X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

x-men: first class (2011) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   131 minutes

Released         |   3 June 2011

cast

James McAvoy ... Charles Xavier (24 Years)
Michael Fassbender ... Erik Lensherr
Kevin Bacon ... Sebastian Shaw
Rose Byrne ... Moira MacTaggert
Jennifer Lawrence ... Raven / Mystique
Nicholas Hoult ... Hank / Beast
January Jones ... Emma Frost
Lucas Till ... Alex Summers / Havok
Caleb Landry Jones ... Cassidy / Banshee
​Zoë Kravitz ... Angel Salvadore

director

Matthew Vaughn

writer

​Ashley Miller ... (screenplay by) (as Ashley Edward Miller) &
Zack Stentz ... (screenplay by) and
Jane Goldman ... (screenplay by) &
Matthew Vaughn ... (screenplay by)
 
Sheldon Turner ... (story by) and
Bryan Singer ... (story by)
 
Jack Kirby ... (based on Marvel's "X-Men" comics by) (uncredited)
Stan Lee ... (based on Marvel's "X-Men" comics by) (uncredited)

cinematographer

​John Mathieson ... director of photography

music

​Henry Jackman ... (music composed by)

film editor

​Eddie Hamilton ... film editor
Lee Smith

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​​​​​​​352,616,690

Australia                 $​​​​​​​​15,532,793

North America       $​​​​146,408,305

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movie minutiae

Though ostensibly a prequel to the entire "X-Men" film franchise, this movie deliberately ignores continuity points of X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2006) and X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009). Matthew Vaughn explained his intention was to "make a good film that could stand on its own two feet regardless of all the other films" and also that could "reboot and start a whole new X-Men franchise". Writer Jane Goldman looked at the film as an "alternate history" for the X-Men - though a reboot, the writers did not want to go fully "against the canon of the X-Men trilogy", citing the various approaches the comic had in over fifty years of publication.

​Matthew Vaughn wanted the film to resemble the productions of the 1960s, with "very traditional framing, and camera movement when it needs to move, not just throwing it around and whizz-bang", and using the anamorphic format "to create a widescreen experience, is emblematic of '60s movies". Vaughn had to hire five cinematographers - with sole credit being given to John Mathieson, who came halfway through the shoot and did half of the film - and four assistant directors to successfully convey the look he wanted for the film.

This movie initially started out as a spin-off focusing almost exclusively on Magneto's backstory which was meant to be part of a planned X-MEN ORIGINS film series, but the idea was then discarded in favour of a prequel that also included Professor X as a major character (he only had a supporting role in the original Magneto script) along with his first class of mutants.

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related movies

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014)

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) MOVIE IMAGES

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X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Following the classic Marvel mythology, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together with other mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 3 June 2014

​​Pop Movee Rating

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS is an entertaining story based on Marvel’s popular comic book property. The film is a big budget project, but it’s the acting talent that makes First Class successful. James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence are great actors and, in their respective roles, deliver performances that help elevate the film to a level that transcends the somewhat forgettable slew of comic book films that have become part and parcel of the American Summer movie season since the beginning of the new millennium.

The film’s story shows the formation of Charles Xavier’s X-Men and Erik Lensherr’s Mutant Brotherhood and, at its core, is a story an individual’s right to exist free of persecution. This theme has always been the core of the X-Men stories, both on film and in the original comic book source material, where ‘Mutant’ powers were a euphemism for the real-world challenges of racism, sexism and religious discrimination.

FIRST CLASS is overt about its theme...

Right from the opening scene, which shows a young Erik Lensherr in a German concentration camp during World War II, the movie does not shy away from depicting both the physical and mental abuse being inflicted upon the film’s main characters. The young Erik’s persecution by Nazi Doctor Sebastian Shaw, played with scenery-chewing glee by Kevin Bacon, is the basis for all that follows and plays directly into the story’s climax. The older Lensherr, played by the versatile & excellent Michael Fassbender, is all consumed in his quest to track down Shaw. His quest for vengeance brings him into contact with Charles Xavier, played by McAvoy, who tries to help Lensherr balance his anger with a desire to show Mutants are humanity’s evolution to something better than what they have been.

At its core, FIRST CLASS is about Charles and Erik working together to find Mutants and convince them to join the fight against Shaw and his efforts to ignite World War III. Lensherr’s underlying motivation is to kill Shaw and avenge his mother’s death. The first act tells the story of how they meet and Xavier’s efforts to convince Erik that life can be good. Despite the Professor’s best efforts, Fassbender plays Erik in such a manner that the audience knows that Charles hasn’t convinced him to take the course of action that’s best for all concerned and not just for himself. When the two are shown working together, the film has some its best moments. The vignettes that depict their recruiting efforts are cleverly done and some of their exchanges provide the film with cross-franchise continuity that helps to clarify and rectify some of the problems created by previous entries.

The time spent establishing the relationships in the first and second acts sees the final act of the film dedicated largely to action and pushing the story to the confrontation between Fassbender’s Lensherr and Kevin Bacon’s Shaw. The film’s writers, of which there were six credited, cleverly use the real historical incident of the Cuban missile crisis as the smoke-screen for Shaw’s plan for world domination and sees the convergence of all of the film’s characters in one place at one time without it seeming forced and manipulative. Without ruining the ending of the film, it’s relatively safe to say that Fassbender’s Lensherr exacts his vengeance with a degree of precision that is consistent with his actions throughout this story, but is also consistent with the older Ian McKellen-version of Magneto from the original trilogy of X-MEN movies.

Director Matthew Vaughan, who had previously walked away from the chance to direct X-MEN 3, was fortunate to secure James McAvoy for the role of the younger Xavier. McAvoy is a seriously good actor and the combination with Fassbender is a believable pairing in light of their older counter-parts from the previous films, played respectively by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

In addition to McAvoy and Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence brings the younger version of Raven/Mystique to life. Rebecca Romajin played the character in the first three films, but she was always secondary to the focus on McKellen’s Magneto. Lawrence’s character takes centre-stage early in the film; meeting Charles Xavier for the first time when both are just children. She becomes a pseudo-sister to him as the pair takes comfort in their respective mutant abilities.

Kevin Bacon and Nicholas Hoult stand-out in their supporting roles as Shaw and Hank McCoy, who becomes the bright blue Mutant ‘Beast’. Kevin Bacon plays Shaw as a pre-cursor to ‘Magneto’ with one major difference. Magneto’s motivation is use Mutant powers to protect their own kind whereas Shaw is just plain evil and aspires to world domination through the control of Mutant powers.

This one-dimensional characterisation does make Shaw seem a touch like the Bond villains of the 1960s and 1970s, whose raison d’etre usually involved new and unique ways to use nuclear weapons to destroy the world! The design of FIRST CLASS suggests a deliberate effort to pay homage to the Bond films, with the impressive set designs utilising large cavernous spaces that provide enough room to fit the ego of a budding megalomaniac!

The challenge faced by FIRST CLASS was always how it was going to reference the three X-Men movies and the stand-alone Wolverine film. While it acknowledges many of the established characters and story arcs, the film is not a slave to its predecessors. The writers wisely choose to not retrofit any of the X-Men III story and also ignore any implications that the stand-alone Wolverine may have had on their story. The success of the story comes from the focus on the relationships, especially between Charles, Erik and Raven. Their story is representative of the greater drama at play in First Class, where there is ‘Light’ and there is ‘Dark’, but there’s also a hell of a lot of grey in between.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) USEFUL LINKS

X-Men: First Class - Wikipedia
​X: First Class (2011) - IMDb
​​X-Men: First Class (2011) - Rotten Tomatoes

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