Year:  2011 Country:  United States Studio:  20th Century Fox Runtime:  2 hrs. 12 min. Rated:  PG-13 Directed by:  Matthew Vaughn Written by:  Ashley Miller Written by:  Zack Stentz Written by:  Jane Goldman Written by:  Matthew Vaughn Written by:  Sheldon Turner Written by:  Bryan Singer Starring:  Michael Fassbender Starring:  James McAvoy Starring:  Kevin Bacon Starring:  Jennifer Lawrence Similar Films: 

X-Men

X2

X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

It has it’s moments, but it ultimately does nothing new.

X-Men: First Class begins primarily following one character: Erik Lehnsherr (the man who will later be come to known as Magneto). Then a few more characters step into focus. Then a handful more after that. Finally, we are left with an ensemble. As more and more of these characters crowd the stage, there is less and less opportunity to develop any of them. This would be fine if the action scenes created through these characters were particularly exciting or original. Unfortunately, they are not. This is currently the fifth installment in the X-Men film franchise. By this point, they need to either do something new or focus heavily on characterization and drama. X-Men: First Class is content to deliver more of the same while trying to expand the franchise’s mythology.

At the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, mutated, superpowered humans begin to pop up around the world. They are the next major step of human evolution. Some of them believe it their destiny to succeed humankind, and an apocalypse would be merely an expedited path to perfection. Fortunately for them, there’s a Cold War just waiting to blow up, and all they have to do is provide the spark. On the other hand, there are some mutants who want simply to be accepted for who and what they are and to live with other humans on a basis of mutual respect. This dynamic sets up the plot, with the protagonists fighting against those mutants who would plunge our world into a nuclear wasteland in order to rule what’s left (apparently, they believe there would indeed be something left).

Ultimately this is a film about embracing our differences. As mutants begin to make themselves known to the United States government, even those who are working with them are deemed to be outcasts. Some of the mutants even despise their own idiosyncrasies, wanting to be, or at least look, normal. Through an opening sequence depicting Lehnsherr as a child, the film draws a parallel between this type of prejudice and the Nazi party during World War II. The Nazis wanted to enforce their own vision of purity and uniformity upon the human race: blue eyes and blonde hair. Of course, the end result of that ideal was devastating. Since mutants, by their very nature, are deviations from normalcy, for the general populace to accost them as such is to revert to the Nazi ideal. On the other hand, though, the elitist of the mutants ultimately wish for little more than their own form of genocide. The tragedy is that they don’t realize the parallel.

This theme of pluralism and acceptance, however, is a thin blanket draped over the action. In the end it all comes back to that same meaning, but that meaning itself is never explored. It’s exposited, and then we watch characters fight for the ideal of human/mutant equality while keeping bad guys from igniting a third World War. We see some characters struggling with deciding which side to serve, and we see some make the decision to join the mutant revolt against the humans who will not accept them, but we never feel the emotional difficulties involved in doing so. In fact, their decisions often seem to be quite easily arrived upon.

This would all be fine if the action scenes were more engaging. What we get are generic action scenes with frequent special effects flourishes – just like every other science fiction comic book-based film. There is one sequence in which we are introduced to the young X-Men, who demonstrate their abilities as if they knew our camera was on them. During these moments, the music intensifies, trying to convince us of the magnitude of awesome at hand. For any modern day viewer, however, this is nothing special. It’s difficult to wow audiences with character superpowers in an age when even mid-budget television shows can deliver the same.

Throughout these action scenes, the writers try to slip in meaningful dialogue. Unfortunately, the little space left for them to do so means that any attempts at creating such dialogue leads to oversimplified moralism. During one intimate scene between two mutants who loathe their unique appearance, one of them speaks the lines, “You are beautiful,” and “You shouldn’t be trying to fit into society.” These are, of course, clichés. I understand the writers’ intentions here. It’s just that they really don’t have the time to develop the ideas that they want to develop. So, the execution feels forced.

I don’t believe that the writers were blind to the fact that it would be difficult or impossible to allow roughly a dozen main characters on screen and develop them all sufficiently. It seems, instead, that they simply allowed themselves to develop the first several characters while they had the chance until the movie went into overdrive with superheroes all over the place, at which point the action, presumably, could carry the film itself. This is not an unreasonable approach. The problem is that the action provides little that we haven’t seen before. There are a few exciting scenes, particularly one character’s lifting of a submarine out of the water, but on the whole, X-Men: First Class doesn’t do much of anything.

Similar Posts:

Share