Reprise of original Lee/Kirby message of X-Men being blacks fighting for equal rights
20th Century Fox finished its first run of three X-Men movies in 2006 with X-Men: The Last Stand. In 2011 they began a new series which would start back in the 1960s and cover each decade after that as the group progressed. That would start with X-Men First Class set in the 1960s and directed by Matthew Vaughn. The story harkens back to the original concept Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had for when they created the X-men which was equal rights for African Americans. The mutants were blacks and the regular humans were whites. The mutants were always fighting to be accepted and not seen as different and a threat.<br /><br />There would be a new cast featuring James McAvoy as Professor Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Raven aka Mystique, Nichols Hoult as Hank McCoy the Beast, Ross Byrne as Moira MacTaggert, Lucas Till as Alex Summers aka Havok, Edi Gathegi as Darwin, Zoe Kravits as Angel, and Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy aka Banshee. The bad guys would be the Hellfire Club with Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, January Jones as Emma Frost, Jason Flemyng as Azazel, and Alex Gonzalez as Riptide.<br /><br />The movie begins by introducing some of the main characters and themes they will touch on. A young Erik Lehnsherr is in a German concentration camp during World War II where he is experimented upon by Sebastian Shaw. It then flashes to the present where Erik is intent upon using his mutant powers to get revenge upon those that ran the camp with Shaw at the top of the list. Charles Xavier and Raven meet at his house when they were children. Then it flashes to when Xavier is in college writing about mutation. Then Moira MacTaggert is in Las Vegas working for the CIA where she discovers the Hellfire Club led by Shaw that also includes Emma Frost, Riptide and Azazel. They are manipulating the U.S. and Soviet governments for some scheme. That encounter leads MacTaggert to Xavier’s work on mutants. The stage is then set. Working initially under the CIA Xavier and MacTaggert form their own group of mutants, that would become the X-Men, to counter Shaw and the Hellfire Club. They would recruit Magneto, Mystique, Beast, Havok, Darwin, Angel and Banshee. There’s a hilarious scene where they approach Wolverine as well who tells them to screw off.<br /><br />Given that the movie is based in the 1960s it also gives homage to the original message that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby tried to convey with the X-Men. That was the struggle of African Americans for civil rights. Mutants were black people searching for acceptance and power and split between two paths to achieve that. There was Xavier who was Martin Luther King talking about co-existence between blacks and whites, mutants and humans in the comic, and then there was Magneto who was Malcolm X talking about using any means necessary to ensure the protection of mutants/blacks. You see that message playing out early on in the film when Xavier is flirting with a girl in a bar and says “mutant and proud” followed by Raven saying the same thing in the next scene and talking about whether she would be accepted. That phrase is a take off of the 60s slogan “I’m black and I’m proud" made famous by a James Brown song of the same title. Then there’s a scene where Erik tells Mystique that if he looked like her he wouldn’t change a thing, which was meant to instill pride in mutation, similar to how blacks used to say black is beautiful. Later on, Xavier and Erik are playing chess on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. talking about the future of mutants, whether they should work with the government or not. That’s where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech about his vision for race relations in America. Shaw actually takes up the argument made by Magneto in the comics at first, but then at the end Magneto articulates them himself. The split between Xavier and Erik is symbolic of the split between King and Malcolm X<br /><br />There are also some new Marvel homages and Easter Eggs. One of the agents at the CIA is named Stryker, who is the father of William Stryker who was prominent in the X2 and X-Men Days of Future Past movies. Raven goes through a series of transformations trying to seduce Magneto and that includes transforming into Rebecca Romijn who played Mystique in the first three X-Men movies. Some aspects of the uniforms the X-Men wear such as the target on Havok, the wings on Banshee, and the red suit of Magneto at the end are based upon the unis seen in the comics. Some things that didn’t work were Azazel who looked exactly like Nightcrawler with the same power, but with red skin.<br /><br />Overall, this was a good reboot of the X-Men. Last Stand had some memorable moments but had such a bad ending that it was a real disservice to the franchise. First Class gave it a fresh new look that would play out well across the following films as well. The characters were strong and engaging. Technology allowed for much better fight scenes especially the really big ones such as when Erik attacks Shaw on a yacht or the final confrontation where two huge fleets one Soviet and one American stand off during the Cuban Missile Crisis and then turn their guns on the mutants. My one major complaint is that Darwin dies in the film. Having the black character be the first to pass away is a Hollywood cliche which unfortunately this movie perpetuated.<br />C
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 {"Content advisory": ["Nudity", "violence", "alcohol use", "smoking", "foul language", "sexual content"], "Audio languages": ["English"], "Subtitles": ["English [CC]"], "Directors": ["Bryan Singer", "Matthew Vaughn"], "Producers": ["Bryan Singer", "Lauren Shuler Donner", "Simon Kinberg", "Gregory Goodman"], "Starring": ["James McAvoy", "Benjamin Walker", "Michael Fassbender"], "Studio": ["20TH CENTURY FOX"]}

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