"I have been at the mercy of those who claimed to be following orders. Never again."Those words changed the whole X-men dynamic for me. It brought to light a previously overlooked truth to the X-men mythos: Magneto has a very convincing point-of-view.
I grew up collecting X-men comics. I loved the characters, the melodrama, the angst and betrayel, the epic story arcs, and the little character moments that punctuated the series. X-men, X-factor, X-force, and all the other interconnected sagas now gather dust in some forgotten box in the garage. Maybe I should go dig those up.
I remember watching the X-men cartoon as a kid, and being blown away. This was the first time I was introduced to something that wasn't "canon", but still managed to be true to the spirit of a series. The cartoon strayed quite a bit from the books, but was still well executed, and most importantly, entertaining. When the movies were announced I bounced with cheerful glee. Finally, my X-men were going to be realized on the big screen!
The first X-men flick was great, yet marred by a low budget. Comic book movies usually failed miserably at the box office, so the producers got pretty stingy when it came to writing checks. But Bryan Singer did something great: he made an X-men movie that also happened to be a good movie. The reason? The low budget forced Singer to concentrate on the characters. Remember when Rogue asked Wolverine if it hurt when his claws came out? Remember his answer? He looks down at his hand holding the steering wheel, you can tell that he desperately wants to avoid answering, yet the truth must come out: "Every time" he says. In those brief seconds we get to know Wolverine the character, know that he is more than just Hugh Jackman with a nice set of CGI claws. That, in my opinion, is the second best character moment in the entire series. The best moment happens in First Class with the quote above.
The other thing introduced in the movies was a more developed Magneto. In the comics he was the leader of The Brotherhood of EVIL!!! Mutants. This made him a simple antagonist, someone everyone would root against because, hey, this dude is EVIL!!!. In the movie Magneto was the charasmatic head of the Brotherhood of Mutants, sans EVIL!!!. This makes all the difference. See, from Magneto's point of view, he is most definitely not evil, he is doing what he believes to be best for his people. We are given a glimpse into his background in the first film, and we are spared the horror of his youth. Spared until X-men: First Class. Ian McKellan gave Magneto a gravitas, a grace, a nobility that was missing from the comic book, and thus made him a more interesting opponent for Charles Xavier. There is no mustache twirling, just a desire backed up by competance and charisma.
The sequel, X2, is still the best X-men movie. Wolverine takes center stage, yet the movie still finds time to focus on the other characters. The drama, pathos, betrayal and desire of the X-men are burned onto the celluloid, and the overall story arc of the Wolverine and his missing memory is given some nice closure. Did we learn everything about Logan's past? NO! We don't need to. It's the mystery that drives the character. Was a sinister plot against mutants stopped? Yes! And it was accomplished through team work, the hallmark of a good TEAM! And the final image of X2 was a promise. The outline of a glowing Phoenix in Alkalai lake. There was so much in that promise! The next movie would have the holy mother effing Phoenix!! Zomg bbq!!
Then X3 was "made". I put that in quotes because that's not quite accurate. A better description would be that X3 was vomited up from some hellspawn's digestive system, stitched together with the tears of a million weeping fans, topped off with a big middle finger from the studio execs in a fairly obvious attempt to capatalize on the the success of X2. I get angry just thinking about this movie. Seriously, I'm going to have a migraine. If I could, I would hunt down every reel, every dvd, every bluray, and every digital copy and toss them into a burning pit of hate and disgust to wipe the memory of this movie from the face of the earth. The promise of X2 was NOT fulfilled, and by all rights should have killed the franchise. To be clear, I don't hate X3, I just have a huge sense of disappointment towards the movie. Had I not been aware of the epic scope of the Dark Phoenix Saga I might have enjoyed it more than I did.
Then, as an attempt to win back fans, X-men Origins: Wolverine was made, an atrocious title for an atrocious movie. I could see what they (the Bastards who control the X-men franchise) wanted to do. Wolverine somehow became the most popular character, so a movie about Wolvie would just be the tits! Let's make it! Oh yeah, and let's ignore the spirit of his actual origins, i.e. Weapon X, and make a toned down PG-13 kiddy flick with crappy special effects, way to many fan service characters, and a loose plot structure that would make film school students cringe. Frak this movie. Again, an opportunity wasted. Wolverine (Weapon X) should be a hard R mindfrak of a movie. Instead, we got, well, X-men Origins: Wolverine. Bleh. To be fair, though, I did enjoy Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth. He's an incredibly underrated actor who imo never gets his due.
You can imagine my reticance when X-men: First Class was announced. After being anally savaged by the last two X flicks I had zero desire to go back for a third helping of suck. I went to go see it anyway, because, hey, it's X-men.
I'm glad I did!
At it's core, First Class is about the bromance between Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. We get a peek at Xavier's early childhood. He was brought up with a silver spoon and a mutation that is for all intents and purposes invisible. In stark contrast we also catch more of a glimpse of Erik's upbringing in the middle of the Holocaust. While Xavier was wooing women and attending prestigous colleges, Erik witnessed the extermination of his family, was experimented on, and had a generally crappy childhood. The interplay between Charles and Erik through this movie never forgets their histories, which is pretty brilliant. Erik, in all his anger and desire for revenge, is an entirely more sympathetic character than the naively idealistic Xavier. It's during these moments when the dynamic changes, when I no longer see the Xavier's X-men as the "good guys". Erik's cause, in my view, is entirely justified. "Never again" became powerful words. The shades of gray introduced in First Class really make it a standout film. Magneto is still the villain, just a much more sympathetic one.
Now on to the technical stuff. The movie was directed by Matthew Vaugh, who is fast becoming a favorite of mine. His previous flicks "Kick-Ass" and "Layer Cake" are both excellent, and this one is no different. He has a way of capturing the character, not just the actor, which is why this X movie is superior to the last two.
I had some apprehension at James MacAvoy (Wanted) as Professor X (huh?) and Michael Fassbender (who the frak?) as Magneto. These guys seemed like an...odd choice to play the main characters. It turns out that they are both brilliant, especially Fassbender. Fassbender has an inner rage which demands to be set free. You can see it in his eyes. He wants justice. No, he wants revenge. Behind those eyes is a righteous fury. MacAvoy plays Charles perfectly as a privlidged, educated idealist, one who believes that differences don't have to divide. Magneto knows better.
Kevin Bacon does a passable job as the villian, though you kinda got the feeling that anybody could have been placed into that role and done a passable job. The other mutants get some time to shine, especially Raven, who wants to not hide behind a mask, to be accepted for what she is. Deep in her heart she knows that is not possible, and the actress shows it. The other mutants do good jobs as well, but no real standouts. Oh yeah, and there is a pitch perfect cameo by...well, you'll have to see.
I very much enjoyed this installment of mutant melodrama, and it pleases me to no end to see my X-men back on track. I hope this film does well, and the producers understand why it did well. See it!
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