X-Men: First Class wasn’t necessarily designed to be part of the original trilogy’s continuity. X-Men: The Last Stand was a discredit to the series. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was poorly constructed and seemed to be slapped together with only a brief afterthought. The cinematic universe started by Bryan Singer had become somewhat fractured. Yet, he somehow manages to return to the characters he brought to the screen in 2000 and create continuity across all movies, asking the audience to forgive only a couple missteps without explanation.
From the Origins To The First Class, A Last Stand for the X-Men
This cross-cast adventure starts in a dystopian police state run by Sentinels, the fallout of a pivotal murder in the 70’s. A reactionary measure is punishing mutants and mutant sympathizers. They even punish people with genetic code that will lead to mutant children. The X-Men have been hunted down by the Sentinels whose power is almost limitless with technology that allows them to adapt to and mimic each individual mutant they face. As their numbers dwindle, the X-Men make one last desperate attempt to correct course. Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) consciousness is sent back in time, courtesy of Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page). Waking up in the 70’s, Wolverine has a short amount of time to unite Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) in order to stop Mystique’s (Jennifer Lawrence) murderous plot.
Not Just Another Wolverine Movie
Understandably, Fox has always leaned pretty heavily on Jackman’s Wolverine; he’s a fan favorite. Even though he’s the thread that ties these two worlds together, he’s hardly the focal point of the plot. While we don’t spend a lot of time with the new characters, Bishop (Omar Sy), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Sunspot (Adam Canto), and Warpath (Booboo Stewart) have joined the X-Men in their fight against the sentinels. The fight choreography in their scenes was executed superbly. They were shown as second-nature abilities and not as plot devices or convenient solutions. Blink was my favorite series newcomer. Instead of casually throwing up a portal or two to move through walls, she was at the center of the combat hurling portals to direct the mutants’ attacks and to keep them just out of arms reach of the Sentinels.
Shawn Ashmore‘s Iceman was also given much better treatment in this film. His romance with Kitty Pryde was given little to no exposition, but felt natural under the circumstances of the film. They’re of the last of their kind, young and scared holding on to what little love they can find in such a dark future. When we first see him ride in on a wave of ice, it felt like the character had truly arrived. It was important and interesting to see that among both new and established characters, they all felt true to the world they were in. There wasn’t hesitation to fight. There were no long, drawn out goodbyes. These are people that are hanging on to their last strand of hope, looking for anything to overcome their dismal odds. It was comic book characters brought to life, through and through. The First Class cast also holds their own in X-Men: Days of a Future Past. Fassbender and McAvoy plumb the depths of their characters emotions, motives and philosophies. These are multi-dimensional characters wit complicated beliefs and reasoning, not just “bad guys” and “good guys”. While Mystique’s mission seems out of character, the explanation hits home when you think of the feelings brought about by losing anyone to a senseless war. Mystique’s action sequences were fast and effective. She fought with the precision and deadliness we were shown in the original series and Jennifer Lawrence played the character to a “T”. While the whole range of mutant powers are on display, two mutants stand out in the 70’s backdrop. Magneto’s power is shown in it’s full glory. This is the Magneto we’ve always wanted to see. Almost endless control over electrical and magnetic fields coming from his fingertips and nearly leaping off the screen. You will love to hate his awesome power and his alternate motives.
And then there was Quicksilver. Wow. Handled perfectly by Evan Peters. Everyone should enjoy his part in the film, even if it was fleeting. This one stays on the screen, no need to discuss it here, words won’t do it justice. Just buckle up and enjoy the ride he takes you on.
Special Timeline Powers…ACTIVATE!
I mentioned a few missteps in the opening paragraph. References to how Xavier and Magneto met in the original trilogy are done away with in favor of the First Class explanation of Xavier saving Magneto from nearly drowning himself to exact revenge. Even Bryan Singer mentioned that he wished he hadn’t included that line in the original trilogy. I don’t want to spoil the entirety of the movie’s ending but Wolverine’s timeline is potentially altered rather substantially. It’s been said that this will be addressed in the new film, and I’m curious to see if it’s part of the plot or a throwaway conversation before they move onto the new action. What’s that you say, you didn’t realize they had already announced the next movie? We’ll get to that in a moment.
The other change greatly impacts the original trilogy’s timeline. I’d like to say the changes are for the better, and considering some of the familial ties hinted at by the newly announced film, they are also necessary. If you’re going to treat the official films as gospel, the new changes might not sit well with you. If you’re like a majority of people on the internet, you hardly consider The Last Stand as part of canon anyways.
The Ancient Mutant
I’m spoiling the post credits scene on this one. The character(s) it reveals have been announced as part of the next X-Men movie through official channels so I’m not exactly telling you something you haven’t probably read about. Ready for it? Holy Egypt Wolverine! Apocalypse in the flesh! This is a big deal for the X-Men universe. Gray skin, blue lips, immense power. If X-Men: Apocalypse is handled as well as X-Men: Days of Future Past was, then it should be a phenomenal movie. We’re talking larger than life characters, set pieces, and one of Marvel’s deadliest villains. This film should rival anything we’ve seen come out of the Marvel Films wheelhouse.
Accomplishing the Impossible
If you had asked me 14 years ago what the future of X-Men in cinema was, I would’ve only hoped for a sequel. Six movies later and it feels like we’re only scratching the surface of what these characters can bring to the big screen. There have been stumbles along the way but this isn’t the untested waters of superhero film we had a decade and a half ago. This is the oceanic sized movement of comic culture come to life. Fox needed this movie to be successful, not only to erase the low points of their films, but to build the foundation for their future works. What a cornerstone they’ve put in place. This movie isn’t perfect, but it made me fall in love with the X-Men cinematic universe all over again. An easy 8 out of 10. What do you think, dear readers? Is this the work of Stan Lee given the life it deserves? Or were you unimpressed by the time travel and sweeping changes to the existing storylines? Let us know in the comments, but be quick, Apocalypse is only a couple years away. Come discuss in the comments! And while you’re at it, we always appreciate it if you’d share this article on your social networks!
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