X-Men: First Class Is Pretty, But Inconsistent

X-Men: First Class is the latest prequel to the the famous comic strip-turned-film series from Marvel. The movie tells the story of Professor X and Magneto before they were Professor X and Magneto, working with other mutants to develop their abilities. As such, the film features a completely different, younger cast, with big shoes to fill.

As a stand-alone film, First Class was entertaining because the effects were visually appealing, the period pieces were accurate, and the plot was compelling. As a prequel to the X-Men saga, however, it fell short. The film had good tie-ins to the other installments in the series – I liked Hugh Jackman’s cameo and the origins of the X-Men’s SR-71 and Magneto’s telepathy-proof helmet – but poor overall continuity.  Having seen the other live-action X-Men films, I could not overlook the enormous number of plot discrepancies between this prequel and the other movies.  X-Men has fallen into the same prequel trap as Star Wars.  First Class ensures that the story lines match up merely from a plot perspective – Magneto and Xavier need to have a falling out, Xavier must eventually become paralyzed, etc. –  but muddled and confused motivations and personal histories that the other films had already defined. In X-Men, Xavier has clearly never seen Mystique before and needs to discover her ability to change forms, but First Class has them growing up together.  In X-Men: The Last Stand, Magneto and Xavier meet Jean Grey in the 1980s together (with Xavier walking), but First Class has their separation and paralyzation occurring in the 1960s.  (Then again, X-Men: Origins had the continuity problem well in hand by having Wolverine meet a majority of the characters who acted like they had never met him in the first movie).  If you’re going to make a prequel, could you at least bother to take the time to re-watch the other movies first?

I found myself in a love-hate relationship with this film.  Some the new characters were engaging and likable – Beast (Nicholas Hoult) was phenomenal in the way he made the character come to life, and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) played out his transformation well.  At the same time, Emma Frost (January Jones), who also made an appearance in X-Men: Origins, would perhaps have been better off playing a mutant who could turn into wood.

I also feel as though the director didn’t fully understand the relationships between familiar characters and didn’t have a grasp of some of the characters we’ve known since the original X-Men.  To fans, who have been privy to the old and strained friendship between Prof. Xavier and Magneto thanks to the first three films, this prequel’s interpretation came as a shock.  Confrontational conversations, chess games, and prison visits have shown these two men to be friends who, despite having view-points at opposite ends of the spectrum, still strive to work together and change each others’ minds.  First Class tried to mimic this friendship, but contained odd moments where it seemed as though Xavier was mentoring Magneto as a teacher rather than giving concerned advice as a friend.  While this behavior is understandable for his initial “students,” it felt wrong being applied to someone who has always been portrayed as his equal.

A scene I continue thinking back to when judging this film was when a young Magneto first uses his powers.  It begins by redoing the wonderfully directed opening scene of X2: X-Men United, where Magneto tears down a gate in a Polish concentration camp.  However, that section is the only part of the scene I like, which I think is due to the original director.  This film added a Frankenstein-esque plot line by fitting Dr. Shaw into Magneto’s backstory to become his “creator.”  The scene then shifts to Magneto in the office of a Nazi doctor, trying to move a metal coin.  The scene ends with the young Magneto going out of control crazy and destroying everything metal in the office.  But, for a two minute expression of rage, young Magneto (Bill Milner) appears to be only putting on a mask of anger with no real feeling behind it.  The anger this scene evokes in him is the driving point of his character, and as such, this moment should come to define his every action and thought.  Partly, it does just that, through Magneto’s actions; however, his dialogue does not follow.  If he knew Sebastian Shaw as Dr. Schmidt, he would call him that despite the CIA referring to him as Shaw, because he only sees the man as the Doctor who took everything away from him.

On its own, I enjoyed how First Class revolved its plot around the events of the 1960s – the Russians, WWIII, and the Cuban Missile Crisis – in an attention-grabbing story.  It was a good film in and of itself and partially accomplished the goals of a prequel by providing more in-depth exposition to the existing series.  However, X-Men fans may not like its continuity problems and the inexperience of new actors playing familiar characters.

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