| X-Men: First Class |
| Director: Matthew Vaughn |
| PG-13 |
| 132 minutes |
| Writers: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Bryan Singer |
| James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult |
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…Knowing others is intelligent.
Knowing yourself is enlightened
Conquering other takes force.
Conquering yourself is true strength…
-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Yes, there has been way too many (mostly disappointing) comic book movies this year. That being said, I walked in to this film, knowing it would be at least half-way decent. With all those bad X-Men sequels, they are bound to make a good one…eventually.
This is the fifth X-Men movie. It takes place before the first. I guess you could call it the ‘Attack of the Clones’ of the X-Men film franchise; speaking chronologically, not in overall movie quality. For the record: this movie is much better than the worst Star Wars film ever made.
In this post 9/11 world, Cold War Nostalgia is all too prevalent. Things where so much simpler back in the day. The line between good and evil: The Berlin Wall. The only thing we really had to worry about was a complete nuclear holocaust.
Rocky IV, WarGames Doctor Zhivago. This is another epic Cold War film, a piece of historical fiction. Most of this movie centers on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Characters
Charles Xavier: played by James McAvoy, and does a superb job in this role; he was much better suited for this role than Patrick Stewart
Magneto: (Fassbender) The English film critic from Inglorious Basterds. Playing a young Magneto. He could not outshine Ian McKellen, but Fassbender still gave a solid performance.
Sebastian Shaw (Bacon), looks like an ordinary businessman. But as it turns out, he is really Kevin Bacon. A titan of industry, hell-bent on world domination.
“Kick off your Sunday shoes”
Shaw is like Lex Luthor, only with mutant powers. What are these mutant powers? Do they involve decent acting, or sticking it to the man, with his super-awesome dancing abilities?
The answer is a resounding no. Shaw has the ability to absorb kinetic energy. All this energy makes him younger, or something to that effect.
Quite easily one of Kevin Bacon’s best roles. He does a fine job playing a Nazi — rivaling only that of Adolph Hitler himself.
Ridiculous Characters
Beast: (Hoult) An articulate, intelligent, well read man. Looks like a blue ‘Tony the Tiger’; Kelsey Grammer almost pulls this off. The beast is a character that looks cool in a comic book, but he just looks silly on the silver screen.
Angel Salvadore: A lady of the night, works at the Hellfire Club. She has tattooed wings on her back; these can turn into real, fly-like wings. Angel is put in this movie to replace ‘Storm’ (Berry).
Azazel: Looks like the devil, goatee and all. He is a Demonic Non Humanoid Mutant. Really, Demonic Non Humanoid Mutant? Sounds like a contradiction in terms. After extensive research, I discovered Azazel is actually part of a mutant sect of a parallel species of humanity…my bad.
Justin Tyme: A punctual man, showing up to places at the agreed upon time. As his name would suggest, he is a late-night DJ at a soft-rock radio station.
X-Men: First Class is about as good as the first X-Men (2000). The main purpose of this film was to entertain, and it did the job just fine. First Class is an entertaining movie, that should have had a better conclusion.
So what was the main point of this movie?
Perhaps we are all capable of evolving into better people, even those of us who are pretty close to perfect.
Final Verdict: 82 out of 100