The
superhero genre is one that refuses to go away. It’s a genre that’s
always been with us ever since Batman was calling Robin his good chum
back in the 1940s. Since then though the superhero snowball has tumbled
down the hill, further and further until it’s become so big we’re
finding the number of superhero movie releases in a year approaching
double figures!
This year isn’t showing any signs of melting the big ball of frozen water as we’re being bombarded by the likes of Thor, The Green Lantern, and Captain America.
Over the years though, I’ve found that superhero movies have slipped a
little and the movies aren’t quite up to scratch. In recent years the
only superhero movies worth mentioning are Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and possibly Kick Ass, if you can class that as a superhero flick.
Marvel
have largely been in the dark; releasing plenty of films but creating
few ‘greats’, which is strange considering of all the comic book
publishers they have the most superheroes at their disposal. I think the
last truly great Marvel film was Spiderman and Spiderman 2. I’m drawing a total blank trying to think of others.
The
X-Men franchise has been a pretty successful one over the years,
spawning various TV series, video games, and of course movies. Generally
the film adaptations have been hit and miss; the first couple were fine
but the third destroyed their memory and Wolverine wasn’t much cop, so I was intrigued to see how this year’s X-Men: First Class was going to stand up.
The
build up to the movie was a bit hit and miss. They advertised a lot and
had a good trailer but their use of photoshop in their poster and
billboard campaign was pretty shocking. Characters looking into the
middle distance, pasted into the background, why didn’t they just get a
good photo shoot on the go? Is it really that hard?
Anyway,
the film focuses on the series’ two main characters, Professor X and
Magneto, as they grow up as mutants and how they come to meet one
another. All in all, I really enjoyed it, it’s the best X-Men movie so
far, though that really isn’t saying a heck of a lot.
I
think I enjoyed it mostly because of the two main characters. Charles
Xavier, played by James McAvoy, is portrayed well and Erik Lehnsherr,
played by Michael Fassbender is absolutely brilliant. Magneto is the
best character of the lot, probably because he’s got the most depth to
him, as most baddies do; having the best power helps a fair bit too.
But
he isn’t a baddie in this movie, well largely at least. The movie tells
the story of how Erik became Magneto and how he ended up choosing the
opposite path to Charles. It’s pretty much what you want from a
superhero film, good action, strong characters (okay two strong
characters) and a good story; a rarity for recent superhero films.
Charles
is much more of a lovable rascal in this movie, wooing the ladies and
drinking heavily as he lives the student lifestyle in London. A far cry
from Patrick Stewart's Proffessor X but this isn’t a problem, it’s
actually good to see him like this while Magneto goes through years of
emotional trauma.
The
good thing about this movie, and I’m not sure it’s intentional, is the
way you don’t root for the good guys. Well at least I didn’t. As the
movie goes on I just kept on thinking the same as Magneto, he’s right
about everything, Charles is wrong in his peacekeeping ways! The humans
are idiots, they see the mutants as a threat and will try to eliminate
them but Charles wont see this and wants to be a good moral citizen and
all that rubbish. The humans even try to blow them all up with missiles
and he still wont side with Magneto!
He’s
too much of a shining example, I don’t care how much you want peace, if
someone shoots hundreds of missiles at you after you save their asses
then I’m afraid it’s no more mister nice guy. But no, Charles’ moral
compass is too great and he cannot side with his friend Magneto.
Speaking
of his moral compass though, there is a bit at the end where he’s with
the FBI agent who’s helped him and she tells him she won’t tell anyone
where the mutants are. They kiss and then it shoots to a boardroom and
it appears she’s had her memory wiped. So Charles sneaks in a cheeky
kiss and who knows what else and then wipes her memory!? Wow way to pick
and choose your morals there Charlie!
Unfortunately
though this movie isn’t all good. The main issue with it is the poor
selection of the other characters. They’re X-Men, they’re all supposed
to have great depth and character but instead we’re given some of the
most dull and boring characters ever seen in an X-Men movie, now THAT is
saying a lot!
There’s
plenty of them, trouble is none of them are any good. Kevin Bacon plays
the villain, an ex-Nazi mutant with the power to manipulate energy.
