Review 71: X-Men: First Class
Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world and before, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) 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 prevent nuclear Armageddon. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men.
The plot is a magnificent blend of action, drama, great special effects and facinating meaty ideologies.
What's fascinating about this film is it's focus on the relationship between Xavier and Lensherr.
You really get a sense that these two character really were good friends and good people who wanted to make things better not just for mutants but for ordinary people.
However differences ensured between them due to their different ideologies and their friendship falls apart. Which is really tragic. But what this movie never disregards is that neither of the perspectives is wrong, each of their views is understandable and you can see where each of the two men are coming from. These are two men who brought together by their outcast status but we also get a hint and a taste for the rivalry the lies ahead.
With the all the mutants that Erik & Charles recruit, you get a strong sense that this is the first generation of X-Men and that once the conflict begins between them they'll pass on from generation to generation until we arrive at the team we know in the first X-Men film.
It's also a story about evolutionary superiority and the survival of the fittest: Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) thinks that he is the worlds saviour by riding the world of mutants which really isn't the case. Professor X thinks with humans and mutants united they could make the world a better place. However Magneto argues that if mankind found out that mutants exist they'll fear us and that that fear will turn to hatred.
The film is also a brilliant period piece, the Cuban missile crisis backdrop adds to the realism of the film. It takes us back to a time where the Soviets and the West were on the line, everyone was loading the missiles, fingers were triggers, it was tense. Everyone was living on the line, ready to strike if anything out of the
The film features one particularly effecting scene
One great character moment that affected me emotionally was this scene when Xavier and Lensherr are talking and they argue over their ways of how they help humanity and Lensherr calls Xavier naive and says that mankind will fear mutants if they know they exists and that fear will turn to hatred, Xavier argues that won't fear them if they stop a war.
What I found really powerful about that conversation was that it really shows two good friends ways of dealing with a subject matter clashing together and them disagreeing with one another. Which is ultimately what leads to their downfall...
Writer/Director Matthew Vaughn's direction is stylish, the cinematography is beautiful and captures and beauty and glam of the 60's. The score by Henry Jackman is spectacular, the special effects are staggering, the scenery is breathtaking, the production design is excellent, the costumes are colourful, the make up is rich, the action scenes are intensely shot, well choreographed, thrilling, exciting and expertly staged, the suspense is killing, the stunts are great and the ending was gripping.
It's also a triumph for the acting, James McAvoy exceeded my expectations as Charles Xavier/Professor X, when I saw the poster I suspected him as miscast but I actually really bought his performance, I really believed he was younger version of the Professor yet had retained Patrick Stewarts wisdom.
Michael Fassbender looks intimidating as Erik Lehnsherr/Megneto but actually shows a more sensitive side to him, he was treated so badly by the Nazis as boy that it has a profound effect on him as adult. He starts searching for the Nazi doctor who tortured him for revenge until he's convinced by Xavier to come with him. He's a murder and he's driven by revenge and you really get a sense of his inner turmoil, it's genuinely a very moving performance.
Jennifer Lawrence is very sexy (both in verbal and physical performance) as Mystique, mutation can be also seen as a metaphor for puberty and exploring that through a character of Mystique I thought was a great choice due to her shapeshifting powers. She starts out as feeling uncomfortable with being different and having to hide her powers because she wants humanity to accept her and be normal makes her life incredibly difficult.
She is prime example of how a mutant would feel if she was in a human society, as Magneto states in one scene, "you want humanity to accept you but you can't accept yourself."
Rose Byrne is also good here playing Moira MacTaggert, she's a much different character from the one we see in X-Men: The Last Stand, she's an agent, she's tough, she's feisty, she's ambitious and a very strong moral code.
Nicholas Hoult is here as the Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy/Beast, he's a brilliant but scared scientist who just wants to be normal and Hoult captures those qualities really well. He's really come a long way since About a Boy.
Kevin Bacon is deliciously evil and sinisterly charismatic as Sebastian Shaw, the leader of the Hellfire Club. he's a psychopath, someone who believes what he's doing is for the benefit of mutants as well as the right thing which actually isn't the case and also makes him a villain with different shades, that's not always clear that he's the bad guy.
January Jones, Jason Flemyng, Lucas Till, Caleb Landry Jones, Edi Gathegi, Alex Gonzalez and Zoe Kravitz round out the massive cast, all of whom deliver equally solid performances.
X-Men: First Class is a First Class prequel and I highly look forward to X-Men: Days of Future Past, 4.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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