Written by James Rawson, New Media, DFI

Film: ‘X-Men: First Class’
Year: 2011
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

The X-Men started life in 1963 as a comic book created by graphic novel demi-Gods Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Almost half a century later and they have spawned one of the most prolific and profitable franchises in film history. In addition to the first three films and the Wolverine spin off, a new film – ‘Deadpool’, with Ryan Reynolds – is now in pre-production, and producer Lauren Shuler Donner is currently fuelling rumours of a Magneto spin-off . ‘X-Men: First Class’, now showing across Doha, is the film that tells us where it all began: how the first mutants came together and asked the world what it really means to be human.

For those of you who don’t know (and there can’t be many) the X-Men are a group of super-powered mutants, the next step in the evolutionary chain, who are led by Professor Xavier through a human world that often fails to accept them. Most mutants use their powers for good, though there are some who fight for evil, but what unites them all is a deep-rooted desire for acceptance.

As the first ever comic books found their ideological origins in the concentration camps of World War 2, so too does ‘X-Men: First Class’. Separated from his mother by the Nazis, a young Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner) discovers his superhuman ability to manipulate metal with his mind. Never one to pass up the possibility of a new military weapon, Nazi general Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) takes Erik into his care and begins toying with his powers. In a moment of staggering cruelty, Sebastian kills Erik’s mother in order to investigate the effect of emotions on the boy’s mutant abilities.

Skip forward to 1962, and the CIA is putting together a new division to research a rising phenomenon: mutants with superpowers. Brought together by CIA operative Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), with the assistance of young British professor and telepath Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and a now grown up Erik (Michael Fassbender), the team collect a small army of mutants (Beast, Havok, Banshee, Angel, Darwin and Mystique, for those who know their source material) to become the first X-Men. Opposing them, in the ‘bad mutants’ camp, are Sebastian Shaw, who we have now found out has the power to manipulate energy, and diamond encrusted psychic Emma Frost (January Jones). Between them, Sebastian and Emma are determined to heat up the Cold War and bring about nuclear war between Russia and America, wreaking havoc amongst mankind. Charles and Erik must try and foil their plans, though Erik’s motivations are confused by his desire to destroy Sebastian and avenge his mother’s death.

Director Matthew Vaughn, still riding high from his success with ‘Kick-Ass’ last year, has a lot of fun bringing together mutants from across the globe, and gives a lot of knowing hints to fanboys (and girls) about story developments to come. The action scenes are by no means mind blowing, and some of the training montages are too cheesy for their own good, but the script and the set pieces are strong enough to keep the film moving along at an enjoyable pace. We all know that Erik will move to the dark side and become Magneto, and that Charles will assume the leadership role as Professor X, and Vaughn invests just enough character development, and evokes the film’s two strongest performances from McAvoy and Vaughn, to make their character arcs engaging.

But for those of you looking for something more substantial than a summer popcorn flick, this might not be what you’re looking for. The first two films (both written and directed by Bryan Singer) where not only great action movies, but they also reflected on the ideas of social outcasts, societies fear of the unknown (remember, this was shortly after 9/11) and the power of fear to cause acts of war and aggression. This meant that the early installations, and X2 in particular, were probably the most timely and politically pertinent comic book adaptations ever made. ‘X-Men: First Class’, however, remains a solid beginning to a new branch of the franchise, and there is certainly scope for this mutant to evolve.