X-Men: First Class

After the studio set a release date for the third film in the franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand, without any director or screenwriter in place, they finally hired Matthew Vaughn who wisely got the hell out of dodge. When the screenplay details were finally revealed, X-Men: The Last Stand reeked of studio interference, and after the film premiered the stories came confirming that, yes indeed, the studio demanded certain characters, storylines, deaths be included. And by the time X-Men Origins: Wolverine came about it, with its director who came from an arthouse background and had never made a big budget film before, the very trailer left the bitter aftertaste of studio tinkering, reshoots, cuts and forced in storylines and characters. So, you’ll forgive me if I went into X-Men First Class with the greatest amounts of dread and misgivings. X-Men: First Class mercifully atones for the studio’s two previous missteps in the X-Men franchise. It’s better than Thor, but still fails to reach the heights of X2: X-Men United or Iron Man.

Continuity has always been a major problem with the film translations of the X-Men. We had three different Kitty Prydes, two different Jubilees, two Pyros, and those are just the casting continuity errors. In X-Men we were clearly told that Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm were among the first students under Xaiver, and that Magneto helped Xaiver build Cerebro. So when I heard that Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm weren’t going to be in this film, I might have face-palmed. Instead we’re given a team of B and C-list characters. For the most part, this actually works in the films favor. Havok, Banshee and Darwin have translated beautifully, even if Havok and Banshee barely resemble their comic book counterparts. Mystique’s revision to essentially be the movie-verse’s variation on Juggernaut is only mildly successful. Chalk that one up to Jennifer Lawrence’s only so-so performance. Whereas Rebecca Romijn left an inedible impression with a few words and a weighty presence, a combination of modelesque fighter and venomous reptile, Lawrence is mopey more than anything else. The choice of Angel, better known as Tempest in the comics, in the film is a giant “What the fuck?” And Zoe Kravitz does little but pout and dance around in the role. Angel II was a dumb character in the comics, and she never translates. Sure, it’s great to show a character who proves that not all mutations are as cool as telepathy, weather control, or energy beams from your eyes, but there’s better characters to choose from if that was the intention.

To my surprise since he’s so hilariously miscast, Nicolas Hoult’s performance as a young Beast is a true highlight. The character is perfectly written, and Hoult’s great performance only adds to the tragedy when his experiment turns him into a giant blue fuzzy fighting machine. The makeup choice of the more feline-looking Beast turns out to be much better than the Kelsey Grammar version of the character. I miss the big blue monkey look, but this version translated beautifully. And once he finally becomes blue and furry, Hoult’s pretty-boy good looks don’t distract from the fact that Beast has always been a short, stocky, brick wall of a person, even before he changed into a furry, blue monkey.

But the X-Men cannot ban together and learn to comingle in a vacuum. They need a villain, or a group of villains, to fight against. And we’re given a very loose interpretation of the Hellfire Club. Still led by Sebastian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon as an old school Bond villain whose a combination of pure malice and camp, with a second-in-command Emma Frost, written correctively but January Jones turns in easily the worst performance in the film, they plot to start the war that played in the original trilogy by making the Cuban Missile Crisis happen. Azazel and Riptide being shoe-horned in originally gave me some gripes since they’re either fairly new additions or just plain stupid characters. Azazel turned out pretty cool after being given a spooky and intimidating scene in which he single handedly takes out a group of CIA officials. Riptide doesn’t do much, and could have easily been written as any other character and we all would have been better off.

But the true heart of the film, and the thing that elevates it from mediocre sub-Connery-era Bond-wannabe to revisionist comic book entertainment, is the central relationship between Xaiver and Magneto as played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Without these two in the lead roles, X-Men: First Class would not have worked let alone been as enthralling and engaging as it turned out to be. While the revisionist origin story of Magneto did slightly make my comic book nerd have an eye-twitch fit, it does eventually pay off and makes logical sense within the film. (It could have been more interesting and true to character if they had used Mr. Sinister as the main villain with his group of mutates, but here’s hoping he’ll pop up in a sequel.) In fact, the first half truly belongs to Fassbender and McAvoy as they lay out the decisions and workings of their characters that eventually led to the original trilogy.

Fassbender’s Magneto grows up to be a Nazi hunter, looking for one in particular who has haunted his nightmares and waking life. These early sections play out like he’s auditioning to take over the Bond franchise whenever Daniel Craig decides to retire the title. His performance oscillates wildly between a wild animal fighting for freedom and a raw exposed nerve. While McAvoy’s Xaiver is in swinging 60s London, going for his doctorate in human mutations, living with his adopted sister Mystique and hitting on anything in a skirt that crosses his eyeline. But there’s also a stillness and grounded presence about him. It isn’t hard to see how he will eventually become the fatherly Xaiver. And when they finally do start to form a friendship, it harkens back to the best moments from the comics. Often, literally, feeling like passages and scenes from the comics have been translated verbatim even if they actually haven’t.

X-Men: First Class is a very entertaining prequel in the franchise and finally sets it back on track, but poor character choices, fast-and-loose continuity shifts from the established films, a few bad performances and wasted opportunities keep it from being a truly great comic book film. But practically every major summer movie has been lackluster this year, and in a year that sees four comic book films fighting for prominence, just being good and entertaining isn’t going to cut it anymore. The Dark Knight proved that audiences wanted smartly written, fully developed comic movies and would eat them up. Not every movie has to be that dark, but it would be nice if more comic book movies were left in the hands of competent writers and directors and the studios took a more hands-off approach. So far, X-Men: First Class is the best of bunch. But let’s see what Captain America and Green Lantern have to offer.