THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
After watching X-Men in 2000, moviegoers wondered how the dynamic of Magneto and Professor X was formed, in the perspective of the franchise's continuity. In 2011, the wait had ended with X-Men: First Class.
PLOT
The film takes place in 1962, following the metallic manipulator Erik Lehnsherr on the path of revenge, searching for his tormentor Klaus Schmidt aka Sebastian Shaw. The telepath Charles Xavier and his foster sister, the shapeshifter Raven Darkholme aka Mystique align with CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) to search for Shaw and his cult the 'Hellfire Club'. Shaw is also a mutant with the ability to absorb energy and use it as his own. His plan is to start a nuclear war between the US and USSR, in order to accelerate & trigger global mutation, which will wipe out the human race. He is found by the CIA at a yacht, but Erik is also there to attack. As he attempts to stop him from escaping, Charles intervenes to save him from dying. Erik resides with Charles and Raven at a CIA facility known as 'Division X' and meet Hank McCoy, whose mutation is having prehensile feet. With the use of Cerebro, a device to track mutants, they recruit to go against Shaw. The recruits were: Alex Summers aka Havoc (Lucas Till) who can discharge absorbed energy as a blast, Angel Salvadore (Zoë Kravitz) who has dragonfly wings and acidic saliva, Sean Cassidy aka Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) who can emit supersonic screams, and Armando Muñoz aka Darwin (Edi Gathegi) with the ability of reactive evolution/adapt to survive. When Erik, Charles & Moira capture one of Shaw's disciples Emma Frost, a telepath who can have a diamond form of a body, they discover that the conflict between both countries will occur in Cuba. As that happens, Shaw infiltrates Division X, killing every guard but offers the mutants to join him. Angel is the only one to join him but when Darwin intervenes, he gets killed. After this, Charles takes them to his childhood home to train them and defend themselves against Shaw. McCoy creates a cure for his mutant genes but Raven turns it down because he doesn't accept her natural beauty. When she seduces Erik who accepts it, she contemplates nudism. McCoy's cure backfires as he gains blue fur and leonine aspects, becoming the Beast. The following day, the X-Men and Moira go to Cuba to stop the war. There, Erik lifts Shaw's submarine from the ocean, leading to the team fighting Shaw's disciples: Angel, the teleporter Azazel (Jason Flemying) and Riptide (Alex Gonzalez) who can create whirlwinds. Charles is able to mind control a sailor to destroy some of the missiles. Erik does go after Shaw but is outmatched. When he is able to remove his helmet, Charles is able immobilize him. He puts on the helmet, blocking Charles from his mind. He has grown to believe in Shaw's views of mutants being the exclusivist series but still kills him for killing his mother when he was a child. When both fleets see them at the island, they attempt to fire their missiles out of fear but Erik stops them and turns them back in mid-flight. Charles intervenes by tackling him down to release the missiles and when Moira intervenes, she attempts to shoot him. He deflects the bullet but it hits Charles in the spine instead, causing his paralysis. This moment finally has him let them go. He parts ways with him due to their different views, taking Shaw's disciples and Raven with him. Some time later, Charles wipes Moira's memories of them ever meeting in order for both of them to be safe. The film ends with Magneto and his brotherhood breaking Frost from CIA captivity and recruiting her.
THOUGHTS
When seeing this film in 2011, I gotta say that this was the comeback the franchise needed because X-Men Origins: Wolverine was its massive letdown. What makes this movie entertaining is that Director Matthew Vaughn brought back the same creativity Brian Singer had brought the first time around. We have this feeling that we felt before how mutants are not monsters, they’re just humans that are gifted. Since the original first class team of the comics was introduced throughout the trilogy, it was clever to introduce new characters instead and I think this version was a unique mix as each actor matched their personalities. Of all the new characters to be the most interesting is clearly the main villain Sebastian Shaw. Kevin Bacon is at his most cunning in comparison to Sleepers or The River Wild. You quickly hate him for killing Erik's mother but the reason of him being a frightening figure is not just because of his powers but because he thinks his goals are right. For someone to think bad things are right, you know they'll be dangerous in the end. And seeing how much firepower he can absorb, just imagine if he consumed a nuke. January Jones is seductive as Emma Frost but I feel like there should be more than just being seductive looks, even though it’s part of the character that looks can be deceiving. Seeing Azazel was cool to see because of how he's the father of Nightcrawler in the comics, but I find it wise to not acknowledge this on film because it would've been forced making the relationship between him and Mystique transpire. Speaking of which, Jennifer Lawrence brings more depth to Mystique as the character deals with her own identity crisis. However, I don't think she was better than what Rebecca Romjin provided in the trilogy. It was hard to like Nicholas Hoult as Beast mainly because of the visuals on his blue form. Thankfully, they stick with makeup in the follow ups. The only true reason to make it challenging to like him because he didn't accept himself or Raven's natural looks. This felt necessary in its way because there had to be a character that wanted to fit in that badly, but it felt weird coming from an iconic hero like him. However, his perspective of an identity crisis remained interesting. He was an example of learning the hard way on accepting yourself. I wanted to be interested seeing Moira since she first appeared in 2006’s The Last Stand but the romance was unnecessary between her and Charles because that was never a thing in the trilogy either, making it another forced moment. Last but not least, the highlight of the film is always going to be the chemistry of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as our leads Professor X and Magneto. For James, he brings the same charm and intelligence that Patrick Stewart brought, making him a great choice. For Fassbender, he fleshes out all the pain his character goes through, along with the anger that's released. When he says how he’d never again be at the mercy of those who just follow orders, you believe him. Because this is a prequel, it is predictable for him to turn evil but seeing him kill Shaw by forcing a coin through Shaw's head is haunting. You can call it the best example of revenge being depicted on film but what makes it challenging to witness is that Charles is feeling his pain, what he's feeling is what Shaw's going through in that moment because of using his powers on him, making it a great acting moment from everybody in that scene. Whenever Lensherr steps in the room, Henry Jackman is bringing nothing but intimidation with his score and it pays off very time. Both actors are great together because of how they’re polar opposites. Fassbender shows that Magneto has suspicion and distrust over everyone, while McAvoy shows Charles that he sees nothing but humanism. The fact that the latter is able to teach him how to use his powers without the need of anger is heartwarming, proving how much these two cared for each other from the beginning. Also, their genuine reaction of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine telling them fuck off was the funniest thing to ever see in this entire film franchise. Their relationship here taught me to never doubt the possibility of change, otherwise you'll never be capable of doing so yourself. Charles brought the best out of Eric, but was unable to eliminate the worst because he was too broken to recover from his pain, thus sparking a now iconic rivalry. While I admit that this film was a comeback for the series, there were still stuff that bothered me. First off, why didn’t Erik ask any questions to the guys who knew Shaw before killing him? He could’ve gotten to him a little quicker. I also found it weird how he waited for Charles when walking in on Emma. The guy killed so many people and it didn’t look like he was gonna wait but he still does and it’s weird. While Shaw felt safe to remove his helmet in front of the X-Men, I honestly thought that was dumb of him because he has no idea whether or not they’re telepaths and if they were, he’d be screwed. Point being, he should’ve kept the helmet on for precaution. I know that Hank is gifted but when was he an expert pilot? Designing a jet is one thing but piloting it is another. I let it slide when Storm and Cyclops did it in the prior because I assumed they practiced. But here, I have a hard time believing Hank had time for piloting a jet he designed when he was training with Charles and making the serum. Other than that, this prequel remains entertaining to see. To wrap up, X-Men: First Class was a return to form for the film franchise and if you enjoyed the prior X-Men movies, you'll likely enjoy this too.
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