X-Men: First Class

2011
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writers: Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn

After four commercially successful albeit mixed quality films, it seems the people at Marvel realised that something was missing from their X-Men films, arguably a necessity to all superhero films: an origin story. Of course, they had covered this slightly with the appropriately titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) but this only focused on one character. What about the rest of the X-Men? There certainly are a lot of them, but most importantly what about Professor X and Magneto. Their wonderfully complex symbiotic relationship is never fully explained, despite it being the basis of much of the conflict in the first two films.

Marvel here took a very bold decision in replacing the whole cast to portray the younger X-Men, here living in the 1960s and doing a very good job of creating an alternative history which I think actually works quite well (It would be great if more comic book films could make an effort of trying to create an enhanced sense of time and place in their diegesis, rather than the generic ‘present day America’ setting most rely on). The script of First Class benefits from its pretty smooth insertion into examples of real life conflict, to create a sense of verisimilitude amongst all the fantasy. It’s also aided by a stellar cast, most notably James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr respectively. We are shown their childhoods in parallel: one is raised in opulence in a mansion in the English countryside, the other held captive in Nazi concentration camp. One grows to become a free-spirited professor, the other an embittered Machiavellian seeking revenge. Their lives cross during their respective searches for Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), the former Nazi who had tortured Lensherr. Now an ageless playboy figure, he has aroused the suspicion of the CIA. Joining forces, the pair works with mutant friendly CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) to build a rag-tag army of mutants to stop Shaw’s dastardly plans for world destruction.

The first problem here is that Shaw is a fairly unsubstantial villain, at least compared to the menacing theatricality of Ian Mackellen in the previous films. The majority of the film contains little threat, at least until we discover his aims in the second half. Instead, he spends most of the film lounging about on boats and submarines and occasionally wearing a plastic hat to stop his thoughts from being read.

The bold ideas of the script are further let down by laboured plotting, as it attempts to fit far too much in at once. The Magneto/Professor X plotline is annoyingly sidelined in favour of a multitude of other underdeveloped characters. Instead, the intricate differences in their personal philosophies are repeatedly presented simply via scenes of them playing chess and discussing the ethics of the mutant situation. Meanwhile the large numbers of supporting characters get even less time, many of them only represented to us through their individual powers: the girl with wings, the guy who is good at high-pitched screaming, etc. They have very little personal development, often presented during the slight montage sequences set to anachronistic soundtracks which don’t entirely fit the tone of the rest of the film. Eventually they are used simply as figures of spectacle in the final battle scene, being pitted against some equally one-dimensional villain sidekicks.

In spite of this, First Class can hardly be described as a boring film. The inevitable epic finale is a lot of fun and all the action scenes are all creditably choreographed. It looks great, with the CGI thankfully mostly unobtrusive and generally aiding the creation of characters. The whole is thing is very well put together, which we’ve come to expect from director Matthew Vaughn after the success of Kick Ass (2010). This film is as equally stylish as well, nicely capturing the James Bond/Mad Men-type aesthetics and feel of its 60s setting and its ambitious globe-hopping. The period seems suitable for the story, with the growing civil rights movements at the time tying possibly tying in with the plight of the mutant characters- whether they should fight to assert their presence and be “mutant and proud” and other such cliché dialogue.

Ultimately, X-Men: First Class is a mixed success. It’s far more sophisticated than most summer blockbusters and much more interesting visually and in content. The period setting makes a welcome change from the usual anonymous present day locations of other comic book films and it makes a greater effort to place character’s personal dilemmas amongst all the bloodless violence and shit blowing up. But a strong idea is let down by a muddled script, which tries to take on too much at once and ultimately leaves a film which is enjoyable but not majorly memorable or iconic in any way.

Final thought- I still can’t understand the title. Is it saying the heroes of the film are superior in some way because of their decision to defend the world? Or is it saying the mutants are a cut above the other humans, the next step up? The film makes great effort to show how the humans are no different from each other regardless of whether they are American or Soviet, as shown by the near-symmetrical framing of them during the boardroom and battleship sequences, and their shared fear of mutants. Ultimately are we more inclined to side with Professor X’s desire for integration but pragmatic realisation that remaining hidden is the best plan, or with Magneto’s campaign against humans to assert their own dominance?