X-men first class is directed by Mathew Vaughn. X men first class is also written by British screen writer supremo Jane Goldman. Together they formed to create the superbly sharp, rebellious and funny Kick Ass. With Kick ass they created a sharply witted superhero film with a catch-it wasn't really a super hero film. It was in a genre inhabited by no other. This time they have competition. The X-Men universe has expanded over 4 films and all with limited success. The Kick Ass team can hardly been seen as original on a story basis, with Kick Ass being adapted from characters created by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr and X-men's universe already expanded over 40 years of comics. Vaughn and team have revitalised The X-men series but at a price. This X-men seems out of place, if we are looking at the series as a whole, compared to the height of the great X-men series (well apart from the one giving to us by Brett Ratner).Pause for shudder.
The film starts the way it should, at the start of the first X-men. Erick (Michael Fassbender) is in the concentration camp which was only teased at in the first. Here we learn how he came about his power through blind emotion and anger. This leads us to Charles Xavier (James Mcavoy)a slightly odd child wondering why his mother is in their kitchen. This brings us to Raven (Jenifer Lawrence) who is invited to be Xavier's best friend. Jump ahead 20 years, Charles is the professor on mutation and Raven is still by his side. Erick is now trying to find the killer of his mother Sebastian Shaw (Kevin bacon) but there are others, even humans, who share the same goals. In the beggining X-men First Class sets itself up with everything tonal in balance, working on the strengths of the first two films, instead of the rushed approach to the last stand. There even seems to be a directors personal touch to the film, with a visually thrilling sequence matching at least the versatility and speed of sequences in Kick Ass.
Jumping ahead to the 60's will have certain consequences. The CIA are after Sebastian, who has every country leader and commander in his back pocket. Moria Mactagert (Rose Byrne) see's things she could have lived without, seeing an interaction between the American commander to start the Cuban missile crisis. So far, so real. She enlists the help of Xavier, asking not the questions of science but of life. Have species evolved so much as to have created another race. This starts to get more complex with Raven and Xavier travelling with the CIA on mission to capture Sebastian Shaw. But not if Erik get's there first. This is where they first meet, which we know forms their friendship. Before everyone is introduced and bonds are formed (essentially the X-men as we know it) the film is, for the first time in a superhero film, interesting. We learn of a friendship between Raven and Xavier untouched by the previous films and we see a time when Magneto was an underpowered and angry adult with revenge being the only thing set on his mind.
But when did the writers get lazy, when did they doze off leaving us with fillers rather than actual drama. Once the team is formed all we are given is an orgins film with one point-to give answers to questions we don't really need answering. It was interesting to see that Raven (also known as the blue laced goddess Mystique) was part of the good side, having a relationship with Xavier and being persuaded by the tactics of Magneto- other mutants aren't the enemy, humans are. But do we really need to know why she is called Mystique, why cerebro is cerebro, why they have that plane, why magneto is called magneto? The answer from the writers is to doing is swift and quick manner using dull contrivances "you know what you should be called....... X-men". The series can hardly being seen as built around human emotion but at least it had room for a dramatic range and stories build around characters. First class attempts to do the same thing but with stories so thickly based around character it's strange that it's so lacking in character.
The superhero film it mostly reminded me of was the underappreciated Hell boy, a juggernaut of horror, fantasy, drama, comedy. A superhero film with the Guillermo Del Toro trademark across every scene. Vaughn has the same sensibility as the Hell boy film, having similar intentions to blend action and comedy, but it's a much nosier if similarly energetic film. But the surprise coming from Vaughn, or more Goldman, is that the film can simply be branded cheesy.
The film is X-men and feels like X-men but yet it lacks the almost sophistication or the seriousness of the first two, resorting sadly to what we all feared: The Brett Ratner school of script writing. This is, tonally, much more childish and cartoonish. Maybe it's because of the inclusion of a younger cast and a younger generation of superhero’s but this is the watered down version of a series of better films, to a breed of a new generation of blockbusters, X-men fans and cinema goers who have so far been treated to 3D and forgettable sequel, after sequel. The age of comic book films is not fresh now; it has now grown its own genre, it’s own following and fan base. There is still a market for these films but for how much longer can we hold out for a new story cantered around X-men? For me everything that has been said has been said and somehow i just miss Wolverine.He was the reason why we had X-men (hence why origins was pointless).His story was compelling, his character was interesting.He was the wit, appeal and drive of X-men.
I was completely taken off guard by Kick Ass but X-men first class has taken a talented duo, responsible for making a superhero film successfully about Kids and has now made a super hero film for kids, a demographic which the original films and even the Hell Boy films didn’t always appeal to. It will suck you in with a engrossing sub plot only to take you out with a somewhat cheesy sense of campness.
However there is enough, in an otherwise similar slice of superhero life, to grant the audience its predictable needs. At least the one crime that isn't committed is that no matter how many flaws there are with the film-it can't be called boring. This is the X-men origins story we all want but what else has X-men first class really expanded on. Whatever you think of X-men First Class it's better than The Last Stand and certainly not X-men origins: Wolverine.
** ½ / ****
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