X-Men: First Class

I know I’m in the minority here, but I found X-Men: First Class to be a very disappointing movie. I approached the movie with open acceptance saying that it takes place in an alternate reality.  The producers for whatever reason chose to feature mutants who weren’t the original X-Men from the comics.  Beast was the only standout that survived the transition to this new film.  That’s okay.  I could live with that. The true original X-Men: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Ice Man and Angel are gone. Instead we’re given Havok (Cyclops younger brother Alex Summers), Mystique, Banshee, Angel (a different female character with insect wings who can spit fire) and Darwin (I’ll get back to him in a bit). I was on board for the “All-new, All-different” X-Men and looked forward to the movie.

Giving credit where credit is due, I liked the 60s setting, the instrumentation and the fashion (even though I’m not a fan of movies that take place in the past, I thought this was a nice touch. It distinguished this movie from the rest of the X-Men franchise.

But where my exception began was "Agent" Moira Mactaggert played by Rose Byrne (who did an excellent job of playing the wrong character).  In this imagining of X-Men Moira Mactaggert is an American CIA agent.  A CIA agent…and an American. Are you kidding me? (Notice I'm only using one question mark out of politeness rather than "???" which would be more appropriate).   

The Moira Mactaggert that X-Men readers know and love is  "Doctor" Moira Mactaggert and she’s Scottish.  From the Marvel wiki: “Moira forged a brilliant career as a leading geneticist, earning a Nobel Prize, and founded a Mutant Research Center on Muir Island off the coast of Scotland.” I was outraged when this CIA version said she needed to consult a geneticist on mutation when she should have been the expert.  Rather than destroy the character why couldn’t they have just introduced another woman played by Byrne who was a CIA agent? Dr. Moira Mactaggert could have been introduced in a sequel in her rightful role. Now who is Charles going to consult with about genetic mutation?

"Men call me...Magneto"

With the exception of Magneto played by Michael Fassbender, the rest of the cast seemed like one dimensional cardboard cut-outs. They were horribly under-developed and had little or no personality. The movie barely scratched the surface of their characters. It was more show (off special effects) rather than tell (who these characters were).  

"Cry Havok!"  I almost did when I saw him using his powers like a hula hoop.

Magneto is the only mutant we see in flashback when his mutant powers first emerge.  None of the other characters are given this exposure. None! Xavier seems to have already embraced his telepathy when we see him in flashback and Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence) just shows up, pardon the pun—out of the blue. 

They even look like cardboard cut-outs

With no depth or substance I couldn’t identify with the mutants or care to.  Which is sad given that the movie was over 2 hours long.  As an origin story it wasn’t quite as agonizing as some, but for me the movie didn’t really pick up until the final 30 minutes.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Now, back to Darwin played by Edi Gathegi.  Let me start off by saying that most people know the X-Men is a story about tolerance, diversity and accepting those who are different--even though they are hated and feared by mankind. Why violate those ideals by lowering this film to the offensive proclivity of killing off the token black male character? If the intent was to introduce a character to be killed, why couldn’t they have been white or Asian?  Why is it always the black man? Why? (Again I'm cutting back on the question marks). Some have speculated that it was apropos given the movie took place in the 1960s to carry on this racially insensitive tradition. 

Why is this black man in this film?

I was passed some new information on Darwin that his “reactive evolution” ability should include the transformation into pure energy--a natural counter to Sebastian Shaw’s attack.  Perhaps Hollywood can redeem themselves by bringing him back in a sequel.

Professor X and Magneto during a quiet moment

**END OF SPOILERS**
Due to lack of character development it was a put-off to see these new X-Men screaming like school girls when they were first attacked by the Hellfire Club. 

Speaking of which, I liked Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, the leader of the Hellfire Club. Not only were his abilities awesome and clearly depicted energy absorption, I thought he played the character with outright malice. However, January Jones as Emma Frost--The White Queen was a letdown.  The White Queen from the comics is a sultry, sexy, telepathic siren. This version of the White Queen had all the sex appeal of a Barbie doll.

Barbie, is that you?

Although Emma could turn into diamond form, could someone explain to me how a diamond, one of the hardest substances on Earth, could be cracked by the metallic constraints of Magneto? There's only one explanation: in her younger days she could only transform into cubic zirconia. 

The White Queen in "zirconia" form. I bet there are lots of flaws.

The Black King and The White Queen

Overall, to me, X-Men: First Class was more offensive and insulting than entertaining. I can't recall being awe-struck by any of the special effects like in other superhero movies such as Thor. Most of them were already shown in the trailers which is truly a sign of a bad movie. Sadly, it wouldn't be much of a stretch for me to call X-Men: First Class an atrocity. In fairness, for those not familiar with X-Men comics and their lore, and don’t care about Hollywood stereotypes, this could possibly be one of the better movies of the summer. I, on the other hand, can only hope that the sequel, if there is one, will fix everything that went horribly wrong in the first one.  Out of 5 fingers, I’m giving this movie 2.