Right well I thought I would get another post done since its already the middle of the month (just over it in fact) so this one will be on one of the X-Men Films, X-Men First Class, which covered the origins of the X-Men themselves. So let's give this un a closer look.....and yep PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
So a bit about the story as the film begins during World War II in Poland 1944 where a Nazi scientist, Dr Klaus Schmidt (Kevin Bacon) has a young Erik Lensherr under his observation after he witnessed Erik bend a gate with his mind after he was separated from his mother. Schmidt then takes Erik to him along with his mother he asks Erik to make a coin move with his power but when Erik is unable to, Schmidt shoots Erik's mother. As a result Erik becomes enraged and his magnetic powers resurface and he destroys the room and kills two guards with Schmidt looking on impressed by the boy's power. The story then moves to Westerchester, New York where a telepathic youth, Charles Xavier catches a young shapeshifter named Raven, steal fruit, who's natural skin is blue and scaled. Charles however is pleased to meet someone "different" like him and invites her to stay with his family.
The story then moves forward to 1962 when Charles (James McAvoy) has graduated from the University of Oxford with a thesis on the subject of mutation. In Las Vegas a CIA agent, Moira McTaggert (Rose Byrne) follows a US Army Colonel into a club where she sees Schmidt, who know goes under the name of Sebastian Shaw. Shaw later has one of his mutants transport the Colonel back into the Joint War Room and the Colonel is forced to advocate the use of nuclear missiles in Turkey, and he is later killed by Shaw, who is revealed to be a mutant with the power to absorb energy. Moira then approaches Charles for help and takes him and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) to the CIA where they convince the Director, John McCone (Matt Craven) mutants exist and that Shaw is a threat. Charles then receives sponsorship from another CIA officer and invites them to the secret "X-Division" facility. Charles soon locates Erik who attacks Shaw but Shaw soon escapes and Charles saves Erik from being drowned and takes him to the X-Division where they meet a young scientist, Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) who is a mutant with enlarged feet and believes that Raven's DNA may provide a cure for his feet. And from here Charles and Erik set about to locate and recruit more mutants for their cause in their effort to fight to bring down Shaw and also establish a base for their own kind.....
As far as origins films for superhero franchises go, X-Men: First Class is a very good one and it establishes the main characters of the series pretty well, particularly in showing Erik's tortured past where he was subjected to Shaw's cruelty and later became hellbent on revenge for his mother's death. It also is well balanced with Xavier's talent for telepathy and unlike Erik purely seeks to find a peace between humans and mutants. The film also further deals with the mutant theme from the concept that mutants shouldn't need to hide which is something Raven does at first in the film before she is ultimately swayed over by the mutant rising and Erik.
Moving onto the performances things are pretty good here starting with James McAvoy who turns in a fine performance as the young Charles Xavier. And McAvoy has some fun initially with the character as Charles appears more interested in using telepathic powers as a pick-up line for girls before he sets down the path of things more serious and life changing. McAvoy has some good scenes in the film which include the scene where he uses his pick-up line for trying to impress a girl in a bar by saying "Heterochromia is in reference to your eyes, which I have to say are stunning. One green, one blue. It's a mutation. It's a very groovy mutation. I've got news for you, Amy. You are a mutant". Another good scene comes when Charles reads Erik's mind and he tells them "There is so much more to you than you know. Not just pain and anger. There is good, too. I felt it. When you can access all of that, you will possess a power no one can match. Not even me". Then there is the scene where Charles tries to help one of the mutants, Alex Summers (Lucas Till) to harness his ability to absorb and discharge energy as blasts and Charles along with Hank set up an experiment for Alex to hit a target. And in the scene Charles says to Alex "I want you to hit the exact spot. Its OK. I trust you" and a somewhat wary Alex prepares to fire a blast and both Charles and Hank nervously step well away as Alex fires a devasting blast of energy, which destroys the target. And then there is the scene where (PLOT SPOILER!!!!) Charles is shot in the back by a bullet deflected by Erik (or Magneto as he is also known). And as Erik apologetically speaks to Charles by saying "I want you by my side. We're brothers, you and I. All of together, protecting each other. We want the same thing" and Charles in pain says "My friend. I'm sorry but we do not". And last of all there is the scene where Charles ends up making a reference to his own future baldness in the scene when Charles says to Moira "I suppose I am a real professor, aren't I? Next thing you know, I'll be going bald!". Its almost like the guy is a seer!
