Class Act

Fall off your chair, people -- I went to see a movie based on a comic book last night, the new X-Men: First Class. You might think it an especially unlikely event, since I've found the franchise to be sliding downhill since the first film. (Well, maybe not so much "downhill" as "away from non-comic fans.") Something about the whole period setting, resetting the story approach on this film got my interest.

I found this film to be the best of the four. They got a number of things right. The emphasis of the film is very firmly on character; for example, in the five minute pre-title sequence, they do more to establish and flesh out the characters of Professor X and Magneto than was accomplished in all three previous films combined. And that continues fairly well all the way through, as the film is strongly centered around the friendship between two men who would later be rivals.

The film also does a much better job of juggling multiple characters than its predecessors. Where the earlier X-Men movies devolved into an ever larger Mutantapalooza, this movie seems much more aware of where the line of saturation is. A handful of characters get the major emphasis, another handful more appears in clearly secondary roles... and that's basically it. (Except for a number of fairly entertaining cameo-like appearances from notable character actors.)

The cast is fairly strong. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender anchor the film in the lead performances, and have a great rapport with one another. Kevin Bacon serves up a fun villain with great relish. And Rose Byrne (from Damages) manages to be a somewhat interesting "character with no superpowers" in the superpowered movie -- no mean feat.

But occasionally, the movie stumbles and loses its way for small stretches. I suspect this will be a matter of taste, because the parts I found boring will probably be most people's favorite stuff in the film. Most of the action sequences go on a bit too long, rely a bit too much on CG, and replay a few too many of the tricks we've seen in earlier X-Men films. The movie always managed to pull back before losing me completely; nevertheless, I often found the "action movie" elements to be the weakest part of this fundamentally "action movie."

But in all, I'd call the movie a B, a pleasant surprise. Which I suppose probably means that if this kind of thing is normally up your alley, you may well find it to be one of the best comic book movies in years.