X-Men: First Class (2011)
After the disastrously middle-of-the-road third entry in the franchise, an origin story actually seemed like a good idea for X-Men, even in a movie landscape populated by them. Matthew Vaughn’s film takes us back to World War II where, as a child, Magneto exhibits his first surge of magnetic power as Nazi General Kevin Bacon (overegging it) kills his mother. Years later, Magneto (now played by Michael Fassbender) is on the hunt of the man who killed his parents, but instead joins James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique to recruit a group of new X-Men for the US government. This early recruiting montages are the best part of the film – zippy, fun and underscored by the chemistry of its leading men – but the film falls into trouble later. By trying to introduce so many new characters, it means that some of the less familiar mutants are short-changed, a problem that isn’t helped by having both Mystique and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) replay Anna Paquin’s character arc from the original films. Fortunately, after a lot of dawdling (First Class clocks in at well over two hours), we reach a thrilling final set piece, which sees Vaughn re-imagine the Cuban missile crisis as a stand-off between two bands of superheroes, one led by McAvoy, losing his hold over an increasingly disenfranchised team, and Bacon’s sneering villain. It’s wonderfully executed, powerful stuff, with a killer ending. Unfortunately, though, and in spite of Vaughn’s best efforts to dress the franchise in retro-cool clothing, it’s too diffuse an effort to really hit home, wasting an impressive cast in one-dimensional roles and only occasionally sputtering to life thanks to its sense of spectacle and its lead performances.