Michael Fassbender is also excellent as the young Erik Lehnsherr or Magneto as he is later known who is intent on taking his revenge over Shaw and also establishing a firm base for mutants to fight against the humans. Fassbender also has his moments in the film such as the scene in the bar where he get's into a fight and uses his magnetic powers to kill his attackers and he points his gun at the last one, who asks him "Who....what are you?!" and Erik says "Let's just say I'm Frankenstein's monster. And I'm looking for my creator!" and he shoots him. Another good scene is when Erik seduces Raven and says to her "You are an exquisite creature, Raven. All your life the world has tried to tame you. It's time for you to be free". Then there is the scene where even more mutated Hank turns up, with his blue furry skin and wolf-like features as a result of injecting a serum into his feet to try and cure his condition. And in the scene Erik pats Hank on the back and says "You never looked better, man" which prompts Hank to angrily grab Erik by throat and he shouts" Don't mock me!" and let's Erik go who then says "I wasn't!". And last of all there is the somewhat chilling scene where (SPOILER) Erik finally kills Shaw by using his magnetic powers to push a coin through Shaw's head while wearing Shaw's helmet, it stops Charles from controlling Erik's mind, which leaves Charles screaming in horror at what Erik has done.
Jennifer Lawrence next up is also very good in her role as Raven/Mystique, the saucy blue-skinned mutant who can shapeshift into anyone else but is uncomfortable with her real appearance but later comes to accept it. Jen being the excellent actress she is naturally has some good scenes such as the one after Raven has it off with Erik goes to see Charles (without her clothes on and all blue!) and angrily expresses why should she hide as a mutant "You know Charles, I use to think it's gonna be you and me against the world. But no matter how BAD the world gets, you don't wanna be against it do you? You want to be part of it!". Then there is the scene where Raven meets with all the other young mutants and comes up with her own nickname "We should come up with secret codenames, we're secret agents now! I'll start, I'm gonna be Mystique". And lastly there is the scene where just after Charles has been shot accidentally by Erik (and Moira for that matter who fired the gun) that she decides to go with Erik and Charles says to her "Go with him. After all its what you want" and Raven says "You promised me you would never read my mind" and Charles painfully says "I know... I promised you a lot of things" and Raven walks over to Erik and she says to Hank (now in furry Beast form) "Take good care of him" and she follows up by saying "And one more thing. Beast! Be mutant and proud!" before she vanishes with Erik and another mutant Azael with teleport capabilities.
Kevin Bacon is also pretty good in his role as the main villain, Sebastian Shaw and he succeeds in making his character menacing and creepy. Bacon has some good scenes as well which include the rather chilling one where he kills one of the mutants who opposes him, Darwin who tries to attack Shaw and another mutant, Havok tries to hit Shaw with his energy rings only for Shaw to absorb them. And Shaw goes up to Darwin who attempts to punch him and says "Protecting fellow mutants? That's a noble gesture. Feels good." and then he grabs Darwin by throat saying "Adapt to this!" and throws Havok's energy down his gub, leaving the poor mutant to incinerate before his friends eyes. Then there is the scene near the start where Shaw (going under the name of Schmidt at this point) shoots Erik's mother to lure out Erik's magnetic powers and after Erik destroys all the metal around him in the room, Shaw delighted then says "Outstanding, Erik. So we unlock your gift with anger. Anger and pain. You and me... we're going to have a lot of fun together!". And lastly there is the scene where Shaw puts on his helmet for the first time in front of his girlfriend and fellow mutant, Emma Frost (played by January Jones) who is a telepath. And in the scene Emma warns Shaw of Charles that "if that telepath get's inside your head he won't be as much fun as I am" and Shaw reveals the helmet "I've already taken care of that. The Russians made me this" and he puts it on and says "Tell what am I thinking?" and Emma says "I don't know" and he says "I was thinking you are the most exquisite creature I have ever seen" and then he holds up his drink "and this needs ice!".
