The somewhat spotty X-Men franchise has had its ups and downs over the years, but with X-Men: First Class, director Matthew Vaughn has taken the comic back to its origins and brought it back up to the level of Bryan Singer’s X2 from 2003. Much like Singer’s film (oft considered to be the best in the series), it has its problems, namely that it’s overly earnest, reliant on cheesy exposition and packed too full of incident and characters, but there’s also real intelligence on display. One just has to look beyond the Lycra to see it.
In a bit of narrative jiggery-pokery, we actually begin with the same dramatic concentration camp salvo that opened the first X-Men film, whereby an anguished young Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Son of Rambow’s Bill Milner) is separated from his family in 1944, his sorrow manifesting itself as powerful telekinesis. Vaughn’s film then moves behind the curtain as it were and zips back and forth across the globe to take in Magneto’s 1960s Cold War origins (played as an older man by a fantastic Michael Fassbender), and those of his future friend (and eventual enemy), Charles Xavier (brought to life with boyish verve by the equally brilliant James McAvoy).
The brisk, fluid script (written by, among others, Jane Goldman and Vaughn himself), displays confident intelligence in contrasting the upbringings of the two different mutants, and it’s exciting to see how their conflicted ideologies are shaped. Magneto sets his sights on hunting down his arch-nemesis, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), who shot his mother dead in order to provoke his mutant powers. Compassionate Xavier on the other hand is happy boozing, pulling girls and lecturing on genetics at Oxford, before he too is drawn into the hunt for Shaw by a sympathetic CIA agent, Moira McTaggert (Rose Byrne). Eventually the fates of both Xavier and Lensherr will collide.
As if that outline didn’t make it clear enough, there’s a lot of plot in X-Men: First Class, and the film rushes to whip through the origin story framework. The film takes great pleasure and care in laying out the familiar staples of the comic (including the establishment of Xavier’s mutant school), but struggles to maintain emotional credibility when the various characters either establish trust or betray each other within a few scenes. A more measured pace might help but luckily the film has a terrific cast on its side.
McAvoy is immensely likeable and charismatic, having great fun with Xavier’s laddish roots, and the support cast, notably Jennifer Lawrence as shape-shifting Raven and Nicholas Hoult as conflicted scientist Hank McCoy, put a poignant face on the mutant condition and offer nuanced, heartfelt performances. The problem is the focus is so diffuse that many background players struggle to establish an identity beyond a few humorous touches (although given the film’s earnestness, laughs are welcome). However, it has a secret weapon in the form of the powerful Fassbender, who, as the film’s most compelling, unpredictable and riveting character, is a fascinating, mercurial presence.
He also has the unexpected effect of toppling the film’s nominal villain; Bacon is enjoyably sleazy as ever but Shaw is an underpowered antagonist, and his lackeys (among them January Jones’ Emma Frost and Jason Flemyng’s Azazel) forgettable. Still, there’s an innocent, old-fashioned pleasure in the theatrics that establish Bacon as the initiator of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the James Bond comparisons many critics have made certainly hold water, not just because of the 60s setting but through the lavish, throwback design (all sharp suits, metallic bunkers and roving submarines). It’s yet another indicator of quality in an above-average new franchise-starter that’s overcooked and over busy but nevertheless highly enjoyable.
Rating: 7/10