There are these helper mutants who Charles wants to train up and fight
for him: a ginger kid who can scream really loud and who’s nowhere near
as likeable as Ron Weasley; a bloke called Darwin who can adapt to his
surrounding for no real reason other than to die in an interesting way;
Havok who has a good power but gets little use out of it and I’m
struggling to think of any lines from him; and then there’s Angel, who
is possibly the worst X-Men character to ever grace the silver screen.
She’s just awful, maybe it’s the terrible acting but as a character she
was so weak I could faintly hear Vinnie Jones yelling out “AM DA
JUGGANAWT!” all over again. She’s essentially a butterfly, that’s her
power, for some reason she can spit fire too which only serves as a poor
plot device, I just wish she wasn’t in it. If only she’d just die after
a day like a butterfly would.
Right up there alongside her though is Emma Stone played by January Jones of Unknown
fame (couldn‘t stop thinking of Liam Neeson shouting Liz every time I
saw her). This character is horrible, in fact she’s probably worse than
Angel simply because she’s supposed to be a main character! She’s one of
Kevin Bacon’s goons essentially and her power is the same as Charles’s:
she’s a telepath who can block other telepaths by turning her skin into
diamond. The issue here is that she’s so completely void of any emotion
whatsoever, her voice is totally monotone, she displays no facial
expression to the point that even being strangled by Magneto makes her
simple say 'meh'. I don’t know if it’s the actor or the direction, but
whatever it is her character is dire!
The
other henchmen don’t offer much either. The teleporting Azazel has
little to say although he does kill people in a more imaginative way
than most other Marvel films. The other henchman can manipulate wind,
again for plot devise purposes only and his solitary line is “argh!”
when a loud screech flies down his headset.
And
Beast! What’d they do to you Beast? Oh it’s horrible! They’ve ruined
Beast in this movie! One of the best characters in the X-Men franchise
is not done any justice at all. He’s played by the kid from About a Boy,
and to be fair it’s not his fault, the character is just…weak. His
power is obviously being a beast, he has deformed feet that allow him to
gain strength and power, but he hates his deformity and wants to get
rid of it. He devises a concoction to make his feet normal again,
something he’s been working on for a while, but hang on, why does he
think that he’ll still have his powers if he no longer has the feet,
that’s kind of essential to his power isn’t it?
This
brings me quite nicely onto plot holes, of which there are many. After
the movie me and my brother discussed at length the X-Men movie
franchise. Now, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the others, but this
movie doesn’t match up to them at all. For example Wolverine is working
as a lumberjack in this movie I think, so that would mean this movie is
going on at that stage of his life as we saw in Wolverine. But First Class occurs
during the Cuban missile crisis which was before the Vietnam war in
which Wolverine and Sabretooth fought alongside each other before
Wolverine left his brother and pitched up as a lumberjack. I’m totally
lost on that one.
And
isn’t Havok supposed to be Cyclops’ younger brother? He’s done that
pretty well considering Cyclops isn’t even born during this movie. Also
Charles is shot at the end which in my opinion was a little forced and
unnecessary, but regardless from this moment on he is paralysed, however
in the other movies he’s depicted as much older and walking. I knew
they shouldn’t have had him get paralysed in this one, they should’ve
waited for the inevitable sequel. I did find it amusing that they pretty
much all chose teams like kids on a playground while Charles is lay on
the floor in agony. Will someone get this poor man to a hospital!?
So
with all that in mind I’m wondering whether or not this is a rehash of
the franchise or a prequel? I think it should start over using this as
the first one, keep the originals but just start over and make it
better. X-Men: First Class shows real promise for a series that hasn’t been too good at keeping its past promises.
It’s the best X-Men movie by a way, and it’s the best Marvel movie since, well, Spiderman 2. Here’s hoping Marvel’s THIRD addition to 2011, Captain America, can continue building on this success. Either way, make a sequel to First Class, as long as it has Magneto it should be alright. Then again I said that about The Last Stand…
Final Verdict: 4 Stars. A movie the X-Men franchise deserves. Some very weak characters but a massive improvement nonetheless.
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