X-Men First Class

X-Men First Class is an extraordinarily frustrating film. I can think of no other film that so lustily flirts with greatness only to be ultimately undone by the predictably unnecessary tropes inherent to its genre. If you read my reviews, you're no doubt familiar with my aversion to synopsizing and lack of reverence for spoilers, so consider this your warning before proceeding.

First, let me address the considerable magnificence contained in the film. I've been nurturing a man crush on Fassbender since 300, Blood Creek and Inglorious Basterds and he justifies my blushing appreciation by turning in a performance that does the unthinkable. I actually forgot about Ian McKellan's take on Magneto watching this movie. He's that good. He brings to the role a potent physicality, wounded anger and tortured determination so palpable it pins you to the back of your seat, wholly mesmerized every time he's on the screen. Mcavoy is also quite good as Xavier and their chemistry is easily the highlight here. They share a scene where Xavier unlocks a memory for Lenscherr he thought lost that caught me off guard with its beauty and tenderness. It easily ranks as one of the most emotional and well acted scenes in any Comic Book film, perhaps any film period. The relationship between the two characters and their dichotomous worldviews has been exhaustingly explored in previous franchise entries, but these master thespians improbably find a way to make it fresh and exhilarating all over again.

Kevin Bacon brought something to the table as the lead villain I never would have expected from him or his character. It's a reinvention along the lines of his sleaze encrusted role in Sleepers, yet totally original and always interesting to watch. His powers are revealed and visually brought to life in a confident, fascinating manner, making him a terrifyingly awesome nemesis, and films such as this live and die by how well the threat is presented.

Playing almost as huge a part in the films success is the jaw dropping costuming and set design. It evokes a fantasy 1960's that contains everything you want from the era while still making it contemporary and believable. Bacon's submarine lair and nightclub backroom are a sumptuous marvel of production design that will no doubt be ignored come Oscar time, but they are entirely deserved of such accolades. I love a movie that creates a world you wish you could swim in forever and X-Men First Class goes above and beyond as far as this is concerned.

So what torpedoes this film exactly? It's what brings down most comic book adaptations. A surplus of decidedly uninteresting and irritating characters shoehorned in to appease dorks who will no doubt wail about inaccurate back story anyway. This film did not need the "First Class". Just like Schumaker's Batman films and the last Spiderman joint didn't need so many bad guys and extraneous nobodies gumming up the pacing and obfuscating the central themes. Magneto is where it's at. When you have a lead actor knocking it the fuck out of the park as Fassbender does here, you're wasting his precious screen time by delving into the training and application of such silly mutants as screamer dude, lame Havok, dragonfly lady and tornado dip shit. There powers were beyond idiotic and the actors portraying them lifeless non-entities. Three mutants on each side would have sufficed. Azazel was cool and in the film exactly as much as he needed to be, but why they cast a top notch actor like Flemyng for the heavily made up, nearly wordless role is beyond me.

Speaking of casting, you can cram as many chicken cutlets into January Jones padded bra as you want, but it doesn't mean she can deliver her lines credibly or with any charisma. Her performance here is as flat as her chest is over inflated. The dude that played beast irked me so much I couldn't tolerate any moment he was onscreen. I don't know what it was, but I could not stand listening to him speak or even looking at his wormy, unlikable face. If they would have excised the bulk of the youngsters, it would have cut 25 minutes off the film and brought the strongest aspects of the narrative into even sharper relief. Casting someone with an ability to register as something other than a bored supermodel would have made Emma Frost a delicious, Bond Villainess worth remembering. As it stands, these missteps rob the film of its masterpiece potential and render it as a regrettably flawed template for what NOT to do when spinning such cinematic yarns.

Don't get me wrong, I loved it despite these flaws and will see it again in theaters. The great stuff is just so tremendously great. The first hour is better than any other X-Men film frankly. I would have much rather it had been Magneto: Nazi Hunter and left the kids at home.