Sworn to protect a world that fears and hates them, they are, the X-Men. They are lead by Charles Xavier, or at least they will be. Back in the 1960’s Charles Xavier is just a young man trying to figure out not only his life, but the world around him. Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn brings this prequel/reboot to the big screen as we see how Professor X and Magneto became friends, and then bitter enemies.
Erik Lensherr is a man on a mission. He is out to kill the man who killed his mother and tried to use him as a pawn during the holocaust. Meanwhile a young Charles Xavier has just become a professor and is helping the CIA hunt down the same man Erik is after; Sebatian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon. Charles and Erik gather a band of mutants together to try and bring down Shaw before he starts the Cuban Missile Crisis. Included in this ‘first class’ is Charles's surrogate sister, Mystique, a highly intelligent boy who can hang upside down by his feet named Beast, and another young man who can use his supersonic scream to fly, codename Banshee. It’s the X-Men vs. Shaw and his Hellfire Club as they expose to the world the existence of mutants.
Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. I am a pretty big X-Men fan and have yet to be 100% satisfied with any X-Men film, and this one is no different. Alex Summers is among the X-Men in this film, but Alex Summers is Cyclops's little brother, who is like a son to Charles. You see the continuity flaws beginning? The White Queen, played by January Jones, is also Cyclops's current girlfriend in the comic books, but she is Shaw’s right hand woman in this film back in 1962. That’s going to be one hell of a cougar.
Ok, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest I can focus on the film itself. It starts out very James Bond-esque with Rose Byrne as CIA operative, Moira McTaggert. Did I mention Moira is a scientist in the comic books? Anyway, she is going undercover to expose Shaw while Erik travels the world trying to find him. When Moira ask Charles for help the two cross paths and a legendary friendship begins, but Erik isn’t looking to stop the madman, he aims to kill him. The middle part of the film is where I began to lose interest. They collect some mutants, have their first encounter with Shaw, and soon decide they have to take him down. From there the film picks back up with the X-Men training and finally the showdown during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The veteran actors in this film shine, while the younger, less experienced ones, leave something lacking. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were perfect though as young Charles and Erik. They both made the characters their own. Through their performance we can see that gap from who they are as to who they will become. Kevin Bacon hasn’t done any notable acting in a while, but his return as the villain Shaw is terrific. Finally, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique is quite enticing both in a physical and character arc way. Her and McAvoy help make their characters relationship a key point in this film, and the addition of Fassbender in their triangle is nicely done as Erik tries to show Mystique who she really should be.
The rest of the cast I’m afraid is lacking. They didn’t have enough lines, and were too insignificant as characters to really add anything to the film except a little action. This was not helped by the corny dialogue most of their speaking lines encompassed. I felt January Jones could have done better, especially with her acting chops shining so brightly on Mad Men. At least she was half-naked the whole film.
I think this film could have been better if it didn’t try to include so many characters, and a little tweeking in the script. Former X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer helped write the story and produce the film, but since he didn’t do the script my faith in him as a film maker is not shaken. The film is a great story that didn’t quite come full circle in my opinion, but has some great moments, characters, and action.
Then again, like my wife believes, maybe I judge X-Men movies to harshly because of how much I love the original material. My advice is to just check it out and see for yourself, because as a standalone film it’s pretty good. I can say with 90% confidence is probably better than Pirates 4. I guess I’m just waiting for 20th Century Fox to lose the rights to X-Men so Marvel Studios can take over. Then I can show them my script for the X-Men movie I’ve written and pitch them my trilogy idea. Oh, by the way, enjoy the surprise appearance in the film. I know I did.
Rating: C-
No comments:
Post a Comment