X-men: First Class

Another X-Men movie, this time a prequel, and one that from the offset makes it clear it’s tied in with the continuity of the rest, rather than being a complete reboot. Just to reiterate – I am not one of the Marvel fans who hates the alternate continuity of the films, and nor do I really think they have a case. Sure, you can say it’s ‘wrong’ that these characters have different backstories from those found in the comics, but there are so many retcons, alternate universes and ‘what if?’ stories that any fan should be well used to the idea, and treat movie continuity as just another complementary retelling.

It is the 60s and the height of the cold war. Charles Xavier and his adoptive sister Raven are in Oxford, Xavier pioneering research into genetics and the possibilities of mutation. Meanwhile, Moira McTaggert has been recast as a sexy CIA operative, and after witnessing members of the Hellfire Club showing their powers, enlists Xavier to help her. Teaming up with a young Hank McCoy and using his early version of Cerebro, they locate some more recruits – the other Summer sibling; Banshee, a necessity whenever there’s a Moira about; obscure Darwin and lame soap opera fodder Angel. So as you can tell, this first class is very different from the original group – only Beast was there.

Also on the team is Magneto, who Xavier rescued when he was trying to single-handedly take down the Hellfire Club’s submarine. The club, lead by a Sebastian Shaw here quite inventively recast as a Mengele-type Nazi doctor, has decided to attempt to transform as much of the next generation as possible into mutants by escalating the Cold War and causing a nuclear apocalypse – the hope being that all the radiation will cause lots of mutated genes. With help from Emma Frost and two rather campy henchmen in the form of Riptide and Azazel, the latter not at all suiting this subordinate role, he not only causes the Cuban Missile Crisis but intends to see it turn into a full-blown war.

The film has glaring flaws, but is overall an enjoyable Summer blockbuster which certainly ups the quality after the last few substandard X-Men films. The plot worked, the historical idea was a good one and the cast worked well.

One thing that surprised me was that the special effects were really not up to current standards. This was a problem both with the effects themselves – Angel and Banshee never looked like they were actually flying – but also with the direction, as in that awkward scene in the prologue where the young Magneto unleashes his powers, and the effects really needed to prove themselves but looked artificial, leaving a poor young actor just wandering about yelling unconvincingly.

I wasn’t sure about James McAvoy as Xavier at first (the actor who starred in Atonement and who was a slightly creepy Mr Tumnus in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe), especially as they wrote him at first as an awkward flirt, but as soon as the real plot set in he did very well, and if anything what the film really needed was more of a focus on the relationship between Xavier and Magneto. The choices of which mutants to include were strange – who ever wanted Angel there? Shouldn’t Havoc at least mention his brother? What was going on with the kid from About a Boy’s accent when he was the younger Beast? And do we really need the old cliché about the black member of the group coming true so blatantly? (Sure, maybe Darwin’s powers led to a different fate, but the vast majority of the audience will assume he’s dead.) And all the wrangling to explain why so many of them stayed young so long got a bit awkward, and that’s without even mentioning the annoying Jimmy Howlett story.

And while it does come under alternate timeline, I suppose, I wouldn’t mind Emma Frost being more…Emma Frost-y.

Overall, though, a satisfying, serious comic book film with good humour, warmth and a nice ending. Also some neat little cameos and nods both to fans of the comics and to movie continuity.