Viewed in
2011, 2016
Formats
Movie theater (digital), airplane
Premise
Prequel to the X-Men saga in which the first team is assembled.
Loved
How it enhanced the franchise. Magneto and Xavier.
Liked
Performances.
Disliked
Not enough Xavier/Magneto. How out of focus my local AMC was with their "digital projector".
Thoughts
It's nice to have a good X-Men movie again.
Bill Simmons once said that a sequel (or prequel) should make you look at the other movies differently. Here was a great example. Not only did the film makers tie together the inception of the team, Cerebro, and Magneto's helmet, it also pulled the rug from some aspects of the 2000 and 2003 titles. I also loved how it embraced the legacy of the comics and films, with the use of certain characters' relatives, and two great cameos. One of was flat-out hilarious, the other floored me, and was an excellent use of special effects to enhance the moment.
My other favorite part was the relationship between Xavier and Magneto, played brilliantly by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively. I could've watched them onscreen forever. McAvoy could do no wrong, balancing the Patrick Stewart gravitas with 1960's cheeky charm. Fassbender was magnetic (sadly, not the only pun in this article) as the revenge-obsessed, yet human, fallen angel. When Xavier pushed the right buttons within Magneto to unleash his full potential, everything was executed perfectly to create an unexpectedly emotional moment.
As for the rest of the cast, they were mostly well-cast. Kevin Bacon was surprisingly very callous as the main villain, and a great choice. Jennifer Lawrence was also very solid. Rounding out the cast were fun performances by Oliver Platt and two 24 alums Rade Serbedzija and Glenn Morshower.
While the film was great on those two fronts, it did have its flaws, mainly its writing. The pace was clunky at times, as things got bogged down from too many characters and introductions. This exacerbated the film's perceived length, considering a lot of subplot time was dedicated to Bacon's character and Mystique's, all taking away the main plot's momentum.
Speaking of Bacon's character, I was a little disappointed by his motivations. Here, they had a chance to bring something new to the table to Magneto's origin, and instead it felt like a retread of Ian McKellan's version.
My colleague surprised me when she preferred X-Men: First Class over the first two of the franchise, her main reason being the earlier ones did not do the female characters any justice. While this version tried harder, and greatly enhanced Mystique's legacy, I don't think it did any better in creating interesting female characters. Raven felt like a pawn of the plot, doting/switching sides when necessary, without convincing motivations.
I was glad Beast finally got a chance to be onscreen. And I appreciated the decision to use a real actor instead of CGI, however the makeup gave me Teen Wolf flashbacks.
Overall, X-Men: First Class greatly added new twists and layers to the mystique (last pun, I swear) and legacy of the franchise. But the writing left stuff to be desired as a stand-alone flick compared to X-Men and X2. The characters made these films successful, and I was really hoping to see more exploration into Xavier and Magneto's friendship and disagreements. Thought I guess the devil's advocate would be "how many times could I see them argue over what to do about the human race?"
