X-Men: First Class (review)

“We are the children of the atom.”

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962, The Mutants was to become one of the most successful superhero teams published under the Marvel Comics banner. Unlike the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, the X-Men were outsiders, awkward teenagers living in exile in a private school situated in the woods of Westchester, NY. Renamed the X-Men to give the series a catchier title, the comic book followed the experience of five young mutants as they learned how to control their abilities and live within human society, masquerading their true forms from a society that hated and feared them.

The brilliant telepath Charles Xavier watched over them like a father, sternly guiding them toward their adulthood for the day when they would at last be accepted by human society and live in harmony with the people who shunned them. In direct opposition to Xavier was Magneto and his Brotherhood who seemed driven to wipe out the human race, leaving the planet for his people, homo superior. Dressed entirely in red and purple with a horned helmet covering his face, Magneto cut a demonic image and was every bit the super villain until Chris Claremont revealed much later that he and Charles were once friends long ago.

This opened up the story of the X-Men to interpretation as a statement on race relations with Professor X playing the Martin Luther King Jr role and Magneto a much more sinister type of Malcom X. Of course this was not the intention of Lee and Kirby, but it showed how the comic book spoke to its readers and held a deeply personal relationship with its audience.

The Bryan Singer X-Men film in 2000 built on this emotional appeal to the outcast and presented the story as a coming of age story, connecting the character’s mutations to adolescence and the feelings of alienation that it brings through the character of Rogue. The real success of Singer’s tale was of course in the development of Magneto, a survivor of the camps in Auschwitz and Dachau.

Using the powerful imagery of WWII, Singer tapped into the persecution of homosexuals, something that both he and actor Ian McKellen could relate to. It worked beautifully and allowed the trilogy of X-Men films to function as both action movies and as deeply significant tales of what it means to be an outcast in society.

Using the theme of mutation as evolutionary progression, the X-Men movies praised individuality but also taught the lesson of living in harmony, of being the better person to set an example of what all of us are capable of.

“Don’t touch my hair.”

 (more amazing retro X-Men art here)

After the third X-Men movie, there was lots of talk as to where the franchise could be taken. The temptation to explore the young mutants in X-Men The Last Stand was there, but also the inspiration to go back to an earlier time and present the origin of Magneto was also in the cards. Strangely, the Wolverine solo film was greenlit and expanded on that character’s background even though he had already been the focus of all three X-Men movies. Meanwhile, work was underway on what would become X-Men First Class, a period film set in the early days of Magneto and Professor X as they built their own arguments for the future of the mutant race.

Matthew Vaughn, director of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, eventually accepted the role of director rather late in the game and production was somewhat rushed to get the film in the mix for the comic book movie Summer of 2011. There is also the consideration of retaining the film rights to the X-Men franchise so that it cannot revert to Marvel Entertainment. In any case, the word on the street leading up to the release of June 3rd was that the movie was in trouble and the cast and crew were scurrying to get it all done in time for the release date.

If the rumors surrounding the production are at all true, none of it translates to the screen as Vaughn’s ensemble film is a roaring success from start to finish (aside from the odd iffy special effect).

The more that I learned of X-Men: First Class, the more I predicted that it would be the runaway hit of the season, beating out Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America which had all been so heavily marketed to movie goers. Unlike the 2000 effort, this X-Men movie came in under the radar, perhaps because the studio was unsure of its success or of the popularity of the X-Men on film as the reputation had sagged after the third film and the lackluster Wolverine solo flick.

Set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, X-Men: First Class is a period film that has a very strong Sean Connery-era James Bond atmosphere running through it. One can almost hear the haunting melody of From Russia With Love as Erik Lensherr (AKA Magneto) travels the globe hunting Nazi war criminals in search of his former captor. Like the first Bryan Singer film, the movie opens with Erik’s experience in a Nazi concentration camp. Separated from his mother, Erik rages against the prison guards and exposes his ability to control metal, bending a gate that has closed behind his parents as they are taken from him. However, First Class expands on this story by introducing a new character, Sebastian Shaw, who is studying the genetic mutations that he theorizes are the core of young Erik’s abilities. Using violence and fear to unshackle these abilities, Shaw transforms the boy into a weapon of hate. Long after the war has ended, Erik has grown into a twisted man bent on revenge against Shaw, using all of his talents to track the scientist through several Nazi war criminals.

Played by Michael Fassbender, Erik is seething with anger sharpened to a knife’s edge. He is so amazing that he nearly steals the movie from his other remarkable actors.  A character that could easily be a caricature, Fassbender makes Magneto a sympathetic and powerfully memorable personality. We are lucky that he turned down the opportunity to play the Lizard in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man.

Alongside Erik’s story is that of a young orphan Charles Xavier, raised in luxury by his opulent step parents. When Charles discovers a shape shifting mutant in his kitchen attempting to steal food, he is overjoyed to learn that he is not alone. Extending the hand of comfort and protection, Charles takes young Raven Darkholm under his wing as a sister who tags along during his rise to greatness. A proud and somewhat vain genius obsessed with the rise in mutations throughout the globe, Xavier earns a PHd from Oxford for his studies in genetics.

I am familiar with James McAvoy from the award-winning BBC series Shameless. As Professor X, he exhibits equal parts compassion and charm in truckloads. This is an incredibly difficult part that found an ideal home with Patrick Stewart before. If this series is to continue, I have ever hope that Macavoy will continue to steer it toward success.

