The danger about making a prequel to an established series is the basic fact that we know how everything will end. This almost negates any power of surprise the film might otherwise have. But, it is neat in a prequel to see how the stage is set and everything goes down and if the known end point for the characters and the story can be reached in a logical manner. X-Men: First Class pulls this off in spades.
Much like every other comic book series, I have no concept of the X-Men backstory, the character’s origins, or whatnot other than what I’ve seen in the movies. And I’ve only ever seen the first two X-Men films. I am okay with this because not only do I hear Part 3 and Wolverine are garbage, this movie apparently does not regard them as cannon.
In recollection to the first film of the series, First Class begins with a young boy ripped from his parents and yoked into a Nazi concentration camp. A man stands behind a window and watches as this young boy almost rips a metal gate off its hinges and realizes through a dastardly act that his powers are begat by extreme anger. The boy, Erik Lehnsherr would grow up to be Magneto. The man, Sebastian Shaw, becomes our depised villain.
Later in life, Erik (Michael Fassbender) tracks down and almost dies trying to kill Shaw (Kevin Bacon) before Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) intercedes. Charles has been tasked by the CIA and his handler Moira (Rose Byrne) to apprehend Shaw who is doing his best to start World War III. Shaw is a mutant, as are his cohorts, who would like nothing better than to see the extinction of normal human beings under his watch. Charles and Erik join forces along with a barrage of other mutants including Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast, and Banshee to stop Shaw and save the world.
Remember how you felt after watching The Dark Knight and thinking that it was one of the greatest movies ever? I know I’m not the only one. Well, First Class is not quite at that level of greatness but surely not for a lack of trying. Most recently known for the uneven Kick-Ass, director Matthew Vaughn is working off a much stronger script which effectively weaves the backstory elements and the current group dynamics with the threat du jour from Shaw. This all takes place with the 1960s tension between the United States and Russia. Did you know that mutants both encouraged and ended the Cuban Missile Crisis? I didn’t see that addressed in Thirteen Days.
Not only are there impressive action sequences and taut pacing, but there is even a generous helping of characterization for some of the bigger members of the story. McAvoy and Fassbender are excellent, not only at recreating sympathetic characters that we already know, but making them different enough also. Neither attempts to outright copy their predecessors but they do take subtle character traits and expand upon them. I quite enjoyed Lawrence as Mystique as well. Again, not considering any bastardizations of the character’s original tale, Mystique was one of the more interesting characters as she befriended Charles at an early age and was very loyal and accommodating to him. However, given the end result, we know Mystique will change sides and the build up to that was solid and did not seem forced at all. Bacon was enjoyable as the villain and not in the hammy sense that being the main established actor would normally bring.
As this seems to be the summer of insipid, 3D superhero movies, X-Men: First Class is surprisingly restrained in that respect. There are no random objects jutting toward the camera, no tremendously off-putting special effects, and the Bay-style hyper-editing has taken a movie off. Even with the retro outfits the X-Men are saddled with, this seems like more of a superhero movie from a lost era of filmmaking, one not seen since the original film that is. Even though Rose Byrne was a very superfluous character to my chagrin, there really is nothing I can harp on this movie for. Good characters plus excellent story plus superb directing usually equals a Chris Nolan movie. In this case, it equals the best superhero movie this year.
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