Nordling here.
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS is a rare thing - a prequel that not only works but improves on the films before it. In fact, it's as if the previous X-MEN films led up to this one, in a weird way. There's not a bit of fat on the thing - it moves at a rigorous pace, and yet we get rich characters and genuine emotional moments even through the relentless plot. Matthew Vaughn has made the perfect superhero movie here, one that stands next to THE INCREDIBLES and SPIDER-MAN 2 as a definition of what we want to see from this genre.
We start in the same place as the original X-MEN film - in a Jewish concentration camp as we watch young Erik have his parents taken away from him. We see the gate buckle under Erik's power, but the scene continues from where it left off in the original film as we see a man, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) watch from a window. Shaw (known as Schmidt) takes Erik into his office and demands that he move a coin with his ability or he will shoot Erik's mother dead. Erik, try as he can, cannot move the coin, and Shaw, good as his word, does the deed. At that point Erik's rage unleashes his megnetic ability, and his destiny is sealed.
Across the world in Westchester, New York, young, rich Charles Xavier sees what he thinks is his mother in the kitchen, but he realizes quickly by looking through her mind that it isn't her, but a shapeshifter, Raven. Far from being upset, Charles is happy that he's not alone as a mutant and takes Raven in like a sister. Time passes, it's 1962, and Charles (James McAvoy) is using his knowledge of his power to - what else - get girls, even while Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) disapproves. Erik (Michael Fassbender) is traveling the world, bringing all the Nazis he can find to justice - or revenge. Erik is always on the lookout for the one man who made him into who he is - Sebastian Shaw. And Moira MacTaggart (Rose Byrne) is a CIA agent trying to infiltrate Shaw's inner circle. What she finds there changes her forever - humans are not the biggest, baddest on the evolutionary chain anymore. Mutantkind has come, and if she doesn't figure out how to stop Shaw and his machinations, the world could very well be brought to nuclear war. She needs Charles Xavier to understand mutancy, and Charles needs her to find more mutants around the world. In the meantime, Erik and Charles are destined to meet as they both hunt Shaw down, and that friendship will change them both forever.
This film works as well as it does because Vaughn doesn't waste any time with the pacing, or get bogged down with any scene that doesn't propel the plot. What's marvelous about the film, and script by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn, is that even as more characters get introduced the film has no difficulty giving each of them their moments. Nicholas Hoult, as Hank McCoy, does an especially good job as a mutant conflicted about his place in the world and once he takes steps to change his appearance, well, any X-Men fan knows what happens next.
But what makes this film really work is the dynamic between McAvoy and Fassbender. MacAvoy's Xavier has led a charmed life, and although he can drop into Erik's head and see the horrors of Erik's life, he can't understand how Erik came to be what he is. McAvoy plays Xavier as a committed, but naive young man, who through the events of the film realizes that his viewpoint will certainly not be shared, even by his best friend. And as for Erik/Magneto, Michael Fassbender is a revelation. They don't give out Oscars for these kinds of performances, but Fassbender finds the tortured soul of Magneto, and when he finally finds his place in the world, you can't help but agree with him. These are not perfect people - both Xavier and Erik have gaping flaws in character. Xavier, for all his power and intelligence, can't see the world how it is right in front of him. Erik is so blinded by rage that he lets his anger dictate his every action. Thing is, both Xavier and Magneto are right, and it becomes all about the point of view, and not a simple good vs. evil kind of relationship. At the end of the film, I was firmly Team Magneto. If this is not simply a prequel but a reboot, then I want to see more of these characters, and I'd like to see what happens in the later years between the two. Jennifer Lawrence is terrific as Mystique, giving that character a much needed back story and an emotional resonance that the character never had before in the previous films. There's not a bad performance in the film - even Kevin Bacon's villainous Shaw is written well and he's a formidable foe for the fledgling X-Men.
Does the film have flaws? I didn't like the way the film treated the character of Darwin (Edi Gathegi) - you'll see when you see the film - and Shaw's mutant team, with the exception of Emma Frost (January Jones), aren't given much of a story. There simply isn't time to go into those characters as the film focuses on the Xavier/Erik relationship, so that's understandable. Still, I would have liked to have seen more of Azazel's (Jason Flemyng) background, as well as Riptide (Alex Gonzalez), and how they came to be with Shaw. I loved Alex Summers' (Lucas Till) story but would have liked to have seen how it figures into Cyclops, considering the comic history between the characters. I'm wondering, if sequels happen, whether or not those character relationships will change. These are nitpicks, believe me. The film works too well for these minor drawbacks to have any kind of impact.
As superhero films go, I have no hesitation in ranking X-MEN: FIRST CLASS among the very best ones. It's one of the most satisfying films so far this summer. It's smart, entertaining, has great emotion and character but isn't afraid to get big when it needs to, and Vaughn skillfully juggles 20 years of characters and story into a cohesive whole. It's a hell of a start out the gate, and I hope Fox continues along this narrative path, and even eschews the original films completely if they have to. I don't know what the rest of the summer will bring us in regards to comic book movies, but they're going to have to be extremely good if they're to match up to the quality of X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.
Nordling, out.
