent job of bringing this lesser known character to the big screen and am again intrigued by the possibilities we could see her head in.
Kevin Bacon is superb as Sebastian Shaw, and his early scenes in particular with a young Erik place him right up there with characters like Loki and the Joker as one of the all-time best comic book movie villains. The guy is evil through and through (you'll despise him within about three minutes) and you can tell that Bacon is having great fun with the role. January Jones makes for an impressive Emma Frost, although I would have loved to have seen more of her. I don't just mean that in regards to just how damned beautiful she looks, but also that I think there is quite a lot more which could be done with her character. What we got was all good though, and regardless of whether she's in her human or diamond form, Jones delivered. Unfortunately, the rest of the Hellfire Club don't fare quite as well. While the characters of Azazel and Riptide both serve their purpose, Alex Gonzales didn't utter so much as a single line, while Jason Flemyng only had a handful of single words to say in Russian! The movie doesn't suffer because of this in the least, but it is a shame that their characters weren't fleshed out a little more and their motives explored. Of course, this is what sequels are for so I'm not overly worried. As I said, they both do what is needed and Azazel in particular is responsible for some of the most memorable parts of the movies many impressive action sequences. As for the human characters, I liked Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert a great deal. Beautiful, charming and very likeable, I greatly enjoyed this new take on her. The entire supporting cast does a great job, and while there are way too many to mention, I can’t fault anyone. The entire cast is pure quality.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the perfect example of a superhero movie with poor CGI. Thankfully, the same mistakes aren't made here. Whether it's Magneto bending metal, Emma Frost's diamond transformation, or Sebastian Shaw's energy absorption, the visual effects used to bring these characters’ powers to life on the big screen are extremely effective and some of the best I've seen. There’s literally not a single weak moment which lets the movie down. Regardless of whether it’s a submarine being lifted from the water, the X-Jet taking flight, an exciting aerial fight sequence between Angel and Banshee or Havok learning to use his powers, it’s all nothing short of perfect. The actors all help to sell these effects and none more so than Nicholas Hoult after his transformation into Beast. I would say that the mix of practical make-up and CGI works very well and there are only a few very brief moments where it doesn’t look quite as good as I would like. I’m not sure why this was, but it’s just nit-picking and certainly nothing to make a big deal over. Talking of make-up, both Mystique and Azazel look perfect. Whoever handled those effects deserves a pat on the back, and I’d be disappointed not to see some sort of recognition of both them and the VFX guys come awards season.
X-Men: First Class also boasts an effective and impressive score. Mixed with music from the period (especially effective during what I shall only refer to as the “recruitment” scene) and Henry Jackman’s original score, the movie strikes a perfect balance and works very well in enhancing the impact of the more emotional scenes in particular.
As a comic book fan, it's easy to get overexcited and declare a movie like this the best CBM ever. However, they're all so different, I find it impossible to decide which is best between the likes of this, The Dark Knight and THOR. What is clear to me though, is that X-Men: First Class sits comfortably up there as one of the best ever. Superbly written, directed and acted, it's nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece. Stop worrying about continuity errors and the fact it doesn't stick religiously to the comic books and enjoy what is simply a bloody brilliant movie.