What Makes "X-Men: First Class" a Great Superhero Action Flick

How one integrates into human society is both a universal experience for all as well as one of the great themes of art. In literature, we have the coming of age novel, or the bildungsroman, and now with X-Men: First Class, we have the best origin story for a team of superheroes -- the Uncanny X-Men.

I viewed the film in a packed theater and wondered how a film with a length of two hours and twelve minutes would entertain over 200 people who had just paid $10.50 for a ticket. At no time was the diverse crowd restless or uninterested, and that is a testament to First Class' quality in terms of script and acting.

The story was conceived by Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer, the latter the director of the 1995 class The Usual Suspects. My understanding of the X-Men comic series is limited, but I remember with glee when the X-Men TV cartoon came out in my adolescence. If you do go to this X-Men film, I suggest doing what I did and reading the X-Men page on Wikipedia. In the film adaptation, we meet the two leads of the film, Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, in a powerful opening sequence that introduces the main conflict of the film: how, or whether, the mutant humans will integrate into normal human society. The villain is also introduced: Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw. The opening sequence also establishes that unlike previous superhero flicks, First Class will be in the realist tradition. The depiction of WWII-era Poland recalls The Pianist and Schindler's List, and indicates that First Class is a big-budget film where no corners have been cut.

Speaking of not taking shortcuts, it was a coup when 20th Century Fox hired James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Kevin Bacon for the lead roles in the film, all of whom are experienced serious actors. It's the interactions between these three that make First Class a first-class movie. All three men know they are superior to ordinary humans because of their genetic mutations. Charles Xavier is a powerful telepath, Erik Lensherr controls metal with his mind, and Sebastian Shaw can absorb kinetic energy and project it outwards. All three have very different ideas for how to integrate into human society, however, and this interplay forms the heart of the film. Xavier/Professor X wants peaceful coexistence with the normal humans, Lensherr/Magneto wants to form a new separatist community of mutants, and Shaw wants to rule the world with a new mutant order led by himself, of course. Joining them are a host of young mutants who will form the factions which will decide both normal and mutant humanity's fate.

One of the pitfalls of the superhero genre is the overuse of CGI (computer-generated imagery) special effects, and perhaps more importantly, how overreliance on CGI can result in cartoonish breaking of the rules of physics. I'm happy to say that despite the fact that First Class is all about mutants who can do impossible things, the film maintains its realism -- more like The Dark Knight adaptation of Batman. This decision allows us as viewers to sympathize with the primary conflict of the film: whether the mutant humans will integrate with, separate from, or dominate the non-mutant humans. Yet we still get to enjoy the amazing powers and epic battles between these superhumans.

In this review, I've explained how script, acting, and the exposition of theme make X-Men: First Class a great movie. Perhaps what's most superhuman about the film is how director Matthew Vaughn limits the capacious world of possibility of the X-Men series to tell a tight, cathartic human story -- how will we integrate into the world? I strongly recommend this film with an 8 out of 10 rating.

Sources

_X-Men: First Class_. Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/

"X-Men." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men.