14 DAY TRIAL // After the damage done to Marvel’s “X-Men” franchise with the last two poorly received outings, “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” it was about time it got a reboot. Call it that or call it a prequel, or even a sequel, but Matthew Vaughn’s latest film is definitely “first class.”
Like any good superhero movie, “X-Men: First Class” starts with a scene in a Nazi concentration camp. The year is 1944, and little boy Erik Lehnsherr is being separated from his mom in a camp in Poland, as the evil Dr. Schmidt watches on from a window.
As the SS guards pry the boy away from his only remaining relative, in his anger and frustration, he bends a heavy metal gate solely with the power of his mind – and Dr. Schmidt naturally takes notice.
Played by Kevin Bacon with delicious sadism, he later offers the boy a choice: move a coin on a table or your mother will be hurt. The confrontation is tense, unfair and, above all, tragic. It’s also useful, marking the beginning of the story of Magneto.
Fast forward to 1962: as the now-grown up and ever stylish Erik (Michael Fassbender) travels the world to look for the man who killed his mother, now going by the name of international supervillain Sebastian Shaw (also Bacon, just as superbly menacing as ever), we also get a better look Charles Xavier (James McAvoy).
He too has supernatural powers of his own, though he chooses not to use them, at least not until he finds a way for humans and mutants to peacefully coexist.
That’s right, there’s more of them, and Erik is not alone: when he was still a child, Charles discovered a little blue, scaly girl called Raven in his kitchen, and the two decided to grow up together.
Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), unlike Charles, who is now studying to become a professor in genetic mutations, is not really that psyched about being a mutant, especially since her powers would mean she’d have to freak everybody out with her uncanny skin color and yellow eyes (back then, Na’vis were clearly not as popular as they are today).
CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) comes to Charles for help: Sebastian Shaw is about to do something really bad, something that will potentially throw the world in a nuclear war, and the agency can use whatever help it can get.
Thus, viewers get a “first class” history lesson, in that the Cuban Missile Crisis had mutant fingerprints all over it. Nay, it was actually provoked and eventually prevented from escalating by these beings with powers no human (with or without a fancy weapon) could ever match.
Erik and Charles eventually meet, realizing they have a common enemy. Alas, their motives for wanting to get to Shaw before he carries out his dastardly evil plan, are different – and will put quite a damper on their beautiful friendship and collaboration.
This being an “origin story” by all means, it functions to explain things that fans have been wondering about for over a decade, since the first “X-Men” film came out.
While this could work against “First Class,” in that you can’t really build suspense if you already know what the outcome will be, the solid acting from the cast and Vaughn’s excellent use of VFX, action cuts, humor and wit prevent that from happening.
The variety of subplots and themes also helps, from romantic connections to the ever-popular topic of social acceptance and whether being “different” should be vilified or glorified.
“First Class” is not just any superhero movie: it’s a superhero movie with a heart, allowing room for tenderness and violence to the same extent. When either is shown, it’s gloriously stunning.
In this sense, no romantic subplot (not even the beautifully developed and rendered relationship between Erik and Raven, aka Magneto and Mystique) can match the beauty of the bromance between the two leads.
Without coming off as too mushy or wussy, the bond between Erik and Charles is truly something to behold: they can be tough yet charming, threatening yet still very emotional, silent but eloquent. When the two exchange ice-cold blue gazes, one feels their connection without the need of a single line of dialog.
It may have seemed unlikely for anyone (let alone two young actors) to replace Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan in the roles they owned in the first “X-Men” film, but it just happened: this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship / rivalry for McAvoy and Fassbender, and of a blockbuster franchise for Marvel.
“X-Men: First Class” runs for 132 minutes (but is not one second too long) and is rated PG-13 for scenes of violence and gore, mild profanity and nudity. It opened in the US on June 3, is now running in Italy and Greece, and will end its run in Georgia on June 23.
The Good
The Bad
The Truth
“X-Men: First Class” international trailer
“X-Men: First Class” Mystique trailer
