Since I was in…3rd grade…I have been a X-Men fan. I loved Marvel and with my allowance or pocket money that I earned, I would go to the comic book store and spend it. So when Hollywood realized that they had all these great stories already layed out for them with characters, heros, great plots and even already in story board form…they had to go for it. We have had so many of my childhood heros come to life on the big screen so far…some good...some bad, and they keep coming…and I love it.
Most recently I went with my boyfriend to see X-Men 1st Class. I have been wanting to see it for quite some time, the original ORIGINAL X-Men rock! So this was great for me. I knew before going it that it wasn’t going to be all crazy, but setting a wonderful backstory and it did just that.
The movie starts off with the same scene as the X-Men movie, a flash back into Magneto/Erik Lensherr’s (played by Michael Fassbender) childhood. Erik is in Poland, during WWII at a German concentration camp. While the Jews are herded into the camp the Nazi’s separate the children from their parents. Erik gets tossed onto one side of the fence as his parents are forced to another. In complete fear and desperation Erik reaches forward for his mother and begins to pull the metal gate towards him. The guards struggle to pull the boy away from the gate, but his magnetic pull is to strong and the soldiers cannot get solid footing in the wet mud, suddenly one guard knocks Erik unconscious. Looking out the window, down upon the tortured and dishearten prisoners, Sebastian Shaw (played by Kevin Bacon) see what Erik did, realizing this child has great potential that he could use to strengthen the Nazi stronghold he has Erik brought to him. Ordering Erik to move a coin without touching it, Erik is unable. He doesn’t understand what happened, but to encourage the boy, Shaw has his mother brought into the room and out of pure evil he kills Eriks mum because the boy is unable to yet control his power. Filled with a furry and hatred for Shaw and the Nazi’s Eric unleashes his magnetic power, crushing the skulls of two soldiers and destroying the room. Shaw, not realizing what he is creating he is delighted.
While Erik is being tortured in a concentration camp in Poland, we meet a young boy living in a beautiful mansion in New York…a very young Charles Xavier. The boy awakes to sounds coming from his kitchen. Wondering down the stairs he finds his mother sanding in the kitchen. Staring at the woman, Charles realizes that it is not his mother and watches in amazement as a young blue girl shifts from the form of his mum. The scared young girl introduces herself as Raven. Charles is ecstatic to have meet someone else with powers so he tells the scared young girl, that she can live with him and his family.
*Side note - Guess he had to brain wash everyone in the house and in his life to keep her around as his “sister” but too many questions can destroy a good story J
Time travels forward and the two boys grow up…World War 2 has ended and the world is starting to feel normal again. You see Erik walking into a Swiss bank, his goal…to find out what happened to Shaw. After slowly torturing the bank president he learns that he must go to Argentina. Traveling across Europe, Erik finds a lone tavern in the middle of nowhere. The tavern only has 3 people inside of it, two are former Nazi’s. Erik kills the men and in doing so realizes that he has to cross the ocean…to Miami.
So as Erik struggles to deal with his twisted past, Charles lives with Raven and is graduating from Oxford with a PhD. He wrote is thesis on mutation in humans. Life for one is going rather well while life for the other is pure torture and pain.
While Erik is seeking out Shaw and Charles is flirting with random girls in bars, the world around them is beginning to see its first encounters with mutants. CIA agent Moira MacTaggart follows Colonel Hendry into a night club in Vegas, trying to see what the man is up to. Feeling she has him cornered, she throws back the curtains to an exclusive VIP booth only to see it empty. Colonel Hendry and the beautiful girl he was with had vanished. Curiosity taking the better of her causes her to uncover a secret room where the Colonel is being threatened by Shaw and his mutant sidekicks, Emma Frost (played by January Jones) and Azazel (played by Jason Flemyng). Disturbed by what she witnesses, MacTaggart rushes out to call the CIA and tell them what she just saw, but Colonel Hendry is already in Washington DC, thousands of miles away, transported in an instant by Azazel. Sounding to her commanders that she is insane, MacTaggart realizes that something larger is at foot.
After convincing the US Military to place missile in Turkey, Colonel Hendry meets with Shaw on his Yacht to collect his money. Realizing that he is trapped he tries to earn his freedom from Shaw by threating to pull out the pin in a grenade. Shaw, laughing, takes the grenade and pulls the pin out himself, the grenade explodes and Shaw absorbs the energy and with a fingertip pushes it back into the Colonel, blowing him up.
After convincing the US Military to place missile in Turkey, Colonel Hendry meets with Shaw on his Yacht to collect his money. Realizing that he is trapped he tries to earn his freedom from Shaw by threating to pull out the pin in a grenade. Shaw, laughing, takes the grenade and pulls the pin out himself, the grenade explodes and Shaw absorbs the energy and with a fingertip pushes it back into the Colonel, blowing him up.
