X-Men : First Class is a film that was a target of mocking and hatred even before it was released all over the internet, more so than any other comic book movie in recent times. Before i start reviewing the film i want to say that i wasn't amongst the haters. I liked the first two films of Bryan Singer and the X-Men is my favorite superhero team so i am a little bit biased when i watch a film about them and i could even find some redeeming qualities in the terrible Last Stand and the awfully disappointing Origins. Before the release of First Class I was skeptical of course but when the reviews started to show on the net I was excited and enthused and to tell you the truth despite that there was no real First Class in the film and their place was taken by random mutants I didn’t care as long as the film was true to the spirit of the characters.
I watched the film two days ago and my final verdict is this : X- Men First Class is a good film by any standard. It’s fun, has a lot of action, some really good performances and despite dealing with the cold war it never gets cheesy. But in my own eyes it is a disappointing X Men adaptation even more than the first two films. Not in an offensive way though. I wasn’t mad and I didn’t curse while I was watching the movie, I really enjoyed it but the characters I saw with a few exceptions were not the characters I grew up in the comic books they were the characters just in name.
I will start with the positive aspects of the film which by the way are a lot. X- Men: First class has great pacing from start to finish and the introduction of the characters for the most part is excellent. I especially liked Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Saw even though there was hardly a resemblance with the comic book character and that is true for the whole Hellfire Club (which makes me sad about the missed opportunities in X3), Bacon was creepy, arrogant and intimidating. A truly great villain and more that a match for the X Men. McAvoy was also really good as Charles Xavier and he portrayed masterfully the excitement of the young mutant about the discovery of others and his goal of mutants and humans coexisting peacefully. Michael Fassbender was equally good as Erik Lenser. Tormented and filled with hate for the man that killed his family and tortured him. Erik throughout the movie is a man that gives you no doubt that has a beast sleeping inside of him waiting to be unleashed on those that have wronged him. The other performances where mostly decent. I liked Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Hank McCoy as well. Their relationship was handled really good as well as their fear of rejection because of their natural appearance. The visual effects were realistic enough and the action sequences were great as usual in Vaughn’s films.
Despite those positive aspects of the film others disappointed me. The most disappointing thing in this movie for me was the portrayal of the relationship and friendship of Charles Xavier and Magneto and the development of these characters. Xavier and Magneto in the comics had a long and prosperous friendship until the eventual fallout. They worked together for years for the prosperity of mutantkind. This was several times even in the previous X Men films. In First Class the above friendship and partnership was too short. I was convinced by the film that they had mutual respect for each other and some common goals but never that they developed a deep friendship. Their partnership lasted one or two weeks if I remembered correctly. What I wanted to see even at the worst case a montage scene like the training one in the mansion of the work Charles and Erik did together. The countless hours they talked about the future of mutants and the contradicting ideas of their prosperity each one believes in. I wanted to see the genius scientists they are. Cerebro was not created by Xavier but by Hank and the CIA and the helmet by the Russians for Saw. Fassbender acted perfectly the material he was given but the Magneto in the film was all about revenge and the fear of humans not the idealist and futurist he is despite his extreme methods. Magneto is an excellent strategist and manipulator not an impulsive person not thinking before he acts.Charles Xavier had hardships in his life even before he lost his legs. He was drafted in the Korean war and helped holocaust victims. Xavier has suffered and witnessed the sufferings of the world since he was a boy and dedicated his life to make this world better. Here is just a rich bohemian type of character with good intentions that happens to meet Moira and then gets a glimpse of the state the world is in. These just are not the characters I know and love. Another thing I didn’t like is that the film tries to convince the audience it’s a prequel with the excellent opening scene but with the first chance changes fundamental elements of the previous films like the above mentioned partnership in making Cerebro and the construction of the helmet by Magneto.
My other minor complaints are the bad acting regarding Moira and Emma Frost and poor Darwin that essentially did nothing but die. Some effects were bad like Darwin’s hardened skin but nothing too obvious. My last complaint is the scene about how they choose their mutant names and that Magneto and Professor X was the idea of Mystique. The mutant names always had significance in the way of Mohammed Ali. He changed his original name because he considered it a slave’s name. Here the younger characters just think is cool to have code names because they were agents.
In my opinion the responsibility for these disappointments has Matthew Vaughn. His fascination about making a cold war Bond film got in the way of making a truly great film hand in hand with his arrogance disregarding fundamental elements of continuity of the first two films , because as he stated in interviews posted on this site and others he didn’t care.
Despite these flaws I enjoyed watching it and it’s a good film in its own way and I would watch it again either on DVD or on TV with no problem whatsoever. Some truly great scenes solid acting from the two leads and a nice plot X Men : First Class is a fun but flawed ride. A very good movie but a mediocre X Men film.