X-Men: First Class

In which Magneto out-Irishes Banshee, Professor X has a full head of hair, and everybody cuts footloose.



I went to see X-Men: First Class last night, by the recommendation of my pal Cody Walker. I hold high regard for Cody's opinion, especially about comic book related things. He's well versed in that subject, and runs a pretty cool website dedicated to that stuff called Pop Gun Chaos. Anyway, Cody's endorsement of this latest X-Men outing was glowing, comparing it even to Thor, which is a movie that he and I agree is a cut above other comic book movies, and which I would say is good not only as a comic book movie, but as a movie in general. Unfortunately, X-Men: First Class was a case where our tastes simply don't match up. I went in expecting different things than Cody did, and personally I wasn't fully satisfied. True, I would agree that X-Men: First Class is better than the other X-Men movies... but that's not saying a lot. It still doesn't mean that the movie is, strictly speaking, good.

But it would be unfair of me to simply bash this movie. There were things about it I really did enjoy, so I thought I'd break it down into a pro/con list, as follows:

Pro: Xavier
I was surprised by this, because from the promos it looked like James McAvoy's portrayal of Charles Xavier would suck. But in fact it was excellent. The writing was brilliant and subtle, showing us not the Xavier we know, but the Xavier who would grow into that man. It was pretty great seeing Xavier in his youth - hitting on chicks, getting drunk, and having fun, but still being able to be serious when he needs to be. It gives us a side of Charles Xavier that we've never seen, but can imagine was probably there underneath the grave exterior all the time. We got to watch him grow into the mentor he was destined to become, which is exactly what we wanted to see in this film. His exchange with Beast about his hair was also pretty classic.

Con: Magneto
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Michael Fassbender's Magneto was pretty lackluster. He spends his time on screen either going way over the top, or putting so little effort into his performance that German-born Magneto ends up with a noticeably Irish accent (Ironically, Fassbender is half German himself, so that's worth an extra finger-wag of shame). But even the writing is lacking here. We just never get to see what really drove Magneto to become Magneto. All we have is your run-of-the-mill revenge plot and a sudden transformation at the end. I was really hoping for more. Magneto is a complex character: a villain in the eyes of the audience, but in his own mind fighting the first battles in an inevitable war for his own kind's survival. The film fails to really show us what put him in that mindset, which ruins the whole character arc. On the plus side, he does manage to correctly reference the novel Frankenstein, which is something that rarely happens.

Pro: Xavier and Magneto as friends
One of the most important elements of the X-Men franchise is the relationship between Xavier and Magneto. They're enemies, and yet also friends. The close bond between the two characters is one place where this film really shines. We get to see them really get to know each other and care about one another, but in a less on-the-nose way, we get to see them just being buddies. The montage of the two of them recruiting mutants for their team is excellent just in that it shows Magneto being Xavier's wing-man of sorts. It really helps establish that these guys not only respect each other, but actually like each other. That really adds a whole new level of enjoyment to their eventual rivalry. My favorite bit, though, was Xavier telling Magneto to strive for an emotion "between rage and serenity". That is exactly how Magneto behaves throughout the X-Men series, and I like the idea that it's the result of him taking advice from Xavier to heart. It really shows the kind of guy he is.

Con: Xavier and Mystique as friends
Don't get me wrong; the actual story arc here is really quite sweet. I like the concept of Xavier being so close to another mutant, of the differences in their mutations driving a wedge between them, of the two of them going separate ways but still being dear to one another. I like that story... but Mystique has no place in it. Mystique has never been close with Xavier in any continuity I know of. Hell, I can't even remember any instance in which they've talked about knowing each other. The whole thing just doesn't make sense. It's just like saying that Anakin Skywalker built C-3PO: forced, implausible, gimmicky, cheesy, and ultimately off-putting. It's fine to make a prequel where not all of the important characters share some weird back story, and forcing such a back story into this movie was a real misstep by the writers.