Still trying to understand what she saw, MacTaggart seeks out Charles. Telling him that the country needs his help, she convinces Charles to meet with the CIA and explain that mutation does exist. The CIA is unconvinced until Raven in a desperate attempt to help her brother, revels her true, blue nature. Amazed the CIA must now work with them to stop Shaw and his threat to start a nuclear war.
Charles uses his powers to find Shaw in is yacht. The coast guard rushes out to arrest him, but before they can get any closer, Charles is cut off by Emma Frost who has the same abilities as she does. Realizing that he will not be much help, Charles is frustrated…he suddenly realizes that there is another mutant in the water. Rushing back up to the deck, Charles see Erik get blown off the yacht by Riptide (played by Álex González). Suddenly huge anchors attached to gigantic metal chains begin to wrap around the yacht. Shaw and his team rush to the basement, and escape in his submarine. Erik, full of rage tried to stop the sub. Charles realizing the Erik will die if he doesn’t break the bond between himself and the sub, jumps into the water and talks Erik down.
Returning after being outwitted by Shaw, Erik, Charles and Raven return to the CIA facility. Realizing that Shaw and his team are stronger than they first realized, they admit that they need help; they need to find and recruit other mutants. meet a scientist, Hank McCoy (Played by Nicholas Hoult). Charles, thrilled that the CIA already hired another mutant blurts it out before thinking. Embarrassed but not defeated, McCoy shows them his beast like feet and abilities. McCoy then shows Charles his new project, Cerebro, which is just what Charles needs to boost his powers and find other mutants. Scared to show her true form, Raven/Mystique goes to Hank and asks him if he can help her find a way to hide their “mutations”. He draws her blood and tells her he can find a way.
*Side Note – Love how the machine was a perfect fit for Charles…it was almost as if they were expecting him to be the one to try it on.
Charles and Erik begin to recruit. They begin to find mutants and slowly they start to recruit them. They even approach Wolverine who promptly tells them to go to Fuck off J. By the end, they have recruited Angel (played by Zoe González), Darwin (played by Edi Gathegi), Banshee (played by Caleb Jones), Havok (played by Lucas Till) and Hank.
*Side note – how is it that Shaw got experienced, trained mature mutants, but Charles and Erik got kids?? Are you telling me that there were no other…older…better trained mutants out there besides Wolverine that they could approach? Only kids?
Shaw is on top of the world with his plans of corruption and devastation as he sends Emma to meet with a Russian general and “encourage” him to move against the Americans. Emma is however intercepted and captured by Charles and Erik.
But while they are in Russia capturing Emma, Azazel, Riptide and Shaw are meeting the new recruits. Crashing into the CIA facility, the humans do not stand a chance against the villains and soon the only ones left alive are the mutants. Looking at them, Shaw explains his plane, of mutants ruling and surviving over humans. He asks the young mutants to join him, all flinch away in fear, except for Angel. Seeing that life could be better if she went to the dark side…Angel step across. In an attempt to stop Shaw from taking her, Darwin and Havok hatch a silent plan. Darwin protects her, while Havok throws power rings at her, however they do not realize who or what Shaw is and Shaw turns to and kills Darwin by forcing him to ingest the energy that Havok threw at him. Raven, conflicted, understands what Shaw is trying to say, but does not want to leave her brother.
*Side Note – did anyone else notice the first mutant to die was the only black guy? Just saying…even in new movies, why does the black guy always die first??
Charles and Erik return to find the place in ruins. Now more determined than ever, they move from the destroyed CIA building to Charles’ own mansion…home. Where Charles begins to work with the mutants, and Erik to build their skills and powers.
As the Russians announce their plan to put missiles in Cuba, President Kennedy announces to the nation that world war 3 will occurs if this happens. Seeing that Shaw’s plans are moving swiftly they realize that they too must stop training and start fighting. The night before they are to fly to the blockade of American ships, Hank comes to Mystique with a cure. He tells her they both can take it and be normal, but still have their powers. Mystique, although still uncomfortable with her true form…realizes…thanks to Eriks constant reminder, that she is more beautiful in her true form.
The next morning MacTaggart, Erik and Charles meet with the X-Men to stop the world from plunging into WW3! They are all their, except for Hank. Rushing to find him, they find his lab destroyed. Hank appears, no longer Hank…he has now become Beast! They pill into the aircraft and Hank/Beast flys off.
Shaw sends Azazel to kill everyone on the Russian ship so he can send a missile from the Russians to the American’s starting WW3. Azazel sets the missile, but Charles takes control of another Russins mind and forces him to send a second missile to intercept it. Relieved and realizing what they were about to do, the Russians begin to back out. Realizing that the Russians were “weak”, and the only way to start his dream, Shaw uses a nuclear core to charge himself up with energy.
The story gets better and better and the ending lets so many questions drop into place. I usually do not give the ending away, and this will be one of those times. I provided a lot of spoilers, but I will not spoil the end. They really did a wonderful job. If you have not yet, I would suggest it. This truly is X-Men 1st Class!
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