X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
June 3rd 2011 06:00
Category: Movies
When I heard that this film was about to be shown at my local cinema I was filled with first elation, then dread as I was worried it was going to be in 3D and due to my previous eye conditions, two detached retinas and short-sightedness I just don’t do 3D. Fortunately though the makers of this particular instalment in the X-Men saga didn’t cave into the seeming craze to do blockbuster flicks in the third dimension, they just opted instead to try and make a decent movie. Satisfied that it was going to be a normal film I made my through the hurly burly of my hometown to get a good seat and enjoy some entertaining action in the early afternoon.
One it comes to the X-Men there are a great deal many questions about certain aspects of the characters and the whole back-story of this particular Marvel franchise. No doubt there have been various retellings of how this happened and why this character is this way or why the X Men were formed in the first place. In fact in this particular movie the story goes some way back to the source of why the X Men were formed and why they came to exist in the first place, although there have been some slight reworking of the original comic story but the general emphasis remains the same.
It’s the nineteen sixties; the world is in the throes of what could be a new Age of Aquarius, a thawing of the Cold War and paradoxically at the point of the last bright flash before nuclear annihilation. And for most people that’s what they’re facing as they live out their lives, they have no idea that the world is even more frightening than the looming spectre of nuclear annihilation. In fact there has been something else lurking on the fringes of society since the final years of the Second World War, something that has much to do with that particular conflict as it does with the advent of atomic power; mutants.
Afraid of what their fellow man may think of them mutants have hidden their abilities and powers from society at large, after all the atrocities of Auschwitz. Belzec and Sobibor are still fresh in the minds of survivors so what would humanity do if it discovered the existence of mutants within its ranks? And it is this particular black stain on humanities history that will determine the course of events to come, although the initiator of those events is not who you would expect it to be. Erik Lehnsherr, the man who will become Magneto starts out as a protagonist in this film alongside Charles Xavier, a man whom he regards as his best friend and someone who he will eventually split with due to irreconcilable differences of opinion.
So if Magneto is one of the good guys then who is the villain of the piece; who is the primary antagonist in this drama? Enter Sebastian Shaw, founder of the Hellfire Club and manipulator of energy; in fact it’s due to this unique talent that he is able to maintain such a youthful appearance. Played by Kevin Bacon Shaw is what you could say is a rather understated villain, in fact in the first part of the film you have no real idea as to what his plans are nor do you realise his connection to the origins of Mangeto and his connection there is somewhat surprising. And then there is his manipulation of political events, events that lead to the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis which brings the world onto the veritable brink of destruction…something that Shaw desires above all as at the end of the day nuclear war will see him rise to the top, the leader of a new mutant super race something far superior to any ubermensch conjured by Nazi ideologues although he fails to realise that he’s just stealing their ideas and their methodology.
Ironically though his ambition and ability are not enough, like all would be dictators Shaw ends up being supplanted by someone with a bit more resolve, a bit more vision and the drive to attempt to see it through. Even though this movie is very much about how Charles Xavier became the man he became and how he forged the team known as the X Men it is also very much about Erik Lehnsherr, the man who would become Magneto and forge the Brotherhood, a mutant revolutionary army one could say. He has been tempered in the fires of Nazi brutality and it has formed his worldview and methodology, even though there is a part of him that realises that Xavier is not some completely hopeless idealist. He sees that Xavier in and of himself is very much a positive force although he doesn’t feel he is strong enough to effect the ways of the world.
X Men:First Class is as I said earlier a first class film, Michael Fassbender is superb as the young Erik Lehnsherr as is James McAvoy as the young professor Charles Xavier. In fact all of the cast are well cast into their roles and play them to the hilt, giving the story just that extra oomph to make it into a truly entertaining feature. This film has it all, action, laughs, suspense and moments of pathos where you just want to cry at the sheer gut wrenching emotions being invoked. Although my favourite moment in the entire flick is the little Wolverine cameo with Hugh Jackman again reprising the role of this legendary character. If you have some spare time on your hand what are you doing…get out and see X-Men: First Class…
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