Pro: Lesser known X-Men
The temptation in doing a prequel story like this would be to shoehorn in all of the popular characters, and I'm really a bit surprised that they didn't go that route. Instead, they used a handful of X-Men that have never been mentioned in the movies before, such as Banshee, Darwin, and Havok. These guys weren't even the original X-Men in the comic - that cast included the likes of Cyclops and Iceman. This makes for an interesting chance to see something new and different, and I enjoyed that. I particularly liked Banshee, since his abilities have a few subtleties about them. The only appearance by one of the previously featured X-Men (aside from Beast) was a brief cameo that was so hilarious and well delivered that I was actually amazed. I would have expected a scene like that to be stretched out to increase the character's screen time, but it wasn't. The movie kept its focus and did a good job showcasing the more obscure yet just as fun characters.

Con: Kevin Bacon
Look, Kevin Bacon is a fine actor, and he played his role in this film quite well, but that doesn't change the fact that he's Kevin Bacon. It's hard to take a guy seriously as a villain when you're secretly waiting for him to start dancing.The cheesy, over-the-top villain cliche he's playing doesn't help much either. First off, his evil plan is just absurd (he's trying to start a nuclear war because apparently radiation just makes mutants stronger. Which... no, I don't think I actually need to explain why that's bullshit) but worse still, he doesn't really even have a reason for doing it in the first place. He's being evil just for the sake of being evil, which is never a good quality in a villain. Let me repeat that, in case anyone out there is thinking of writing a comic book movie: Being evil just for the sake of being evil does not make for a good villain. Villains need to have their own needs and goals, and they need to be things that the audience can understand, even if they are crazy and immoral. Showing why a villain does what he does creates dramatic tension, and that makes the climax of the story more engaging. A villain with no identifiable motivation is just obnoxious, and the audience isn't going to care what happens to him in the end. But if you're going to have a generic villain with no substance, don't cast Kevin Bacon and expect people to take him seriously. Just don't.

Pro: Human-skinned Beast
Beast is one of my favorite X-Men because I like the dichotomy of his character: he embodies all the physical attributes of an animal, perhaps even a monster, and yet he is (with the possible exception of Xavier) the smartest and most sophisticated member of the team. He's a walking statement on not judging a book by its cover, which in a way is the central theme of the whole series. The movie begins with him as a normal-looking guy with prehensile feet, then later on an accident transforms him into the blue furry creature we all know today. This same transformation happened in the comics, under different circumstances, but this is a different continuity so I'm not nitpicking there. What I'm getting at is that it's nice to see a nod to the original Beast, even if the blue-furred Beast is the one I know and love. The original Beast, like Xavier, is shown with a different personality than what we're familiar with: he's less confident, less prone to quoting literature, and more determined to hide his mutation. This, combined with his semi-romantic relationship with Mystique, make for a perfect opportunity for character growth. One of the things I enjoyed most about this film was the way it made me anxious to see him grow into the Beast I remember.

Con: Furry Beast
That anticipation was completely wasted. Once Beast turns blue, all of that character development vanishes and the character becomes nothing more than a snarling monster. I'm fine with having him learn to accept his animal side, but not at the cost of sacrificing all of the intellect and sophistication that makes him who he is. The furry Beast looks like crap, too, and they couldn't even seem to figure out a way to convincingly move his mouth when he talked, but I'd be more willing to forgive visual problems like that if the spirit of the character was retained. I hated X3, but one thing I'll give that movie is that they got Beast spot on by casting Frasier star Kelsey Grammer to play the role. Quite simply, there was no more perfect casting choice (aside from Patrick Stewart as Xavier, but that's neither here nor there) because Grammer A) looks like Beast, and B) is famous for playing an intelligent and sophisticated character for twenty years. I watched X3 specifically because of this casting choice, and it was the only thing about that movie that worked. Sadly, that dedication to the portrayal of Beast was not carried over into this film.

I think that's about all I have to say about it. And... I guess it's not bad. But I think I was spoiled by Thor, and some of the slapped-together aspects of this movie stand out more to me than they would have if I'd gone in with lower expectations. I don't know. I guess the best and worst thing I can say about it is that it's OK. It's not really better than OK, but it's not really worse than OK either. It's good for a comic book movie, but it's not good for a movie in its own right. If you like the X-Men, or comic books, or comic book movies, then see it; even if you don't like everything about it you're sure to like something. But if superhero antics aren't enough to get you excited, X-Men: First Class doesn't have anything else to offer. Let your own judgement be your guide. Until next time, I'm Karl, fighting tedium one Kevin Bacon world-domination plot at a time.