Rose Byrne is also quite good as the CIA agent, Moira McTaggert who helps Charles and the other mutants to try and bring down Shaw. Byrne has some good moments as well such as the scene where she decides infiltrate Shaw's pad by stripping down to her underwear to get in and she says before she does it "I'm going to use an asset the CIA didn't issue me". And then there is the scene near the end where Moira walks with the now wheelchair bound Charles and she inadvertently coins the "X-men" phrase by saying to him "You know, one day the government is going to realize that how lucky they were to have Professor X on their side". And as Charles says "We are still just G-men" Moira says "No. You're your own team now. It's better. You're X-Men!".
And lastly I will mention Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy who would later become the furry, growling blue skinned Beast who is also good here. Hoult as Hank get's to share some nice potential romantic moments with Raven only for them to be ultimately spoiled by Hank as initially both Raven and Hank are intriguied by the possibility of curing their own mutations. Hoult also has some good moments and such as the one when he first off tries to inject the DNA blood sample he took from Raven into his enlarged feet only for the sample to actually violently change his form into the blue Beast. And later as the X-Men head out to fight against shaw, Hank shows up as the hairy beast and he tells the others "The sample didn't cure the mutated cells, it enhanced them". And then Erik tries to reassure him that "You never looked better, man" which prompt a furious Hank to grab him by the throat and yell "Don't mock me!" but after Charles protests, Hank let's Erik go who gasps for breath and says "I wasn't!". And one of the other mutants, Alex Summers at that point says to Hank "Even I've got to admit you look pretty badass. I think I've got a new name for you: Beast" and Hank just growls back at him.
Ohhh and last of all (promise!) there is Hugh Jackman who makes a small appearance here as Wolverine and he provides the film's funniest moment when Charles and Erik go looking for mutants to join them. And in the scene Charles and Erik find Wolverine sitting in a bar cooly smoking a cigar and as they try and approach him Wolverine without looking casually says "Go fuck yourself!".
Direction wise, Matthew Vaughan does a very good job here with the film and he continues here to put his pal Guy Richie to shame as a film maker who seems to have dwindled as a director since making Snatch. But here Vaughan after making the violent action film Kick-Ass shows he can confidently handle action scenes and he keeps the film moving at a good pace throughout with very little in the way of lagging. The film's music score by Henry Jackman (no relation to Hugh by the way!) is not too bad overall although it doesn't quite rank as one of the stronger music scores to be found in superhero films.
So getting onto the flaws section of the review...... yes OK First Class has some. To start off I think that one of the film's main disappointments lies in Raven's character in that as Mystique she doesn't get any chance to kick ass like we had seen her character do in the previous films. Granted of course this is an origin film of the X-Men and it deals more with Raven's acceptance as a mutant and her appearance rather than becoming a sexy kick-ass mutant. But it leaves Raven's character with not too much to do except passively stand around while there is some action going especially later in the film when you think she could kick some butt. So I guess in the end she hadn't been trained in combat at this stage, but ultimately they did make up for this X-Men Days of Future Past when Jen get's to do nothing but kick some serious ass. So basically Raven doesn't kick ass in this film, which is a bummer.
Next up I felt that while Charles character is nicely developed and well played by James McAvoy one thing that did bug me was the way in which McAvoy in the role always kept putting his hand up to the side of his temple when using his telepathic powers. And you have to ask: is it really necessary for him to do that every time he uses his powers???? I mean Patrick Stewart in the role had no need to do it when he played the character so I think its a pretty daft inclusion in the film that serves no purpose other than blatantly spell out "wait Xavier is using his telepathic powers again!!". Yes we get it!
And last of all I felt that similar to some of the previous X-men films is there are an abudance of other mutant characters which aren't really properly explored and developed obviously because there is never enough screen time to do so. So these extra characters just feel a little superflous to the film and are there simply so we can look impressed by the powers that they have when we've already seen similar powers in the previous films and at this point it just feels a bit gimmicky. But that all aside it doesn't really prevent your from enjoying the film too much.
So that's it for my look at X-Men First Class which is still one of the strongest entries in the X-Men film series which is certainly worth checking after the somewhat mediocre X-Men Last Stand (not to mention X-Men Origins: Wolverine film!).
And with that I shall say to yeee's goodnight!
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