The mutants: we even care about them.
The optimal
age for watching X-Men: First Class is fifteen. This prequel to the
series has heroes, villains, action, explosions, and above all it has an
enormous yuck factor - as in people who melt, spit fire, and turn blue. I had
the questionable pleasure of watching this movie in a theater full of teen-age
boys and middle-age men. After the screen went dark at last, they headed in a
block for the lobby where they stood around the candy stand discussing the
physics and philosophy of action movies, much as academics might discuss a
performance of Hamlet or opera lovers The Marriage of Figaro.
The movie
opens with a wallop. In a World War II concentration camp a young boy is
separated from his parents when an iron gate slams shut. In horror, the boy
rivets his eyes and screams toward the gate, willing it to open. It does, though
just a little. Dr. Schmidt (Kevin Bacon) sees immediately that the boy has
special powers that will fit neatly into his own post war plans to create a
tribe of mutants whose powers will tame mankind. But Erik refuses the offer and
the plotline is set. It will be Erik (Michael Fassbender) vs. Dr. Schmidt, aka
Sebastian Shaw. Driven by the indelible image of that gate, Erik will use his
power of focus to find Schmidt.
Teaming up
with Charles, an aspiring British academic similarly endowed with a special
power (mind reading), Erik and his new friend decide to assemble a band of
mutants. Together they train ferociously, and often comically, for the shared
goal of finding Schmidt who, they have learned, is planning to provoke World War
III between America and Russia (it's 1962, and the Cuban Missile Crisis is under
way). Their challenge: save the world and avenge Erik's parents in one stroke by
destroying Shaw.
How much fun
is it to watch all this? For a summer blockbuster with comic book roots, quite a
lot. By now we know all about each mutant and his/her special ability. We even
care about them. Each has some comic vulnerability to offset a particular
strength. They are almost, if not quite, adorable. It's awfully hard to love an
alien robot, but these are real people with an emotional range we understand
with the addition of a magical gift that passed the rest of us by. Kevin Bacon
is wonderfully evil while James McAvoy and Michael Fassbinder are appealingly
pure. January Jones is a deadly dull ice princess.
Off the Cuban
shore, the Russian and American navies face each other in two lines that
resemble the redcoats and the colonials in the Revolution; but this time it is
missiles, not muskets, that are aimed across the line. The mutants you have come
to know and love bravely assume the challenge of world peace. Get ready for an
ocean battle in a special effects extravaganza that will thrill the most
demanding action lover.
Copyright (c) Illusion