When Charles is approached by a member of the CIA (after downing a yard of ale in celebration of his academic achievement), he is shocked to learn that in opposition to his well-meaning mission of studying the world of mutants, another man has built an empire by using them as an army. Sebastian Shaw is slowly but surely using his influence through his private Hellfire Club to start World War Three. CIA agent Moira McTaggert has glimpsed Shaw’s Inner Circle of mutants, the deadly telepath Emma Frost, the red devil Azazel and the weather wizard Riptide a they bullied a contact within the US government to place nuclear missiles in Turkey, a move that would precipitate nuclear war with Russia.

Moira hopes to win over the support of the CIA but only convinces one man who is already running a secret division exploring the mutant situation to help. Throughout his travels, Charles has become more aware that young Raven is bristling as she is compelled to masquerade as his young blonde sister. Charles is climbing the ranks from anonymity to importance while she is unable to find acceptance. When she finally encounters Hank McCoy who is secretly a physically deformed mutant, she is overjoyed. But that feeling is short lived as she discovers that Hank is hard at work for a cure to his condition. It seems that Raven will never be able to simply be who she really is and will forever live in shame, putting on a pretty white face over her natural blue visage. I was honestly put off by Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique when I first saw her in publicity material as she was too ‘baby faced’ for the role, but she is not only a fine actress but embodies the adolescent frustration on Mystique’s character, which blossoms into the sensual and proud villainess seen in the 2000-2006 films.

With the resources of the gifted scientist Hank McCoy, Xavier acts against Shaw, but is too late to capture him aboard his yacht. Instead, Xavier runs into Erik Lensherr who has finally found his prey. The two unite their forces to create an army of their own against Shaw, using the experimental mutant location technological marvel called Cerebro. Their recruits all agree to meet in the CIA’s hidden bunker except for one, a headstrong Canadian mutant whom both Charles and Erik agree is best left alone. It provides a funny cameo from Hugh Jackman and also directly connects this film to the other four X-Men movies which is indeed clever.
One of the more awkward points of Charles Xavier’s ‘School for Gifted Youngsters’ is that it seems to be built on creating a team of soldiers. Xavier himself, for all of his personal flaws, is hardly a militaristic type or even all that aggressive, so where did the direction come from to craft the young recruits into soldiers? Comic book writers have attempted to address this with varied success in print, but the film succeeds by placing Xavier and Lensherr in collaboration early on and in further placing the team into jeopardy with the impending Cuban Missile Crisis. This prompts the team to don protective gear and pilot an experimental SR-71 Blackbird (all designed by Hank McCoy for a secret CIA division) to Cuba to fight Shaw head-to-head.

“You can stay and fight for a world that hates and fears you. Or you can come with me and live like kings… and queens.”

In the first three X-Men movies, the ideological battle is between Magneto and Professor X with humanity’s future in the balance. In X-Men First Class we are given the Bond-villain-type Sebastian Shaw. With his beautiful assistant Emma Frost, immaculately suited henchmen Azazel and Riptide and an atomic submarine, he is the perfect villain played to the hilt surprisingly enough by Kevin Bacon.

I was shocked when it was leaked that Bacon would be playing ‘the heavy’ of X-Men: First Class as to my knowledge he had never played such a role, but this is a career changing performance to say the least. Oozing with charisma and sinister intent, Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw is a villain that lights up the screen and proves a very definite threat to the various heroes on screen. His Hellfire Club Inner Circle is a far cry more impressive than any of the evil mutants seen previously (with the exception of Mystique). Determined to ignite a nuclear war between America and Russia, Shaw theorizes that the resultant devastation will pave the way clear for the mutated survivors with him as their King. This is of course a much darker and more violent approach to Magneto’s, but the seeds is planted in young Erik’s mind.

One can see that as Shaw had ruined and twisted Erik into Magneto, he also showed him that an approach of fear and violence works in crafting a position of power. Vaughn’s film is every but the Magneto origin story that fans could want and it neatly connects up to the character that we have seen in the earlier X-Men trilogy.

The movie culminates in an explosive and tense battle between the established and finely tuned murderous Hellfire Club and the young, barely trained X-Men. Banshee is still unsure if he can use his scream to fly, Havok (much like his brother Cyclops) fears his devastating power, Beast is still in conflict with his animal-like mutant persona and Mystique is find that she is still alone even in a group of outcasts. As the battle reaches its climax so does the relationship between Charles and Erik. The mantra that Xavier attempted to place in his unlikely friend’s mind of finding a place between rage and tranquility is put to the test when Erik finds himself finally facing his tormentor. When the combined naval forces of Russia and America are turned in the small group of mutants, Charles discovers to his disappointment that Erik may indeed be right when he says that humanity will never accept them.

“I’ve been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again.”

I was wary of X-Men: First Class only because I so dearly wanted it to succeed. For the population at large, this movie may have come from out of nowhere, but the comic book community has been bombarded with clips and teasers for weeks leading up to the release. The more that I saw, the more I was in love with the film, and the more I feared it being a disappointment. I was so very wrong to be worried as the film is a polished and wonderfully crafted homage to its comic book source, perhaps presenting the ideas in a more coherent and impressive manner than we have ever seen.

Plans are underway for a second Wolverine film, a post-X-Men: The Last Stand movie tentatively referred to as X-Men: 4, but two sequels to X-Men: First Class are thankfully in the works. As a fan of the characters, I couldn’t be happier to learn this.