”
X-Men: First Class,
”
which opened last weekend escaped the fate of other long-running
franchises that run out of fuel but keep on making movies. That was
the case with
”
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,
”
the fourth in an installment that had too little plot to make it
an enjoyable watch. The
”
X-Men
”
has enough stories to keep it flush in movies for years to
come.
The latest film is a prequel to the trilogy that finished in
2006. Shortly after the trilogy ended, rumors began circulating
that the
”
X-Men
”
stories weren’t over. The new idea in Hollywood was to select a
handful of characters and develop movies about their background to
fill in all the gaps that were missing in the ensemble films. The
first such movie was
”
X-Men Origins: Wolverine,
”
in which viewers finally learned how Logan became the man with
the metal skeleton and how he lost his memory.
“X-Men: First Class,” which opened last weekend escaped the fate of other long-running franchises that run out of fuel but keep on making movies. That was the case with “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the fourth in an installment that had too little plot to make it an enjoyable watch. The “X-Men” has enough stories to keep it flush in movies for years to come.
The latest film is a prequel to the trilogy that finished in 2006. Shortly after the trilogy ended, rumors began circulating that the “X-Men” stories weren’t over. The new idea in Hollywood was to select a handful of characters and develop movies about their background to fill in all the gaps that were missing in the ensemble films. The first such movie was “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” in which viewers finally learned how Logan became the man with the metal skeleton and how he lost his memory.
The newest film gives the back stories of a few of the characters that figure prominently in the earlier movies (set at a later date,) including Professor Xavier and Magneto. Other characters include Mystique and the Beast, as well as a mix of X-Men that do not appear in the previous films. Fans of the comic book series might be more attune to all the extra characters.
Bryan Singer, who was involved in the trilogy, and Sheldon Turner wrote the story on which four screenwriters created the screenplay. Matthew Vaughn directed. One of the key components of making the film work is that Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) had to show glimpses of the men they would become (who viewers already know well from the trilogy.) McAvoy and Fassbender were up against two great actors – Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen – but they both hold their own well on the screen.
The movie starts when the heroes are young children. Young Charles (Laurence Belcher) is a rich kid who lives in a mansion in upstate New York. He discovers there are others with mutations like him when Raven (Morgan Lily) breaks into his house to get a snack, posing as his mother. Charles and Raven stay close friends even after Charles moves to Oxford to complete a PhD on the biology of mutations.
While those two are enjoying life, Erik (Bill Milner) discovers his powers when he is in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) uses pain and anger to unleash Erik’s great power. Years later, after the war has ended Shaw has escaped prosecution but Erik vows to find him and kill him.
The trio intersects when a CIA agent contacts Charles (McAvoy) about his thesis. When trailing a general in a Las Vegas night club, Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) sees a few things she can’t explain – namely a couple of mutants who work for Shaw. Charles confirms that the mutations he wrote about in his thesis do already exist. He is recruited by the CIA to help hunt down Shaw, who is trying to start World War III. The movie is set during the Cold War, so tensions are already high between the U.S. and Russia.
Just as the CIA is closing in on Shaw, Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender) is closing in on him, too. Not yet known as Magneto, Erik is not as strong when it comes to manipulating metal. Charles saves his life as he tries to stop Shaw’s submarine from escaping. Charles also sees inside Erik’s mind so he knows the anger, pain and life that he has lived.
While the movie focuses mainly on the X-Men trying to stop Shaw and a nuclear war, the movie also focuses on the characters figuring out a lot about themselves. Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) struggles the most. She is jealous of Charles, whose mutation is something he can hide from others. She can hide her blue skin, but it takes a lot of energy for her to portray the blond-haired beauty Charles is willing to take out in public with him. Scientist Hank McCoy (Nichols Hoult) works for the CIA and has been hiding his own mutation from the public eye. As he gets to know more about Raven, who will be known as Mystique before the movie is up, he decides he could use her blood to create an antibody that would make her appear normal without losing her special abilities. He’s hoping a serum would cure him as well. But as she spends more time with other mutants, including Magneto, Mystique begins to wonder if she really needs to hide.
Though Charles and Erik work together for much of the movie, they clash on some basic principals. Charles doesn’t want to harm anyone while Erik is just waiting to get Shaw alone to exact his revenge. Erik has little patience for people who hunt down others based on superficial differences, as its something he’s lived through once in his life. The movie gives a lot of insight into how the men became enemies in the later films, but enemies who had a clear understanding of each other.
